Radio 538 () is a Dutch commercial radio station that was founded in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

, Netherlands in 1992. It is the second-most listened to radio station in the Netherlands. Radio 538 refers to the wavelength on which

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and broadcast offshore for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands to stimulate the sales ...

used to broadcast in the 1970s. The station is owned by Talpa Network. Mostly targetting a young audience, the station plays a mix of current dance, R&B, pop, and rock hits. The music selection is mainly based on the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 ( nl, Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica ...

chart. Its breakfast and drive-time shows are talk-intensive. The station was originally only accessible through cable. In 1998, Radio 538 upgraded their frequency package, allowing for different frequencies by region. Radio 538 launched the hip-hop and contemporary R&B program ''Juize'', which developed into the radio station Juize FM in 2004. In 2011, Radio 538 created a sister television station called

TV 538 Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

History

Radio 538 was founded in 1992 and is the successor of Sky Hitradio, a sister station of Sky Radio that broadcast from July to 11 December 1992 and an initiative of a group of former

employees, led by Lex Harding. Transmissions began on 11 December 1992 from a villa in Bussum. The name Radio 538 is a reference to the

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...

(538m:558 kHz) on which Radio Veronica was broadcast in the seventies. Presenters of the first hour were

Rick van Velthuysen Rick van Velthuysen (; born 15 September 1961) is a Dutch radio DJ. Born in Rotterdam, Van Velthuysen started his career at the age of 18 with ''Radio Bollenstreek''. In 1985 he became a DJ with KRO and had a gameshow with . He moved to AVRO ...

, Wessel van Diepen,

Erik de Zwart Erik de Zwart (born 16 June 1957 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch broadcaster, former D.J., former Music Box, The Music Factory and MTV V.J. and media entrepreneur. He was co-founder and shareholder of Radio 538 (1992) and The Music Factory (1995). P ...

Michael Pilarczyk Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

Will Luikinga Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

and

Corné Klijn Corné () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Loire-Authion.Studio Concordia in Bussum, a building that was already being used as a television studio and was used in the eighties and nineties by Veronica program ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''. In the late nineties Radio 538 moved from Bussum to Hilversum, where it moved into a studio complex close to the town hall. Since December 1, 2012, houses the entire

538 Group Talpa Radio (formerly: ''538 Group'' and ''Sky Radio Group'') is a radio company of ''Talpa Network'', in which various radio and television activities are housed. History The company started in 2002 when John de Mol Jr. bought '' Noordzee FM' ...

in the 4400 m2 NCRV building at Bergweg 70 in Hilversum. Initially, from its start in 1992 until 1995, Radio 538 was only available via cable. A request to be allowed to broadcast over the air was rejected at that time. Following a media campaign during which 320,000 signatures were collected and Radio 538 acquired its over-the-air frequency in 1995 – or more precisely, a collection of several regional frequencies. In 2003, Radio 538 was granted a new nationwide frequency, 102 MHz (FM). 538 had to pay €57 million for the new frequencies. In 1995, Lex Harding started TMF (The Music Factory), a TV station, and Erik de Zwart became the new chairman of 538. At the end of 2002 Erik de Zwart left to go to competitor Noordzee FM. Jan-Willem Brüggenwirth became the new chairman. In December 2003 Radio 538 was sold to Advent International, Lex Harding retaining 10% of the shares. In May 2005 Radio 538 was sold in its entirety to

Talpa Holding Talpa Network is a Dutch media conglomerate created by John de Mol Jr. in 2017. History Talpa Network was created in 2017 by John de Mol when he merged all his various media assets, De Mol wanted to create a Dutch media conglomerate that cou ...

, owned by Dutch media mogul

John de Mol Johannes Hendrikus Hubert "John" de Mol Jr. (born 24 April 1955) is a Dutch Mass media, media Business magnate, tycoon. De Mol is one of the men behind production companies Endemol and Talpa Network, Talpa. He created the reality television form ...

