''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 Humo's Rock Rally is a Belgian contest for rock bands, organized every second year since 1978. It is organized by the Belgian magazine ''HUMO''. Every band that has not yet released an official recording, may enter the Rock Rally, by submitting ...

, 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 Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgium, Belgian cartoonist, playwright, comic strip artist, painter, comedian, comedic singer and television producer, known for the Absurd humor, absurd nature of his work. He cre ...

, whose style influenced the overall cult appeal of the magazine. The magazine's mascots,

Bert Bert or BERT may refer to: Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert *Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname *Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album ''Here Comes a ...

and

Cowboy Henk ''Cowboy Henk'' is a Belgian Surreal humour, absurd/surreal humour gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Herr Seele and written by Kamagurka. It was originally published in the newspaper ''De Morgen'', but later taken over by the magazine ''HUMO' ...

, 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 DPG Media Group is a Belgian media group. It is active in Belgium and the Netherlands. The exact ownership structure is not clear; it is believed that the group is mainly owned by the Belgian Van Thillo family.

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 Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 French film People * Yves (given name), including a list of pe ...

Marc Didden Marc Didden (born 28 July 1949) is a Belgian film director. He and his family moved to Brussels when he was age 2. He grew up in Brussels and studied Film Direction and Playwriting there. Didden was rock journalist and critic for the Flemish ...

* Guy Mortier *

Herman Selleslags Herman Selleslags (3 March 1938 – 18 October 2024) was a Belgian photojournalist, mainly working for the magazine ''Humo''. Life and career Selleslags was born in Antwerp in 1938. His father, Rik Selleslags, was a photojournalist as well. Herma ...

Serge Simonart Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...

* 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 Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

Arnon Grunberg Arnon Yasha Yves Grünberg (; born 22 February 1971) is a Dutch writer of novels, essays, and columns, as well as a journalist. He published some of his work under the heteronym Marek van der Jagt. He lives in New York. His work has been transl ...

(until August 2024) *

Gerrit Komrij Gerrit Jan Komrij (30 March 1944 – 5 July 2012) was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s, writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free form poetry, free- ...

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 Hugo Matthysen (born 30 January 1956, in Ekeren) is a Belgian (Flemish) singer, guitarist, columnist, writer, Master in Philosophy and actor. He lives in the municipality of Hove in Antwerp. Biography In 1978, he played with Bart Peeters and Ja ...

* Jan Mulder *

Kees van Kooten Cornelis Reinier "Kees" van Kooten (; born 10 August 1941) is a Dutch comedian, television actor, and writer. He formed the duo Van Kooten & De Bie with Wim de Bie from 1972 to 1998. Biography Cornelis Reinier van Kooten was born on 10 Augu ...

Guido Van Meir Guido is a given name. It has been a male first name in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and Latin America, as well as other places with migration from those. Regarding origins, there ...

Rudy Vandendaele Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

Cartoonists

Jonas Geirnaert Jonas Geirnaert (born 28 July 1982) is a Belgian animator. He studied animation at the KASK in Ghent. In May 2004, he won the Short Film Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with his animated short ''Flatlife'' (11 min). The first minute of the ...

* Gummbah * Jeroom *

(''

'', ''

'') *

Ever Meulen Ever Meulen (born Eddy Vermeulen; 12 February 1946 in Kuurne, Belgium Herr Seele Herr Seele is the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (born 13 April 1959, Torhout, Belgium), a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor and piano collector. He is mainly known for drawing the absurd humor comic strip '' Cowboy Henk'', for which his coll ...

(''

'') *

Peter van Straaten Peter van Straaten (25 March 1935 – 8 December 2016) was a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his political cartoons as well as his satirical observations of everyday people. He also had a newspaper comic strip '' Vader ...

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