1996

1996 started with the introduction of a new temporary e-mail address: joop.ter.zee@tip.nl.

A late 1996 start; varying success

The first ‘FRS Goes DX’ magazine #139 came out late March and the editorial covered an overview of  14½ years of  publications. Not without reason: from that moment onwards ‘FRS Goes DX’ was going to be published quarterly. Producing the magazine had become a very time consuming job, there was too much time pressure and Peter V. wanted to spend more time on his family and other aspects of radio. It would take almost four months before the first on air activity would take place: April 28^th would become a disappointing day. Long skip ruled the airwaves and within a radius of no less than 300 kilometres (!) nothing was to be heard. It was the 3^rd successive broadcast taking place from the same location and at 07:00 Speed & Verbruggen took off to the site. The final programme preparations had been done the night before! This time a second rig was in operation, programmes went out on 6252- later 6255– & 6385 (6435) kHz. There were a few (slight) frequency changes because of clashes with Radio Laguna and later in the morning Belgian Radio Brigitte. Apparently many people were not aware of our second out-of-band outlet being 6385 kHz (which became 6435 later that day). Reception was satisfactory only after 12:00 CET when the 48 mb opened up. That day programmes ended up on 6252 as the other rig had to be switched off due to a faulty modulator.

Relay via RFL

Sunday July 21st FRS-Holland had planned a summery 3rd Sunday broadcast via Radio Free London which eventually was aired a week too late. Tapes were sent on Monday -sent by special messenger- but that was no guarantee the package would arrive within 5 days… Shame on postal services!! In actual fact the broadcast started Saturday evening at approx. 22:00 CEST. Programmes continued till the early Sunday evening and the 4-hour programme block was repeated a total of six times. Reception was varying between poor and good depending on the reception area. During the nightly hours FRSH was picked up in the USA; two reports were received. Nice indeed. All FRS jocks were involved with the July programmes: Joop, Tony, Stefan and Peter. Three weeks later a nightly North America test was conducted via FRS’ own transmitter. Also this time FRS was lucky: reports came in from the USA, Ukraine and Russia. 

A new site

September 29^th a second relay was conducted on 6275 via Radio Free London. Fair to good conditions that day but response happened to be rather low. Already 3 weeks later Sunday October 20^th FRS celebrated its 16^th anniversary. Once again RFL’s facilities were to be used and most surprisingly FRS was allowed to use a new, remote and private location in a southerly neighbouring country. Things were arranged via Joop ter Zee’s girl friend! A week before the actual broadcast would take place, Peter Verbruggen visited the location to form an idea about the opportunities in relation with aerial etc. (to be well prepared). On Friday October 18^th current and former FRS jocks celebrated the 16^th anniversary in a local Greek restaurant, a splendid evening. The following day, programmes from the UK already started at 19:00 hours on 6275 in parallel with 3945.  In the night from Saturday into Sunday, two FRS transmitters were operational from an FRS site on 6958 & 15046. At 02:15 one of the transmitters produced smoke and further transmissions were cancelled. Four hours later Peter Verbruggen prepared for a drive to the new site. This time a trip without engineer Bobby Speed: for the 1^st time since January 1983 Peter Verbruggen engineered a broadcast all by himself (knowing engineering wasn’t his thing!) . Erecting the aerial was a huge problem and Peter succeeded minutes after the planned commencement of  the anniversary shows. At 10:15 CET FRS was heard loud and clear on 6243 kHz. Listeners participated by sending in their personal memories and a listener’s competition, Fact Files and numerous extracts were played during the broadcast. Almost 70 reports were received and all correct reports were verified with a special photo showing a new and completely rebuilt FRS-Holland studio. Sadly Tony Mitchell said goodbye to FRS-Holland in October 1996 due to other commitments. He had been on the station for almost 9 years with quality programmes and a great musical choice.

seasonal broadcasts

FRS was delighted with the new site not depending on foreign relays and allowing to use its very own powerful rig. Quite obvious there was no doubt at all when  the  location was once again offered for the 1996 X-Mas broadcast for Sunday December 22nd. This time erecting the aerial went smooth and  both 6243 signal and modulation were fine that day. A total of six hours of programmes were aired: nothing but 70s oldies were played in the X-Mas shows trying to play a mix of popular records and rare stuff. The shows included various interesting items including the deejays’ personal 1970s top 3. Sunday December 29^th FRS rang out the year with another 24 hour broadcast on 6400 via RFL. During this occasion nothing but 80s classics were played. Late 1996 Joop ter Zee finished work on a brand new FRS-Holland website:  www.home.pi.net/~freak55/home.htm. A mouthful and not one easily to remember. Apart from the earlier mentioned  Joop ter Zee e-mail address a second address was added: peter.verbruggen@tip.nl. From December onwards FRS Sales Productions offered a complete revised catalogue. 1996 had certainly been a better year compared with 1995: five regular broadcasts along with a 5^th Sunday one. We were quite happy and satisfied.