[BLOG] Something you’ve been hearing for years and perhaps experiencing yourself is that Dutch radio is dying. Almost nothing happens that still appeals to the imagination, everyone neatly finishes his or her playlist, if a radio producer is already in the news, it is because he wants to sleep in an extra day a week. What a poverty, you often hear. With a few exceptions, the Dutch radio stations are all the nicest boy in the class, nothing really stands out in the field of entertainment, noise, craftsmanship or exciting matters. Veronica who are going to broadcast from a train, is that what we have to do with in 2022? Fortunately, there is still Eddy Keur, on both NPO Radio 2 and 3FM!
Let’s take a professional look at what makes the Keurbaas, on Friday afternoon on 3FM and last week as a replacement for Ruud ‘hakkel en lispel’ de Wild, so unique that other (young) jocks could take an example from. Just compare a show by Ruud de Wild to that of Eddy Keur, what a difference and what a sadness that amateur painter brings every afternoon. Give that important time to your replacement if you clearly don’t feel like it anymore Ruud.
Eddie dares
If you hear Keur in conversation with a fellow jock, file reader or listener, he doesn’t shy away from turning something boring like traffic information or a crosstalk with Gijs Staverman into something fun. By a little joke, a comment, a sound effect, whatever. Good radio is entertainment, you are not there just to have fun with your colleagues, you are there to entertain the listener and Eddy understands that like no other.
Eddie is standing
Keur, unlike his lazy sidekicks, newscaster or fellow jocks who insist on sitting, stands on his radio shows. He knows that things should be as energetic as possible and partly because of that, he swings the pan, the whole three hours. Does not poop, breathes better and can therefore make longer sentences.
Eddie makes contact
Have you ever noticed how few jocks actually connect with their listener, even when they have someone like that on the phone? The aforementioned Staverman also has such a hand. Talking a little autistic over the listener’s head, even when you’re talking to him or her on the phone. My God how embarrassing to hear that is always the case. Eddy listens, feels like a listener, gives him just enough space and ensures that they once again turn it into entertainment together. And he doesn’t even need the voxpro for that, he does it all live.
Eddy knows the difference is in the details
design. One uses it to promote themselves all the time, the other to give the show that extra sauce. Because it is not a SHOW for nothing. I heard that Keur had been busy collecting the right jingles, beds, sweepers and sound effects for that one new Friday afternoon show months in advance. And that pays off. What energy and what cohesion. This is what radio was invented for. Nothing old-fashioned, the people who treat the medium so cowardly and dare nothing, that’s only back to the 1970s.
Eddie is herself
It’s always easier said than done: being yourself on the radio. But Keur is really EXACTLY the same in real life when you see him on the radio. I interviewed him once and was a guest on his NH radio show: he doesn’t play a personality, he IS a personality. On air and off air.
Eddy has a large vocabulary
I’ll translate that word: Eddy has a large vocabulary. You won’t hear him boringly read a message, he tells it in his own words. For example, I recently heard the word ‘ejaculate’ on him on the show, in connection with a fin whale. Think again about the average jock, who would have just read the message and then start the TV tune of Flipper. Keur understands that language is the most important tool with which you bring radio to life!
Eddie makes everything of himself
Big tip from the better radio books in America: ‘make it your own’. Make it yours. Eddy approaches everything he does in his shows the Eddy way. Don’t be put off by the format, the obligatory songs, actions, etc. This keeps it always sounding fresh and new.
Eddie is preparing well
The best radio shows sound like they’re being pulled out of the box, but they’re prepared down to the last detail. Keur puts in the necessary time it sounds like, but not too much. He stands like a conductor in the orchestra pit with his fellow musicians making it a vibrant whole.
Eddie has timing
Keur moves along with really everything that can be heard. Whether it’s an intro, a bed, a disaster or a backsell. His voice, timing and pronunciation match what you hear in the background. It coincides. Listen to 538 for a day and you will regularly hear jocks talking in a LOW voice over a HYPER bed. Or just keep talking staccato in the intro to a song by Maan as by David Guetta. It doesn’t mix, it doesn’t sauce, doesn’t sound and that’s why it quickly becomes irritating. Not to mention what De Wild is doing there every afternoon, that trick has now really been worked out in 2022.
And so on
And so I can go on sticking feathers up Keur’s ass for a while. It’s nice to see (and hear) how much he stirs up with the average jock and listener. To critics I would say let’s not turn things around, this is not ‘old fashioned’, this is what radio is for. First dare to make a radio show so energetic, creative, involved and enthusiastic, only then can you criticize those few jocks who can and dare to make it like this. What they do go wrong with 3FM, by the way, is to immediately launch a gigantic advertising campaign for those new guys in the morning with ‘listen the best morning show’. The listener decides for himself, what is nice and what is not, you don’t get that forced on them.
Patrick Kicken
Check out Eddy’s own YouTube channel, where he regularly posts compilations of his radio shows. Can you judge for yourself whether what I write above is true. And if De Wild is smart, he doesn’t see Eddy as a competitor, but it wakes him up to rediscover the love for our beautiful medium.