. In June 2007 De Mol sold the TV and radio assets of Talpa to

RTL Nederland RTL Nederland is a Dutch media network, a subsidiary of the RTL Group. The media company is located in Hilversum, although the licences of its TV stations are issued in Luxembourg. History The history of the network dates back to 1989 when dutch ...

and became shareholder of RTL Nederland. Radio 538 managed in 10 years to win a substantial market share. In April/May 2004, the station nudged market leader Sky Radio to the throne. Nowadays 538 still competes with

NPO Radio 2 NPO Radio 2 is a public-service radio station from the Netherlands, broadcasting in an adult hits format, focusing on music from the 1980s to the 2010s and current hits, however 1960s and 1970s hits may also air. It is part of the Netherlands P ...

and NPO 3FM as the most listened radio station in the Netherlands. The marketing share is between 10 and 12 percent. In 2002, 2004 and 2009 Radio 538 won the Marconi Award for best radio station. In Flanders, a Flemish version of Radio 538 launched on cable in February 1999, pending the airwave frequency allocation for national commercial radio, which in the late nineties was announced by the Flemish government in 2000. When in 2000 was no clear procedure for a given frequency, Radio 538 withdrew from Flanders. In 2011 Talpa worked together with Finnish media conglomerate Sanoma to buy the Dutch activities of

SBS Broadcasting SBS Broadcasting Group (SBS), formerly Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems, was a European multinational media group, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses in Northern, Western and Cen ...

from German broadcaster

ProSiebenSat.1 Media ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media & digital company. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures. The company is listed on the Fran ...

. As part of that deal De Mol sold his shares in RTL Nederland to the

RTL Group RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France and ...

, retaining the ownership of Radio 538 and its sister station SLAM!FM. In 2014 Radio 538 started with some new programs. De Avondploeg, De Show Zonder Naam and Jurk!FM. In 2018, the station announced that it would stop carrying the flagship Dutch Top 40 chart. Prior to this, it has been discontinued on FM signal for quite some time. The replacement will be named 538TOP50, and it is compiled based on the selection from 150,000 538Members, airplay on Spotify, YouTube and all the Dutch music stations, alongside

Talpa Talpa may refer to: Places * Talpa, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Talpa, Teleorman, a commune in Teleorman County, Romania * Talpa, a village in Cândeşti Commune, Botoşani County, Romania * Talpa, a village in Bârgăuani Commun ...

's app JUKE. Dutch Top 40 is now on

Qmusic Qmusic may refer to: * Qmusic (Belgium), commercial radio station of the Medialaan group in Flanders since 12 November 2001 * Qmusic (Netherlands) Qmusic (previously written as Q-music) is a Dutch commercial radio station which has been broadcast ...

Format

In the beginning, the station focused mainly on youth with slogans like, "The station of a young generation". With the advent of disc jockeys such as Edwin Evers, the target group expanded, and the station became wider. A new Alarmschijf and Dancesmash still ran weekly. The listener can also help decide which music is played in the program Maak 't or kraak 't and in past the Top 538. Jingles for the station is recorded by Wessel van Diepen, Rick Romijn and

Kimberly van de Berkt Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. Nowadays, the station makes commercial hitradio for young people in the broadest sense of the word. The format consists of

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 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. "Top 40" or " con ...

music,

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

Contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...

and "throwbacks", supplemented with information and entertainment by DJs. The morning shows (4am-12pm) feature a mix of current and classic hits. The afternoon and nighttime shows focus more on current hits.

Frequencies

From the launch in 1992 and until 1994, Radio 538 was distributed via cable. In 1994 the station submitted a request for an FM license, however larger stations (such as Radio 538 and SkyRadio) were not granted any FM licenses at that time in favour of smaller, local radio stations. Subsequently, Radio 538 started a media campaign, where a total of 320,000 signatures were collected and in 1995 Radio 538 received license to broadcast on FM on the frequency (103.0 MHz, from Lelystad). On January 1, 1998, the station moved to another frequency package, with different frequencies in different regions. At the air distribution in 2003 (called Zerobase) Radio 538 received a new nationwide FM network. Radio 538 has since been received in large parts of the Netherlands over the air on the FM band via the following frequencies: 102.1/102.3 MHz North Holland, Groningen 102.2 MHz, 102.3 MHz North Brabant, Gelderland, Limburg, 102.4 MHz Zeeland and North Brabant, Friesland and Utrecht 102.5 MHz, 102.6 MHz Overijssel and Gelderland, 102.7 MHz South Holland and Drenthe. Radio 538 promotes its frequencies as "102 FM". Due to the lack of available FM frequencies in the south Limburg region, it was also rebroadcast on 891 kHz

