Ruud Poeze, boss of Dutch mediumwave licence holder Quality Radio, has this evening been making public some of his plans. He was speaking on a special programme on 828 kHz, following the conclusion of special transmissions marking the 30th anniversary of the closure of offshore Radio Veronica in 1974.
Poeze says he wants to transmit two Dutch services, one on 828 kHz and the other on 1224 kHz. Broadcasting both stations from a ship at Pampushaven near Almere, the old location of the MV Communicator, is a possible solution to the problem of finding transmitter sites. On 1584 kHz, the low power transmitter at Utrecht could be used for special, short-term services such as the Veronica commemoration just ended.
Ruud Poeze also said that discussions are still going on with UK-based Radio London, which was originally going to use 1008 kHz. However, the high cost and a disappointing signal in the UK rendered this plan unfeasible, and the frequency was sold to Talpa Radio Nederland for use by Radio 10 Gold. It has now been decided that Radio London will use 1395 kHz, but a new transmitter site will have to be found as the current one at Trintelhaven can only use restricted power.
No time scale was given for any of the above projects to materialise. It remains to be seen whether they will get on the air. Officially, holders of inactive licences are supposed to hand them back to the government tomorrow, 1st September, but since there isn’t exactly a queue of people waiting to use the mediumwave frequencies that were licenced to Quality Radio, it looks as if Poeze may be given longer.
on Aug 31st, 2004 at 20:44
There’s no show without Punch …
on Aug 31st, 2004 at 22:51
I can’t imagine why Ruud didn’t take a 99 Euro flight to the UK to work out that 1008 is only mediocre in London, especially with all the interference levels from IT, lights, etc. Betcha this never happens…like a profitable Radio Caroline. Talk about crying wolf!
on Sep 1st, 2004 at 08:30
I understood Ruud wants to leave the 828 where it is, Heinenoord. Instead he wants to move the 1035 (Echt, Limburg) to the ship in the Pampushaven.
on Sep 1st, 2004 at 09:36
This Radio London on 1395 AM is surely the biggest joke I’ve ever heard!
Daytime reception in the UK is negligible except on the coast and you can’t hear it for the three most important hours at night when anyone would be listening.
Why does Ray Anderson not just swallow his pride and accept that on AM at least, the project is off?
on Sep 1st, 2004 at 09:41
Phil, I suspect the reason that Ruud didn’t take a 99 euro flight to London was that it costs 99 euro
on Sep 1st, 2004 at 16:13
I think that 99 Euro remark is a bit below the belt.
Considering the fact that just about everybody in the Netherlands hates AM towers in their backyard and the very bad economical situation of almost all Dutch radio stations including FM licencees, Ruud has to get some credit for keeping up the good work.
on Sep 1st, 2004 at 16:27
I’m sure Andy’s comment about the 99 Euro was made in good humour. I certainly thought it was funny
Although I certainly would agree that establishing new AM radio services in the Netherlands isn’t easy and Ruud deserves credit for his dedication in attempting to do so.
on Oct 10th, 2007 at 11:47
I really enjoy listening to BigL . Now it is possible after 18h with rather good reception-quality down here in Munich/Bavaria in my car. Sure, all in all transmission-power is poor from Trintelhaven. But as long as they can\’t change that I suggest that they also should use the Albanian Transmitter after 23h (German time) pm (after TWR has closed down) and they could blast whole Europe (like old Radio Luxemburg did) at lower costs and switch back to Trintelhaven only in the morning
on Feb 3rd, 2010 at 08:56
Hi everyone,
Current situation (feb 2010) on the Ruud Poeze frequencies in Holland:
1602 Radio Waddenzee from Harlingen, can be heard in Amsterdam
1584 from Lunetten (Utrecht), looking at the transmitter right now, heard them at daylight on the A2 motorway from Amsterdam to Den Bosch and from Zoetermeer to ?
1557 very low power, active, can be heard in an area of a few kilometers around the Amsterdam
on Feb 3rd, 2010 at 09:07
These are not all Ruud Poeze’s frequencies. 1557 was withdrawn in 2006, and the licence is now held by Magic Jazz. Radio Waddenzee on 1602 kHz has nothing to do with Ruud. 1584 is indeed one of his frequencies.