Willem van Kooten (; 7 January 1941 – 3 January 2025) was a Dutch businessman and radio DJ under the name Joost den Draaijer (). He was born in Hilversum.
Life and career
At the age of 19, Van Kooten joined offshore radio 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 ...
in 1960 as a writer of jingles and commercials. Later he became a DJ and
program director
In service industries, such as education, a program manager or program director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services. For example, in education, a program director is responsible for developing ...
. He used the pseudonym Joost den Draaijer, which was a pun on playing records ("draaien" is Dutch for "play"; literally his pseudonym means ''Joost the Player''). In 1964 he initiated Veronica's
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
, the first weekly pop chart in the Netherlands which quickly became Veronica's most listened-to show. The chart was modelled after various American examples, including a printed version of the Top 40 which listeners could pick up for free at their local record shop.
At the end of the 1960s, Van Kooten formed a music publishing company. The recording arm of this company was named Red Bullet (a term for a fast moving record in the Top 40). He signed a number of Dutch acts who he began to promote abroad. One of them was
Shocking Blue
Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They were part of the Nederbeat movement in the Netherlands. The band had a string of hit songs during the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement of the 1960s and e ...
, whose "
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
" became the first Dutch number one hit in the American charts.
In 1970 he moved from Veronica to Dutch public broadcaster
NOS for which he continued to work until 1978. After that he became an investor in media businesses and on the international property market.
On 2 January 2025, the Top 40, which he had masterminded, celebrated its 60th anniversary. A day later, Willem van Kooten died, four days before his 84th birthday.
See also
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Van (Dutch)
''van'' () is a very common prefix in Dutch language surnames, where it is known as a . In those cases it nearly always refers to a certain, often quite distant, ancestor's Toponymic surname, place of origin or residence; for example, Ludwig va ...
References
External links
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1941 births
2025 deaths
Dutch DJs
People from Hilversum
Dutch businesspeople
{{Netherlands-business-bio-stub