Patrick Kicken: Will Coen and Sander win the match against JOE or will arrogance kill them?

[BLOG] Yes, of course I also see that (some of) my predictions here are not (yet) coming true, so for now I’ll just focus on what you’re here for: diving into depth when it comes to radio shows , especially if they are new. Although new?! Coen and Sander have had a radio marriage for almost twenty years, so you could also speak of a duo that is forced to reunite every five days based on name recognition. This time not in the afternoon at a station with the wind at the back, the then successful 3FM and later 538, but at a brand new station that still has to prove itself. What do these gentlemen have in store for us and will they really make a difference? Just an analysis of the resurrection of the salt and pepper shaker of Dutch radio.

At first I was excited. Coen and Sander attract a big name as newsreader, Merel Westrik. I think: look, this has been thought about. You could already read it here last Saturday, King’s Day. But the gentlemen presented it on Wednesday, during a real press conference, as if they were making world news. In any case, I have my reservations about launching your morning show in this way. You haven’t made a single dent in a pack of butter yet, you have to start all over again and you will have to win over the JOE listener one by one. It’s just like investing: past successes do not guarantee the future. Although C&S most likely think differently about that. It’s us after all! And people still know us from the past. The Americans say ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’. Think of it as a kind of date with potentially many new listeners, who don’t know you yet or who are willing to change their opinion (childish, talk too much) about you.

How can you judge in advance whether it will be something while they still have to start, Kicken! Well, for example, I see on the Instagram stories of JOE and Coen that they are calling for the item ‘JOE modal’: What do men think they can do better than women? Sigh, here we go again I thought. Once again making your listener pay for the fun content, while you are sitting there for a fortune. Something that happens (far too) often on other morning and afternoon shows. Is that the best thing you could come up with during your six-month holiday? And the name of the item ‘JOE modal’ also conveys that old arrogant tone of standing above your listener. If you want to win in the morning you have to come up with HIT items that listeners can’t get anywhere else. A radio column by Maarten van Rossem, for example, or René van der Gijp, for which everyone turned on my morning show on Veronica on Monday mornings at 8:15 am. Playing ABBA every day and saying that you have been to Sweden and then playing that Swedish chef from the Muppets: you won’t be able to cope with that anymore.

The boys are used to hanging out in the afternoon on a major channel that was already successful. Now they will have to do everything they can to pull the cart at a new station so that things start running there. That’s something completely different. The fact that they had already (as I hear) asked ‘if they could also start at 7am’ makes me sceptical. It is top sport, the morning show every day and requires iron discipline. Lantinga is 47 and has four young children, Swijnenberg mainly sees radio as a well-paid hobby. Also the fact that I see on the JOE socials that Kai interviews Coen and Sander as if they were Maxima and Willem-Alexander, ouch and phew. You can no longer get away with that immodesty on the radio in 2024. It will undoubtedly be a bit of a blast in the beginning, but can you keep it up when everyone is barbecuing outside until 10 p.m. and you have to lie in bed for a long time? Or if they start to interfere with the content from Flanders?

Patrick Kicken

PS: Mark Labrand was actually in conversation with NPO Radio 2. And I still see Van Someren going from 10 to 100, even if Staverman is first parked during the weekend. If Swijnenberg and Lantinga have courage, they will ensure that the team of competing morning shows does not sleep a wink on Sunday night. I’m sure you can find an intern who would be willing to give them a call at 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. I’m sure everyone is talking about it, even among competitors. And then only announce on Wednesday that it was the newest morning show in the Netherlands. But think about that again, something so exciting on Dutch radio…