Bull Verweij
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Hendrik "Bull" Verweij (12 September 1909 – 19 February 2010) was one of the founders of the Dutch
offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nat ...
station
Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and was on air for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands, to stimulate the sales of ra ...
, and was president of the station from its founding in 1959 until 1975. He was born in
Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...
. After Veronica was forced to stop, one of the DJs of the station, , formed the
Veronica Omroep Organisatie Veronica, Veronika, etc., may refer to: People * Veronica (name) * Saint Veronica * Saint Veronica of Syria Arts and media Comics and literature * ''Veronica'', an 1870 novel by Frances Eleanor Trollope * '' Veronica (novel)'', a 2005 novel b ...
: a legal entity that grew from a candidate broadcasting organisation to the largest broadcaster in the country.


The Veronica brothers

Bull was one of the three initial brothers who, together, formed the
offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nat ...
station Veronica. From 1960 the
offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nat ...
station transmitted from a former
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
lightvessel A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. It is used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the ...
the "Borkum Riff" and in 1964 the three brothers decided to buy a larger trawler that was destined for scrapping: the ''
Norderney Norderney (; ) is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. The island is , having a total area of about and is therefore Germany's ninth-largest island. Norderney's population amounts to about 5,850 ...
''. Bull was the founder and driving force behind offshore radio in the Netherlands. He developed the
business model A business model describes how a Company, business organization creates, delivers, and captures value creation, value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-pub ...
for commercial radio in the Netherlands. Initially Bull and his brothers Jaap and Dirk were in the textile trade. He realized that the existing Dutch public broadcasting system didn't appeal to the younger generation. The younger generation listened to foreign stations, such as
Radio Luxemburg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...
, and the Verweij brothers decided to start an offshore radio station. Radio formats that are now common place, such as "horizontal programming" were introduced by the Verweijes. He also introduced advertising on radio in the Netherlands. The public radio stations in those years were completely funded by the state and it was not possible for companies to reach out to the public via national radio-stations. Bull Verweij was seen as the initiator of commercial broadcasting and modern radio formats in The Netherlands.


Controversy on ''Mebo II''

Another radio ship was the Mebo II: the owners of Veronica had also invested in this ship when their owners Meister and Bollier needed extra cash, but with the condition that the Mebo II would transmit from the English coast (and targeted for the UK), but due to changes in the law the ship was forced to move. Despite the deal with Veronica they dropped anchor next to the Norderney and started targeting the Dutch audience. As the transmitters of the Mebo II were very powerful Veronica was afraid they would lose market-share to the ''
Mebo II The ''Mebo II'' was originally the Dutch freighter ''Silvretta'', built in 1948 by De Groot en van Vliet, Slikkerveer. It had a weight of 630 tons and a length of 186 feet. In 1969, it was bought by Edwin Bollier and Erwin Meister, renamed and c ...
'' transmissions. In addition, the Dutch government threatened to ratify new international Treaty of Stasbourgh that would make offshore radio illegal which would also be the end of Veronica.
Co-owner and advertising manager Norbert Jürgens advised Verweij to sabotage the anchors of the ''Mebo II'' so it would drift within the 6 mile-zone, bringing the ship within (legal) reach of Dutch law and getting it confiscated for having illegal radio transmission equipment on board. Unlike Veronica's ''Norderney'' the ''Mebo II'' has its own engines so these would have to be sabotaged as well before breaking the anchor chains. Without talking to Verweij, Jürgens changed the job for three divers hired to sabotage the anchored and orders them to actually bomb an old-line in the engine room to start a fire that would force the ''Mebo II'' to be towed to the nearest harbor (or let the ship sink).
Execution of the plan went wrong. When the crew on board the ''Mebo II'' heard the bomb explode, they saw a small boat sail away from the ''Mebo II'' towards the coast, and an SOS call was sent out in the middle of the radio-show. The three divers, who were promised 25,000 guilders to sabotage the ship, were arrested and that led quickly towards Jürgens and also Verweij. The Radio Veronica staff demanded an explanation and threatened a strike. Verweij appeared on Dutch television revealing that he had paid the three divers, but only to get the Mebo II into territorial waters in a way which would not harm anybody on board. It was the plan to force the ''Mebo II'' inside the six
nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at t ...
limit so that Dutch authorities could confiscate the "pirate radio" . Nevertheless, both Jürgens, Verweij and the three divers were convicted and sentenced to one year in prison.Veronicastory.nl
Bomaanslag
. Suze Krijnen: 8 June 2010. Visited 29 June 2012
Documentary: , retrieved: 29 June 2012 He was later sentenced to three months in jail. Verweij later admitted that, while he stood by his version of the story, he was fully responsible for the bombing and regretted his involvement.. The plan completely backfired, as the general public sympathized with
Radio Noordzee Radio Noordzee may refer to: * a radio station broadcasting from the REM Island in 1964 (alongside TV Noordzee) * Radio Noordzee Internationaal, broadcasting from the vessel ''Mebo II'' from 1970 to 1974 * Dutch commercial radio station Radio Noo ...
and the station gained popularity. The additional radio ship and station targeting the Dutch marketplace, as well as the very powerful signal from the ''Mebo II'', were the direct reason for Dutch Parliament to vote in favor of ratifying the Strasbourgh Treaty, leading to the closing down of Veronica and Radio Noordzee on 31 August 1974.


After Radio Veronica

Verweij turned 100 years old in 2009, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from
news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
Arend Langenberg Arend Willem Langenberg (19 January 1949 – 30 December 2012) was a Dutch voice-over, voice actor and radio presenter. He died at the age of 63 from Colorectal cancer, colon cancer. Bull Verweij wins Lifetime Achievement Award (article in Dutch)
He died in his sleep in a retirement home in
Loosdrecht Loosdrecht () is a town in the municipality of Wijdemeren, North Holland, the Netherlands, with a population of about 8,600 inhabitants. Loosdrecht consists of two small villages: Nieuw-Loosdrecht and Oud-Loosdrecht. Nieuw Loosdrecht covers a ...
.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verweij, Bull 1909 births 2010 deaths Dutch businesspeople Dutch men centenarians People from Hilversum