Presenters Past

German presenters

Between FRS‑Holland’s start in August 1980 and now, some 21 presenters have been active on the station. The majority hosted FRS’ German Service .
The first German presenter was Chris who presented the German Service between August 1980 and January 1982. After a two month silence he then presented the International Listeners’ Letters Show between April 1982 and March 1984. 
George Strong joined in March 1982 but already left in July of that year.
His successor was Michael who presented the popular German Show between August 1982 and December 1983.
One of the most popular German FRS presenters was Danny Kay who took over from Michael in December 1983. Danny presented his final FRS show in December1989.
Just four months later a new deejay took over: Johnny Best, better known as ‘JB’ . In December 1990- a couple of months after the 10th birthday- celebrations, Stefan Kramer got involved and for a while he & Johnny took turns until Johnny left in the Spring of 1992. Stefan Kramer stayed until August 1997.
For almost a year FRS was without a German presenter. A quite unique situation… 
In June 1998 Marc Jones joined and presented his alternative music show ‘Off Beat’ until May 2005.
It would take another year and a half before a new German presenter joined the FRS team: in December 2006 Jan van Dijk became the 7th German presenter in FRS’ history. As we speak, Jan is still presenting his FRS German Show.
From December 2007 onwards Jan got company from a second German presenter named Mike Anderson. Mike stayed till May 2010, he left a few months before the 30th anniversary celebrations would start (October 2010).

English & Dutch presenters

Barry Stephens did the English Service & FRS Golden Show right from the beginning until July 1985. 
Mark Stafford & Tony Mitchell presented their FRS Shows between December 1987 and October 1996.
American Al Muick participated in the DX programme in 1981. Many years later he joined the Voice of Peace crew as an engineer. 
Fred van Es was for a 3 year period the main man in the Musical Express. Fred started in August 1980 and his successor Bert van Leer continued that show between February 1984 and May 1987. Quite unique: Bert returned on FRSH after more than 28 (!) years in November 2015.
Another Dutchman who was on FRS right from the beginning was Frankie Fanatic. Remember his ‘Album Show’ which was last heard in April 1981. 
Gerd was a regular co‑presenter in the ILLS between February1985 and May 1991.
And Perhaps almost forgotten is Steven Reath who did five stints in 2001 starting in March of that year and finishing 9 months later in December. He presented the FRS Golden Show.
Dutch presenter Frank Carson did a total of 4 shows in 2003 & 2004. He started in November 2003 and only a year later in November 2004 his FRS career ended.
September 2002 saw the debute show of Paul Graham. He’s has done irregular editions of the ‘FRS Golden Show’ and the 1980s Show. Paul remained active on FRS until Decermber 27th 2015. Paul  started working on Radio Mi Amigo Int. and unfotunately they didn’t allow him to work for any other shortwave station!
December 15th 2009 saw Dave Scott’s debute on FRS-Holland. Dave is a shortwave veteran who ran the successful UK-based SW pirate Radio Apollo in the mid 80s. Dave continues on FRS presenting popular ‘Radio Waves’.
Another SW veteran is Roger Davis who founded well known British SW free radio station Britain Radio Int. (which- like FRSH- began in 1980!). It was in December 2012 when Roger was asked to join the FRS ranks knowing that Paul Graham wasn’t always able to take part in a broadcast. Eversince Roger frequently presented FRS Golden Shows while Paul concentrated on 80s music in his 1980s Show. Since 2019 Roger’s involvement became minimal due to a lack of time.
In July 2019 Mike Taylor joined the FRS ranks replacing Roger Davis. Mike focusses on 1980s music and is a very experieced radio presenter. His career already started in the early 1970s and many SW listeners do know him from his E.M.R. involvement (Mailbox show).
We may not forget to mention Brian who is in charge of FRS’ technical operations since October 2009. He’s is a very dedicated engineer doing an excellent job. We wouldn’t miss him for the world!

Die hards…

And then the die hards…..Peter Verbruggen never ever missed a single FRS broadcast. He started the station back in the 1980 Summer. Peter presented more than 200 editions of 'FRS Goes DX' and was also involved in ‘the ILLS’ (= the FRS Mailbox Show) and still hosts FRS’ Breakfast Show ‘FRS Magazine‘.
Joop ter Zee was involved with FRSH right from the beginning . He missed just 3 months in 1982 and stayed until his tragic death in June 2000. Joop was involved in many shows: the ‘ILLS’, the ‘FRS Golden Show’, ‘FRS Magazine’, ‘the Short SW Parade’ and last but not least the famous ‘Sounds Alternatives’.
One person is left: the one & only Bobby Speed who’s been involved in the technical part of the story since the very beginning. This was a potted history of FRS‑Holland’s team for the period August 1980‑ 2024.

In Alphabetical Order