mediumwave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

from a transmitter in Hulsberg. Radio 538 can also be received via

Digitenne Digitenne is the Dutch digital terrestrial television platform. It is owned by KPN. Digitenne uses the DVB-T2 standard. The national public television channels NPO 1, NPO 2, NPO 3 and the regional public television channels are free-to-air. For a ...

and the whole of Europe via satellite and worldwide via the Internet. Previously it was available on mobile phones via

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...

(on the portals of KPN i-mode and Vodafone Live) and in Limburg on AM 891 kHz, 336 m. Radio 538 also transmits a TMC signal from traffic for route navigation. From Tuesday, August 30, 2011 until November 23, 2011 Radio 538 was broadcast on 106.0 MHz from the tower of Ping FM in the Belgian Lanaken, for the region of Limburg-

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

from 12am at night until 7 pm. Ping FM was eventually ordered by the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media) to stop the retransmission of programs of Radio 538. In mid-September 2014 the programs of 538 can be heard via Ping FM. During the day on weekdays, on Thursday, till Sunday also few hours in the evening and on Saturday and Sunday mornings. In August 2016, it was reported that Radio 538 would cease to broadcast via mediumwave 891 kHz within one month, as it is now well-received via cable, DAB+ and the internet in the south Limburg region. From 26 October 2016 this transmitting is indeed ceased.

Programs

The two most important pillars of the weekday programming are the morning show De 538 Morning Show with Frank Dane (06.00-10.00), which can be heard on the channel from January 2019 (from April 2000 to December 2018 Edwin Evers presented the program Evers Staat Op) and the afternoon show De Coen en Sander Show with Coen Swijnenberg and Sander Lantinga (16.00-19.00). Between 10:00 and 16:00 Barend van Deelen, Niek van der Bruggen and Ivo van Breukelen will each present a two-hour program. In the evening Lindo Duvall (19.00-22.00) and Igmar Felicia (22.00-00.00) can be heard. At night there is the 53N8 Non-Stop, which only plays music. Danny Blom can be heard from 04.00 to 06.00. On Friday afternoon there is different programming with the 538 Top 50 (previously the Dutch Top 40) with Mark Labrand (14.00-18.00). The Friday evening programming consists of Weekend Wietze with Wietze de Jager (18.00-21.00), 538 weekend mix (21.00-22.00) and Mart Meijer (22.00-00.00). On Saturday during the day, the programming consists of: The best of 538 (6.00-10.00), Mart Meijer (10.00-13.00), Mark Labrand (13.00-16.00) and Weekend Wietze with Wietze de Jager (16.00-19.00). On Saturday evening the programming consists of: Global Dance Chart (19.00-21.00), Dance Department with Ivo van Breukelen (21.00-23.00), Martin Garrix (23.00-00.00), Lucas & Steve (00.00-01.00), Tiësto (01.00-2.00) and finally David Guetta (02.00-03.00). This is followed by two Non-stop programs. On Sunday during the day, Bas Menting (06:00-10:00), Mart Meijer (10:00-13:00) and Mark Labrand (13.00-16:00) present the 53N8 Top 50 Non-stop (16:00-19:00) one after the other. On Sunday evening you can listen to Jaimy de Ruijter (19.00-22.00) and Igmar Felicia (22.00-00.00).

News

Every hour also on the half-hour, the

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

is broadcast, which is provided by the Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP). The regular newsreaders on Radio 538 are: * Roelof Hemmen * Jo van Egmond * Mart Grol At other times the news is read by newscasters associated with the ANP.

