2000

The magic 2000 had started being the start of FRS-Holland’s third decade. It would become FRS’s most memorable year so far…

First internet activity

Sunday February 27^th FRS carried out an Internet broadcast via an American radio friend of Joop ter Zee, LD Brewer. The broadcast was heard over his personal website www.ldbrewer.com. More Internet activity went out Sunday April 30th. Via our very own website home.planet.nl/~frsh/home.html listeners were linked to LD Brewer’s site. Salient detail: LD Brewer forgot the originally planned date of April 23^rd, he was not at home….
Let’s first make a little statement: FRS prefered shortwave broadcasts above Internet activities. Of course, the Internet was and is a powerful and easy-to-use medium for all kind of purposes including radio but broadcasting on shortwave remained our main target.

Long period of inactivity; 19 mb broadcast

It would take 5 months until FRS’ first 2000 shortwave activity was noted. Sunday May 28^th FRS carried out a 90 minute night time broadcast  on 15070 kHz/ 19 metres. For this broadcast we used our own 50W 19 mb rig. We were eager to do a few more of those tests as propagation on the higher frequency bands seemed to be pretty good at that time. The test was presented by Joop ter Zee. In hindsight, this was a very special broadcast… it would be Joop ter Zee’s very last one.

Sunday June 18^th FRS took to the air mainly to tell the listeners we were still alive and kickin’. A second reason was that we felt that it would take too long until the October 20^th anniversary broadcast. Peter agreed with Joop that he would do this 60 min. show as Joop had already presented the late May test. How ironical, at that stage Joop was already quite sick and would not be able to record a show. I Peter V. presented a 60 min.show on 6210 between 11:00- 12:00 UTC.

Joop ter zee passes away

June 2000 would become the mosty emotional month ever, at least for the FRS team. Joop ter Zee was in hospital and at first we had no idea how precarious the situation was. His physical condition turned critical and in the end we knew Joop would not recover. June 27^th at 05:08 local time the unbelievable happened: Joop ter Zee passed away in hospital at the age of 40. He left  behind his girlfriend Willy, his parents and his sister Marja. Joop suffered from Hepatitis C and a number of serious complications. Early June he returned from a two week holiday to Crete, his favourite holiday destination. Peter Verbruggen remembers:

”I received a mail informing me Joop was back in town. And he came up with some ideas about the upcoming FRS 20th birthday. I phoned him telling I needed a few extra FRS Jingle CDs. As Joop owned the master tape, he burned them but wasn’t able to bring them. He became ill and thought he would soon recover. But he wouldn’t. Hepatitus C and a very agressive bacterium undermined his health. He was  hospitalized. Sunday June 25th he was moved to the Intensive Care. He was kept in a coma and I haven’t been able to speak to him eye to eye. On Monday it was clear Joop wouldn’t recover. A shock. I was in the hospital all Monday together with his family. I shall never forget that day. Emotional, powerlessness. You see him lying, he was on a handful of monitors. You cannot help, you cannot communicate. Late that evening I went home. I went to sleep and at 05.20 I was called by Willy. I undressed and went to hospital to see him for the very final time. It was 05.45. He died within two weeks after he became ill. Incomprehensible.”

Joop was cremated on Saturday July 1st, it was so good to see so many people  for a definitive and final farewell. It was a 20 minute service, not long, but so intense. Four of Joop’s favourite records were played: Pearl Jam, The Who, The Verve and ABC. After the service a lot of Joop’s (radio) friends  got together, reminiscing.

FRS newsletter #27: In memory of Joop ter zee

Peter wrote the following text which was published in ‘FRS Newsletter’ #27 from September 2000:

“I had the privilege working with Joop for more than 20 years. I met him in 1978 and ever since we became not only radio friends but also friends. We had  mutual hobbies: music and radio. But there was more connecting us. In 1993 Joop lost his girlfriend Janine, they lived together for 10 years. It heart him deeply. After her death our bond became even stronger. I was so happy for him when he met Willy. A new start for him. A new step in his life. Our first cooperation was when we started presenting a flashback show at the local hospital radio station. In 1979 we got together with a few former FRS presenters for our very own local FM pirate, ABC Music Radio. And in 1980 we started FRS-Holland, together with Bobby Speed and others. A fantastic period. Joop produced our very first freaky jingle package with his Akai tape recorder, I remember sitting in his little studio situated in his sleeping room. Ever since Joop developed into a creative, skilful jingle producer. He had brilliant ideas and greatly contributed to the characteristic sound of FRS-Holland. He produced numerous jingles. And more and more it appeared we spoke the same language. I was the one writing the lyrics, Joop was the one doing the mixing part. He produced the jingles with the perfect choice of music beds and production elements. We made a good couple. And we complemented each other very well. Apart from a few months in 1982, Joop presented programmes for FRS-Hollandfor almost 20 years. Two decades. Remember his FRS Golden Show, the International Listeners’ Letter Show from which he was co-presenter, Sounds Alternatives and the Short SW Parade. Sounds Alternatives is perhaps the most famous and best known show he produced among the SW audience. That was during most of the 80s.  I remember Joop worked in a local pub every Sat evening. Every week he bought 45 rpm records. He had an eye for those unknown or less known artists/ records. And Sounds Alternatives was thé programme in which all that great  stuff was played. U2, Simple Minds (at the beginning of their careers), New Musik, Any Trouble, Colourfield, the Photos, the Buggles, Firefall, the Associates….just to name a few. Joop also participated in the FRS goes DX magazine writing the Alternative Thoughts column in his very own, unique style. He was the one creating the FRS website. In my eyes he was a very talented, creative radio personality. Both his jingles/promos and radio shows were without any doubt “Just a bit different” propagating the FRS philosophy. Fast-moving, with a great musical taste and loads of those funny, sometimes crazy jingles he entertained thousands of European SW enthusiasts over those almost 20 years. Many DXers loved his direct style of programmes. He built up a good reputation. I guess the words spoken by former FRS jock Mark Stafford are very right and goes for many FRS listeners: “I never met Joop Ter Zee but obviously felt like I knew him having listened over the years and having been part of the FRSH team. I will always remember him doing crazy things and saying just what he thought. I mean that in a very nice way! It’s strange when a radio person dies. Even if you didn’t ever meet him, you knew him like a friend.”
Together we produced the 4½ hour “10 Years in the Life of FRS-Holland” documentary in 1990. For us a milestone. Some 200 hours of spare time were put into that project. And in October 1999 we completed the production of the first FRS-HollandJingle CD. For Joop and me a document because it represents the evaluation of FRSH jingles through the years, right from the very beginning in 1980 till the Millennium set late 1999. Joop- the Zeeman- ter Zee…he is sadly missed as a friend and radio friend.  I know I said it before but have to say it one more time…without him FRS-Holland is amputated.”

october 29th: memorial brodcast

On October 29th, 2000, FRS-Holland aired a special combined Joop Ter Zee Memorial Broadcast and 20th Birthday transmission. The focus of the broadcast was primarily on honoring Joop ter Zee rather than celebrating the station’s anniversary. In the months leading up to the event in September and October, all efforts were dedicated to preparing this emotional and moving broadcast, making it one of the most challenging transmissions ever carried out by FRS-Holland.

It was heartening to see the active participation of numerous listeners and FRS Friends during this significant broadcast. The full program schedule for that day, with timings in UTC, was as follows:

07:52 – Opening: Ids/ Theme Tune
08:02 – Breakfast Birthday Show hosted by Peter V., featuring 80s music, information about ‘In Memory of JTZ Show,’ and memories
08:30 – Off Beat with Mark Jones (part 1). A special edition showcasing JTZ rock sounds, memories, and extracts
09:15 – In Memory of Joop ter Zee segment hosted by Peter Verbruggen (part 1)
10:00 – Off Beat with Mark Jones (part 2)
10:45 – In Memory of Joop ter Zee segment hosted by Peter Verbruggen (part 2)
11:45 – The very best (of) JtZ music from the 1980-1999 FRS era along with a few special items
13:45 – CloseDown

The poignant tribute paid to Joop Ter Zee through this memorable broadcast resonated deeply with both loyal listeners and dedicated supporters of FRS-Holland.

The broadcast on 6280/ 48 metres was presented by Mark Jones who did 90 minutes in German and Peter Verbruggen doing the remaining part (see programme schedule). During the broadcastonly Joop ter Zee’s favourite  music was played and of course all those contributions, sometimes only a few sentences, sometimes nearly a complete A4 page! No doubt many FRS listeners were very shocked and upset by Joop’s death witness the taped and written  contributions we received via P.O.Box 2727. For the first time we also received a number of audio (MP3) contributions via the Internet. Close down was planned at 13.15 UTC but It turned out to be impossible to read out and play all contributions and  thus we were forced to extend broadcasting time with another 30 minutes till 13.45 and  to cancel the DX Show. A promise was made: a 50 min. edition of ‘FRS Goes DX’ would be aired a week later November 5th. Propagation conditions on the 29th were fair to good and most listeners heard us in satisfactory quality. Power was 150W using a horizontal open half wave dipole. Recording this Memorial Broadcast took much preparation. Peter compiled more than 10 blocks with Joop ter Zee extracts being some kind of cross-section of 20 years Joop ter Zee on FRSH. Just in time a set of specially produced jingles for this broadcast arrived from the USA. Two extra MD players (apart from the two already used) were installed in Peter Verbruggen’s studio. Mark Jones did a great job with two excellent German programmes.
Sunday November 5th saw a full repeat of the Joop ter Zee Memorial Broadcast. Already on Saturday afternoon Bobby Speed, Peter Verbruggen and Joop’s girlfriend Willy went to a location in a neighbouring country from which the broadcast would take place. Just before darkness set in, we managed to erect the aerial and tested a few minutes. We spent the night at the location and already as early as 06.15 UTC (!) the  next morning FRSH was on 6280 kHz. Official programming began at 07.02 UTC sharp as we needed almost an extra hour because of the “extra” DX Show. And so we were almost 7 hours non-stop on air till just before 14.00 UTC. Unfortunately the signal wasn’t as good as on the 29^th because of poorer conditions. Power was 90W. Nevertheless many listeners heard the repeat. By doing two transmissions in 8 days we offered listeners the opportunity to tune in to FRS-Holland either the 29th or 5th. In particular the second weekend was emotional and intense, certainly for Willy, Joops girl friend who produced a special QSL card which was the first one in our history dedicated to a presenter.

the final stretch

FRS-Holland intended to take to the air on X-Mas Eve Sunday Dec.ember 24th. Intended... Programmes were recorded including a 60 min. DX-Show. The tapes didn’t reach their destination in time and so the final 2000 broadcast had to be sadly cancelled. Sunday December 31st FRS-Holland carried out a successful early morning test to the USA from  05.00- 07.00 UTC ringing out the most memorable year in FRS’ history so far.