''HUMO'' is a popular

Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid.

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 Guy Mortier (born 24 March 1943) is a Flemish journalist and radio and television personality. He is known as former chief editor of magazine ''HUMO'' for over thirty years (1969–2003). He was also jury member in the radio programs ''De taalstr ...

became its chief editor. He gave the magazine its playful comedic tone, put more emphasis on articles about

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

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 a d ...

, an important Belgian contest for young rock bands,. Humo also sponsors the Rock Werchter 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 Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, suc ...

, 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 Son ...

and

Cowboy Henk ''Cowboy Henk'' is a Belgian 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'', in which it ...

, 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. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...

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'' which was 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 *

Yves Desmet Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name * Yves (single album), ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * Yves (fil ...

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 ma ...

Herman Selleslags Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minne ...

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 hitch ...

* 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 ...

Willy Courteaux Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scr ...

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 ...

Arnon Grunberg Arnon Yasha Yves Grunberg (; 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 transla ...

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 of his ...

Tom Lanoye Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

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 Latinised from the Old High German name Wido. It originated in Medieval Italy. Guido later became a male first name in Austria, Germany, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Switzerland. The mea ...

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 polit ...

Cartoonists

Jonas Geirnaert Jonas Geirnaert (born July 28, 1982) 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). Of the copy he sent in for selection only the fir ...

* Gummbah *

Jeroom Jeroom Snelders (born 1977) is a Belgian cartoonist and comics artist, who is frequently published in the magazine ''Humo''. He studied graphic design at St. Lucas in Ghent, where one of his teachers was Ever Meulen. He has published his work i ...

(''

'', ''

'') *

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

(''

'') *

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 '' Vade ...

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humo 1936 establishments in Belgium Magazines published 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 Television magazines