''Humo'' (stylized in all caps) is a popular

Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

Belgian weekly radio and television magazine.

History and profile

''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpart to ''Le Moustique'', now '' Télémoustique''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

between 1940 and 1944, ''Humoradio'' was not published. In 1958, when television started to reach a larger audience in the country, the magazine was renamed as ''Humo''. The magazine is published on a weekly basis. ''Humo'' as it is recognized today started emerging from 1969 on, when Guy Mortier became its chief editor. He gave the magazine its playful comedic tone, put more emphasis on articles about

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

and shaped it into a magazine that appealed to a left-wing, progressive audience. During Mortier's term many classic columns, interview series, annual cultural events and comic strips that are still considered to be part of "Humo" today saw the day of light. Among those is the annual ''Humo's Pop Poll'', organized since 1967, which lets readers elect their favorite people, radio shows, TV shows, music groups,... of the year. Another recurring event is Humo's Rock Rally, an important Belgian contest for young rock bands. Humo also sponsors the

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiva ...

festival since its conception in 1977. In 2003, Mortier retired. ''Humo''s home cartoonist is Kamagurka, whose style influenced the overall cult appeal of the magazine. The magazine's mascots, Bert and Cowboy Henk, are creations by him, both featured in weekly comics series. The owner of ''Humo'' was

Sanoma Sanoma Corporation (, , formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group and a European education publisher. The company has media business in Finland and an education business in twelve European countries, including Belgium, Netherlands, ...

and was published by Sanoma magazines. In May 2015 the magazine was acquired by De Persgroep.

Circulation

Since 2002, ''Humo'' has had a declining circulation rate. During the period of 2006–2007, the circulation of the magazine was 278,000 copies. The magazine sold 320,000 copies on 23 September 2008 when it offered a free copy of ''Goddamned Days on a Goddamned Planet'', an unpublished new novel of Flemish author

Dimitri Verhulst Dimitri Verhulst (born 2 October 1972) is a Belgian writer and poet. He is best known for his novels ''Problemski Hotel'' and ''The Misfortunates''. Biography Verhulst was an unwanted child in a violent home and spent his later childhood in a f ...

. During the first quarter of 2009, the circulation of the magazine was 256,558 copies. The magazine had a circulation of 215,409 copies in 2010 and 197,105 copies in 2011. It was 166,732 copies in 2012. The 2013 circulation of the magazine was 150,232 copies.

Past and present contributors to ''Humo''

Journalists

Herman De Coninck Herman de Coninck (21 February 1944 – 22 May 1997) was a Belgium, Belgian poet, essayist, journalist and publisher. Life Herman de Coninck was born in Mechelen, Belgium, where his parents ran a Catholic bookshop. He attended the Sint-Rombou ...

* Yves Desmet * Marc Didden * Guy Mortier * Herman Selleslags * Serge Simonart * Rudy Vandendaele

Columnists

Herman Brusselmans Herman Frans Martha Brusselmans (; born 9 October 1957) is a Belgian novelist, poet, playwright and columnist. He lives in Ghent. He is one of the best-selling authors in Flanders, but controversial at the same time for his profane language and o ...

* Willy Courteaux * Patrick De Witte * Arnon Grunberg (until August 2024) * Gerrit Komrij *

Tom Lanoye Tom Lanoye (; born 27 August 1958) is a Belgian novelist, poet, columnist, screenwriter and playwright. He is one of the most widely read and honoured authors in his language area (the Netherlands and Flanders), and makes regular appearances at ...

* Hugo Matthysen * Jan Mulder * Kees van Kooten * Guido Van Meir * Rudy Vandendaele

Cartoonists

* Jonas Geirnaert * Gummbah * Jeroom * Kamagurka ('' Bert'', '' Cowboy Henk'') * Ever Meulen * Herr Seele ('' Cowboy Henk'') * Peter van Straaten

References

External links

Official site
{{Commons 1936 establishments in Belgium Weekly magazines published in Belgium Dupuis titles Dutch-language magazines Satirical magazines published in Belgium Magazines published in Flanders Listings magazines Magazines established in 1936 Music magazines published in Belgium Television magazines