Gerard Ekdom (born 26 March 1978, in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

) is a Dutch

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

DJ formerly at the radio stations

NPO Radio 2 NPO Radio 2 is a public-service radio station from the Netherlands, broadcasting in an adult hits format, focusing on music from the 1980s to the 2010s and current hits, though 1960s and 1970s hits may also air. It is part of the Netherlands Pu ...

and the

3FM NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are rock, alternative, indie and pop, though dance and Mega Top 30 tracks may also air at times. History ...

. Programs he hosted include Arbeidsvitaminen (lit. ''labour vitamines'', a Dutch term for music played while doing manual labor) between September 2001 and September 2010) on weekdays from 10:00 until 12:00 am, "Effe Ekdom" (September 2010-October 2015) as well as the Friday evening show

Ekstra Weekend ''Ekstra Weekend'' was a Dutch radio broadcast by the Dutch public broadcaster NTR for 3FM. The show aired on Friday nights between 7 and 10 pm. The show was hosted by Gerard Ekdom and Michiel Veenstra. The name ''Ekstra Weekend'' is a c ...

, together with Michiel Veenstra.

Biography

From early in life, Gerard Ekdom had the ambition to become a DJ. As a young talent, he was frequently asked as a drive-in jockey since he was fourteen. He started his radio career at local station Radio De Bilt. He has worked for the Stadsomroep Utrecht and NEW Dance Radio. He owes his career in part to DJ Fred Siebelink. Ekdom met Siebelink one day in Utrecht, recognizing him by his voice, and introduced himself. Siebelink spotted the boy's talent and showed him around the Stadsomroep, which was happy to employ him. In 1998, Ekdom started his career at 3FM. A year and a half earlier he had sent a demo tape to then-manager Jan Steeman of the project ''Pyjama FM'' by

AVRO Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

studios. After a phone call from Steeman he was welcome to AVRO's night school. During this studies he was occasionally heard on Magic FM and

Hot Radio Hot Radio is a community radio station for Poole offering rhythmic music and local information. The station started life as "The Bay 102.8" and was awarded a community radio licence by Ofcom in 2007 and began broadcasting at 00:01 on 8 Novembe ...

. In September 1999 Ekdom moved from night shows to Sunday morning and hosted the show ''EKDOM!''. His major breakthrough was seven months later, when the ''Arbeidsvitaminen'' needed a stand-in host. Both Ekdom and the AVRO enjoyed his hosting of that show, and quickly afterward he was given the opportunity for his own nightly show. On 17 September 2001 he succeeded Wim Rigter as host of ''Arbeidsvitaminen''. Since then, he has been on air every weekday between 9 and 12, and has made the show the most famous of its station.

3FM Serious Request

From 19 to 24 December 2005, Ekdom teamed up with colleagues Giel Beelen and Wouter van der Goes, to host the 2nd edition of

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

radio show 3FM Serious Request. For the duration of this show, broadcast 24 hours per day, they lived in a so-called 'glass house', without solid food. Radio listeners could request songs in return for a donation. The proceeds were donated to the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

for victims of war in the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. Since then Ekdom has co-hosted

Serious Request Serious Request is a family of annual multi-day, multimedia fundraising events for International Red Cross initiatives, typically hosted by radio stations in the week before Christmas. The project was begun in 2004 by Dutch public pop music ...

another seven times, each year for a different Red Cross charity. * 2006 with Giel Beelen and Sander Lantinga — for victims and clearing of

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

s * 2007 with Michiel Veenstra and Rob Stenders — to provide more people with safe drinking water * 2009 with Giel Beelen and Annemieke Schollaardt — raising money to fight malaria * 2010 with Giel Beelen and Coen Swijnenberg — for children who lost their parents to

aids The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

* 2011 with Coen Swijnenberg and Timur Perlin — to aid mothers who have taken damage through wars and conflicts * 2012 with Giel Beelen and Michiel Veenstra — to reduce infant mortality * 2014 with Coen Swijnenberg and Domien Verschuuren — to aid girls and women victimised by sexual violence in conflict areas. A year earlier, this charity show had won a Marconi Award. Since then, every year it has been a greater success than the year before. Gary Fomdeck is an alias name of Gerard Ekdom; he used this name to release a Christmas song for Serious Request, all revenue from the song shall be donated to the Red Cross. The song called ''I'll Be There This Christmas'' made it to number one in the Dutch

Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

chart, and in the Dutch iTunes chart as well.

Television

Ekdom also made television-appearances; he hosted '' Toppop3'', the revived version of the chart-show ''

TopPop ''TopPop'' was a Dutch television programme. It was the first regular dedicated pop music television series in the Dutch language area. The Netherlands broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly from 22 September 1970 to 27 June 1988. Presenter ...

'', and the talent-search ''Join the Beat''. In 2011, he presented the Dutch version of the game show '' Fort Boyard'', alongside Dutch television presenter Art Rooijakkers. In 2022, he appeared in the television show '' The Masked Singer''.

NPO Radio 2

In 2015 Ekdom moved to NPO Radio 2; he hosted the breakfast-show ''Ekdom in de Ochtend'' and the 00:00 - 02:00 pm-slot in the Saturday-sounight. On April 4, 2018 Ekdom announced his upcoming transfer to Radio 10; he hosted his last show for NPO Radio 2 on June 29.

References

External links

Gerard's websiteWebsite of ArbeidsvitaminenWebsite of Effe EkdomGerard Ekdom on 3FM's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekdom, Gerard 1978 births Living people Dutch radio personalities Mass media people from Utrecht (city) 21st-century Dutch people