TopPop
TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music TV show in the Dutch language area. Dutch broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from September 22, 1970 to June 27, 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted the show for its first fifteen years. The creator and original director of TopPop was Rien van Wijk. Many other directors followed: Egbert van Hees, Geert Popma, Henk Renou, Chris Berger, Jessy Winkelman, Wim van der Linden, Bert van der Veer and Charly Noise. Although TopPop was inspired by British music programme Top of the Pops, it had its own character.
Description
The show's main approach was to let music artists mime to their latest hit record in the TopPop studio. However, most music acts in the Dutch pop charts were foreign to the Netherlands, and frequently not available for a performance in the studio. If this was the case, it was sometimes possible for the TopPop camera crew to meet the artist at another location. Consequently, artists were filmed around the world, including Tom Browne in a studio in New York, David Cassidy at the airport in Schiphol, and Barry White at his home in Los Angeles. If there was no way to feature the artists on the show, their promo video would be played - if one existed, since prior to the 1980s these were not routinely created. If all else failed there was a fourth option, that the show frequently had to resort to: hit songs were played to a dance routine by dancer and choreographer Penney de Jager and her troupe. When music videos became more common on television, the popularity of TopPop decreased and the programme was stopped in 1988. TopPop was chosen as the programme of the century in a poll in 2000 by Televizier.
Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep
AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep or in English: "General Association of Radio Broadcasting") was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broadcaster in the Netherlands. In 2014 AVRO merged with fellow broadcaster TROS to form AVROTROS.
History
On 8 July 1923, Hilversumsche Draadlooze Omroep was launched by the Nederlandsche Seintoestellen Fabriek (in English: Dutch Transmitter Factory) under supervision of Willem Vogt. On 21 July 1923, it provided the very first regular radio broadcast in the Netherlands. In 1927 it changed its name into Algemeene Nederlandsche Radio Omroep (ANRO), followed soon by a merger with Nederlandsche Omroep Vereeniging (NOV). On 28 December 1927, the two merged broadcasters continued as Algemeene Vereeniging Radio Omroep (A.V.R.O., in English: "General Association of Radio Broadcasting").
Radio channels
Under NPO Radio 4:
AVRO Back to the Old School
AVRO Baroque around the Clock
AVRO Easy Listening
AVRO Klassiek
AVRO Het beste van het beste
AVRO Radio Festival Classique
AVRO Steenen Tijdperk Fifties
AVRO Steenen Tijdperk Sixties
AVRO Ziel en Zaligheid
AVRO Operette
Podcasts:
