[BLOG] Well that was the riot again this week, around 538 morning jock Wietze de Jager. He says he wants to work one day less on-air against his colleagues, gets the whole crowd, including a lot of angry listeners, and then says it was all just to provoke discussion. Nice piece of spin from Talpa’s PR department. But in the same week we are also treated to the news that the morning star of Qmusic, Marieke Elsinga, is peeping out again, just like at the beginning of the year when it all became too much for her, this time on maternity leave. Sure, it should happen, but I’ll give you a note that Marieke no longer returns full-time in the morning of Q.
I understand that Marieke Elsinga says in various interviews that she is a bit sad that she now has to plead with her main employer again. She was just as comfortable in it, she said. Well she also knows that things will never be the same as before. A morning show without children is already hard (I can tell you from my own experience), one with even harder than impossible, according to one Wietze de J. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a crybaby because then the days of Marieke’s radio career are completely numbered . Incidentally, I also know women (from the past) who were just away for a week to let their baby out and then just showed up again on Monday, but well, that was from a time before the snowflake generation.
They may say at Qmusic that they are not looking for a replacement for the absence of their superstar in the morning, insiders know better. The scenario is already being taken into account that Marieke Elsinga can be heard on the channel for no more than three days a week after her birth (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Your radio heart is going to bleed from such sadness. Just like Wietze’s lack of motivation, which is now firmly denied, it is clear what the current generation of radio makers has with the medium: nice while it lasts, but if something better/easier/nicer comes along, I’m gone.
In both the case of Wietze and Marieke, they both naturally aimed at that other, much more eye-catching medium: television. And of course that all-important family, with young children. That’s fine if you want that, but let us know before your radio station invests so much in you. I therefore suggest that Marieke Elsinga and Wietze de Jager just start a petting zoo together. They can romp around all day long with the offspring. Leave the radio broadcasting to people who are really passionate about it. Because such a morning show, that’s your baby. You are busy all day long, five days a week and you need the weekends to recharge or to feed yourself with the latest films and series that your audience is also watching.
As I said at RTL Boulevard: you can only win that match in the morning if you put in the full 100%. You are the leading personality for your radio station. This applies to both Wietze and Marieke. Do you think they would have taken it with the Spice Girls record company if one of them suddenly got pregnant? Even at castings for important series and films, you will be immediately rejected if it turns out that you are pregnant or are planning to do so in the short term. The bad thing is, of course, that it doesn’t end at all after Marieke’s pregnancy, that’s when it starts: the broken nights, the hospital visits, all the hassle that a young child entails. And Wietze has three of those.
Incidentally, it would be interesting to find out the exact salary of De Jager; if, for example, that’s only a ton a year, then I can understand why he’s so committed to his parental leave. Then just give him the amount that a morning jock should earn at a national station: at least double that. Well, then he has to prove he’s worth it.
Patrick Kicken