Spinoffs

In 1999, Radio 538 started the hip-hop and

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...

program ''Juize'', which developed into the radio station Juize.FM on 18 July 2004. Since 1 July 2005, Juize FM is broadcast in most of the Netherlands by cable and has also started running shows with presenters.

Current DJs

Former DJs

Events

Queen's/King's day

Until 2011 538 organized annually at Queen's Day a big party on the

Museumplein The Museumplein (; ) is a public space in the Museumkwartier neighbourhood of the Amsterdam-Zuid borough in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Located at the Museumplein are three major museums – the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Stedelijk Museum � ...

in Amsterdam. Several artists from home and abroad joined there by from 12pm and the day was traditionally ended with a grand musical and visual spectacle of a well-known DJs. At this event, some 300,000 visitors came off. In November 2011 the city of Amsterdam decided that this Queen's Day Party was not allowed to take place in connection with safety. Initially, the 538-party in 2012 at the square near RAI Amsterdam will be held, but in January of that year it was decided to call off the whole party. After an evaluation of the edition 2012 the city council decided in 2013 to pursue the creation of more scattered, smaller celebrations on Queen's Day. Since King's Day 2014 the big party finds annual place again, but at a different location; in

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

on the Chasséveld.

538 Schoolawards

From 2005 to 2012 538 reached annual the from the best school in the Netherlands. All secondary schools in the Netherlands were able to register for this election, after which the students could vote for their school. The schools with the most votes went together into battle in the final to win a big school and the 538 Schoolawards title. In 2006 the Zwijsen College in

Veghel Veghel () is a town and a former municipality in the southern Netherlands. On 1 January 2017 Veghel, together with Schijndel and Sint-Oedenrode, merged into a new municipality called Meierijstad creating the largest municipality of the provinc ...

won. In 2007 the prize was won by

Adelbert College Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Rese ...

in Wassenaar, in 2008 by CSG Willem van Oranje in

Oud-Beijerland Oud-Beijerland () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, now a part of the Hoeksche Waard municipality. With a population of 24,575 in 2020, it is the most populous town of the Hoeksche Waard ...

, in 2009 by the Baudartius College in Zutphen, in 2010 by

Het Baarnsch Lyceum Het or HET may refer to: Science and technology * Hall-effect thruster, a type of ion thruster used for spacecraft propulsion * Heavy Equipment Transporter, a vehicle in the US Army's Heavy Equipment Transport System * Hobby–Eberly Telescope, a ...

in Baarn, in 2011 by Sg Spieringshoek in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...

and in 2012 by

Kalsbeek College Kalsbeek College is a secondary school in the village of Woerden, Netherlands. The school is split between two sites and teaches all forms of Dutch secondary education. The ''Schilderspark'' site is on ''Jozef Israëlslaan'' and the ''Bredius'' s ...

in Woerden. From 2013 SLAM!FM took the School Awards over from 538. From now called the .

Turn up the Beach

On July 9, 2011 538 organized in collaboration with Spa Reine the beach festival

Turn up the Beach Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, ...

. This first edition on the beach of IJmuiden was a great success. All 10,000 tickets were sold. On July 14, 2012, 538 organized in collaboration with Pepsi the second edition of Turn up the Beach. On July 13, 2013 was the third edition of Turn up the beach.

538 JingleBall

On December 22, 2012 Radio 538 and

RTL 5 RTL 5 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched on 2 October 1993. It mainly broadcasts American films and hit series but also reality shows, comedy, travel, international shows and local productions including ''Expeditie Robi ...

organized the price show and music festival 538 JingleBall in the Ziggo Dome. This first edition was a great success. This show was organized because Radio 538 existed 20 years in 2012. On December 21, 2013 was the second edition of 538 JingleBall, this time there was only dance music ran by Dutch DJ's. Even before the second edition was held Radio 538 had announced that there would be a third edition of 538 JingleBall. It was held on December 19 and December 20, 2014.

538 Oranjeplein

If the Netherlands is joining a

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, Radio 538 organizes the 538 Oranjeplein on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. People can watch all matches of the

Dutch national team Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

jointly on large screens at the Museumplein. During the 2014 World Cup the Oranjeplein was however after the eighth finals no longer held since the times of the matches that followed because of the time difference with Brazil were too late and the inconvenience was too large for local residents. During the semi-finals, however, it organized an Oranjeplein again, but in a different location, the Arena Park, next to the Amsterdam Arena.

The Voice of Holland

Radio 538 broadcasts during The Voice of Holland together with

RTL 4 RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-air, free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment chan ...

the live shows of the talent.

Actions

Hier met je rekening!

An annual item ''Hier met je rekening!'' (English: Here is your bill!). With this action 538 pays the accounts of listeners. To join it, the listener must send an email with a copy of the bill plus the description and amount of the bill. The account can also be uploaded on the website of Radio 538 using a special form which is for and during the action to find on this site. The entries will be once per hour a name called. The person who is involved should then call to the studio within fifteen minutes, then his or her account is paid (Radio 538 then makes the total amount of the account to the account of the listener so that it can pay on account of this). From 2014 538 also pays bills via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. On the Twitter page of Radio 538 during the action a submitted bill appears and the one who recognizes this bill must then retweet within fifteen minutes, after which the bill will be paid. This action takes place twice a year, in January, after the Christmas holidays and in August/September, after the summer holidays, because people in these two holidays to spend much money on groceries for Christmas dinner (in the holidays) or souvenirs and trips during the holidays (in the Summer) and then often left with little money to pay for other often high bills that often lie thereby. Radio 538 assists over here to pay them a hand by these accounts.

53J8

Here there is a secret person, better known as Mr. X that passes through the land. Every day, he is at a different location. On which location the listener gets little tips on the radio. The listener who finds on this basis Mr. X, receives 50 000, - euro note. If he was somewhere he sticks a sticker to and tells at the end of the day where he has been.

538 voor War Child

''538 voor War Child'' was an action that took place from March 25 to April 1, 2011, from March 9 to March 16, 2012 and from March 22 to March 29, 2013. During the action the money was collected for War Child, an organization designed to help children cope with their war trauma. Listeners of the radio station came up with the stunts that were done during the week of action, and that money was raised. Every day was 538 with a mobile studio on a different place in the Netherlands. The places where 538 in 2012 was a guest was:

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; en, "Alphen upon Rhine" or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine), where the r ...

Meppel Meppel (; Drents: ''Möppelt'') is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It constitutes the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about 57 km² (22 sq ...

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. Performances were given by, among other Pearl Jozefzoon, Glennis Grace,

Hardwell Robbert van de Corput (; born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 i ...

, Ben Saunders,

Iris Kroes Iris Kroes (born 11 November 1992 in Drachten) is a Dutch singer-songwriter and harpist (She was called ''Harpmeisje'' (Dutch for ''Harp Girl'')). She was the winner of the second season of the television program ''The Voice of Holland'' on Janua ...

VanVelzen Roel van Velzen (; born 20 March 1978), better known as VanVelzen, is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Besides being known for his short stature, he and his band enjoy a huge live reputation; they have played at virtually every festival in the Nether ...

, Ferry Corsten,

Destine Destine was a Dutch rock band that formed in Tilburg, the Netherlands in 2006. History Originally from the Netherlands, the five youngsters joined forces in 2006 and released the ''A Dozen Dreams EP''. After that, a time of intensive touring f ...

Waylon Waylon is a given name. People with the name *Waylon (singer) (born Willem Bijkerk in 1980), Dutch singer * Waylon Brown (born 1979), American politician from Iowa *Waylon Francis (born 1990), Costa Rican footballer *Waylon Jennings (1937–200 ...

, Di-rect, Charly Luske,

Racoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

Lange Frans Frans Christiaan Frederiks (born 12 November 1980), known by his stage name Lange Frans, is a Dutch rapper and television presenter. From 1997 to 2004 he was a member of the band D-Men. Between 1997 and 2009 he was part of the Lange Frans & Baas B ...

and Xander de Buisonjé. In 2013, 538 was a guest in: Groningen, Heerenveen,

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

Gouda Gouda may refer to: * Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands ** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda ** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda ** Gouda railway station * Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...

, Bergen op Zoom,

Veenendaal Veenendaal () is a municipality and a town in central Netherlands, located in the province of Utrecht. Veenendaal is the only population centre within its administrative borders. The municipality had a population of 67.601 inhabitants on 1 january ...

, Arnhem and 's-Hertogenbosch. On May 1, 2013 it was announced that 538 stops 538 for War Child.

Win met de zin

''Win met de zin'' (English: Win with the sentence) is a game that was first played on August 25, 2014. From this year, this game is played twice a year, in February and August. In this game listeners are required to guess the names of four celebrity voices. Each will say a part of the sentence "The Beat / Of The Moment / Radio / 538" (in 2017 "Eén station / Alle hits / Radio / 538" and from 2018 "Win Met De Zin / = 538 / Radio / = 538"). The starting price is €1000 and for each failed attempt €100 was added to the prize fund. The jackpot is won by the listener who does well all four votes. Then start a new round. The game is played every hour between 7:00 and 19:00.

Owners

Radio 538 was founded in 1992 by Lex Harding. In 1995 Lex Harding founded the TV channel TMF (''The Music Factory''). Both stations aired from the same building and worked together a lot.

became the new director of Radio 538. In late 2002 Erik de Zwart moved to Talpa Radio International. In December 2003, Radio 538 was sold to the investment fund Advent International. Lex Harding retained 10% of the shares. On May 23, 2005 Radio 538 was fully acquired by

and Lex Harding took definitely goodbye. Together with

Radio 10 Gold Radio 10 (formerly : ''Radio 10 Gold'' and ''Radio 10 FM'') is a Dutch commercial radio station that mostly focuses on songs from the 1970s to 2000s, with a moderate amount of mid-1960s' and 2010s' hits. It is one of the oldest, still remaining, c ...

, which already owned by Talpa, Radio 538 was brought under the management of

Talpa Radio Talpa Radio (formerly: ''538 Group'' and ''Sky Radio Group'') is a radio company of ''Talpa Network'', in which various radio and television activities are housed. History The company started in 2002 when John de Mol Jr. bought '' Noordzee FM' ...

(since 2006: Talpa Media). Until that moment, Talpa, next to Radio 10 Gold, also owned Noordzee FM. Because it was not allowed under the provisions of the 2003 frequency to two general, possess national commercial radio broadcasters, Talpa was forced to sell Noordzee FM. The Flemish company

De Persgroep DPG Media Group is a Belgian media company also active in the Netherlands and Denmark. It is owned by the Van Thillo family and employs some 6,000 people. Divisions The DPG Media Group operates through three national subsidiaries: * DPG Media ...

took Noordzee FM and renamed the station few months later to Q-music. De Persgroep does not have to pay anything for Noordzee FM to Talpa. On October 1, 2007 Radio 538, along with various programs from the television channel Tien was taken over by

. On January 1, 2012 Radio 538 was, like its sister stations

and Slam!FM, taken over again by Talpa Holding. This was a result of a transaction between RTL Group and Talpa Holding, which has been an exchange of shares and sale to the order. RTL Group owned back all shares in RTL Nederland Holding since January 1, 2015, while Talpa became again the 100% owner of Radio 538. All this is a result of participation by Talpa Holding in

Sister stations

is a television channel which started in 2011 as a TV channel of Radio 538. In addition, the station has a number of digital channels that link to Radio 538, like 53L8, 538NL and 538IBIZA.

References

External links

*
Radio 538 business websiteRadio 538 Fanclub
{{Radio stations in the Netherlands Radio stations in the Netherlands Radio stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in the Netherlands Adult top 40 radio stations Mass media in Hilversum Music in Hilversum Talpa Network