Willem van Kooten, the man who, under the name “Joost den Draaijer”, sparked a radio revolution in the Netherlands in the 1960s and who also became an influential name in the Dutch media and music industry in as a businessman, died Friday. As a DJ, trader, language purist and bon vivant, he was unique in the Netherlands. He died 4 days before his 84th birthday.
Willem van Kooten began his radio career under the name Joost den Draaijer at the offshore station Radio Veronica while still a student. His fluid, student-like presentation style with inimitable humor was revolutionary in an era of broadcasting “formal” voices. With the Veronica Top 40 he introduced radio charts in the Netherlands in 1965 and, as program manager, he was the first in the Netherlands to introduce “horizontal programming”: regular DJs and musical genres at the same times every day.
After a conflict, he left Veronica in 1968, only to provide Veronica with a serious competitor three years later with Radio Noordzee. In the first months of 1971 he presented both the National Hit Parade at NOS and the North Sea Top 50 at Radio Noordzee. He finally chose the North Sea, but he also left this station a year later.
From 1974 to 1978 he produced “Joost is not allowed to eat”, daily from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Hilversum III, also the first horizontal program of public broadcasting in the Netherlands. This adventure also ended in a conflict of interest. In the mid-1980s, Joost made programs for a while for the Dutch offshore station Radio Monique. In the 1990s, he was responsible for launching Arrow Classic Rock Radio on cable.
The recurring conflicts of interest were related to the fact that Van Kooten was also fully active in the music industry during his radio career. He did it with Red Bullet, his own successful label, production company and music publisher. He has achieved worldwide success as a music publisher with, among others, the Dutch bands Golden Earring, Shocking Blue, Tee Set and George Baker Selection and Stars on 45. Joost is also considered the inventor of the term “Palingsound “.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Van Kooten focused on real estate (in Portugal) and other business activities. He was also co-founder of Leefbaar Nederland. In 2006 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau and in 2018 he received the Marconi Oeuvre Prize for his great radio services. In Hilversum, a roundabout also bears his name: the Joost den Draaijer roundabout.
The last big dream he realized was the Institute of Sound and Image, a museum of the Dutch audiovisual world where he worked with To be continuedpresenter Han Peekel fought hard.
-Also read:
Hans Knot about Joost den Draaijer:
Listen again to Joost’s programs at Veronica, Noordzee, NOS and Monique:
