Coen Swijnenberg (44) and Sander Lantinga (47) start Monday with their morning show the ‘Coen & Sander Show’ on JOE, together with Merel Westrik (44) who reads the news. The radio DJs especially hope that listeners ‘get the familiar Coen and Sander sound’, the duo tells the ANP. “But it sounds a bit more mature, so in a new guise.”
“We are now going to the morning and that is a different sport”
The two have been working together for about twenty years, of which they made an afternoon show for eighteen years. Now Coen and Sander will make a morning show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on a new channel. “It’s exciting,” says Sander. “A new program with a partly new team, and it is also an hour longer than we are used to. And you have been saying ‘good afternoon’ for eighteen years, now you are saying ‘good morning’ almost ten hours earlier.”
The DJs want to play a partly different sound, they say. “It will be Coen and Sander, but different from what you are used to,” says Lantinga. “We are looking for the Coen and Sander 2.0,” Coen adds. “It is not the case that we are taking the afternoon show one-on-one. We are now moving to the morning and that is a different sport.” The morning is the radio station’s most important program, he says. “So it’s also very honorable that we can do that.”
The two do not lack experience, but it will still be a new challenge according to the two. For example, the news plays a greater role in a morning program. “That news can sometimes be tough news, we also report that. But you also want to wake up with a good feeling,” says Coen. That means finding a new balance. “So no, we will definitely take a step.” This is also partly new for Westrik. She takes her first steps in the radio world. “I was approached if I wanted to do this. Then I met Coen and Sander and we talked about what the morning show should be.” The choice was quickly made, says Merel. “I knew immediately: I wanted to be part of this adventure.”
Was a morning show a long-cherished wish? “It was on the list, but not high,” says Sander. “And at a certain point I noticed that it did not get higher on the list, but the list did become shorter. At one point I thought: we have been working together for twenty years, are we going to continue in the afternoon? Are we going for 25 years? ? Or are we going to stop? Everything goes through your mind.”
It is special to have the opportunity to start over somewhat, the radio DJ continues. “So it became a concrete challenge in my mind. It is also simply the most beautiful time slot.” Swijnenberg also reacted quickly, he says. “I’m actually a morning person. At the same time, you don’t care about the time of day. It takes discipline. But this is such a cool story. That you can do the most important program on a new channel, with this team. You just can’t refuse that.”
