NIROM (''Nederlandsch-Indische Radio-Omroep Maatschappij''; Dutch East Indies Radio Broadcasting Corporation) was the privately funded territorial broadcaster of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. It was one of the precursors of

Radio Republik Indonesia ''Radio Republik Indonesia'' (Radio of the Republic of Indonesia, abbreviated as RRI), legally ''Lembaga Penyiaran Publik (LPP) Radio Republik Indonesia'' ( Public Broadcasting Institution Radio of the Republic of Indonesia), is a public radio ...

. NIROM was founded in 1928 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

but only started broadcasting on 1 April 1934. Starting in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, it gradually extended its range across the Indonesian archipelago. NIROM operated 27

transmitters In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

by 1939, broadcasting mostly on

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

. NIROM was founded by a license fee, which dropped in rate as the number of listeners grew. In 1939, NIROM had 70,000 listeners; by then the license fee was 1.25 East Indies guilders. PHOHI, the shortwave station of the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

company based in the Netherlands, was one of the stakeholders in the company. Broadcasting initially was in

Dutch 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 ...

only; from 1935 onwards an ''Oriental Programme'' was broadcast in local languages. In 1934 NIROM started publishing a listing magazine, ''De NIROM-bode'', which eventually became the Dutch Indies' most widely circulated publication. From 1935 onwards a bi-weekly magazine ''Soeara NIROM'' was published in

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

for non-European listeners, which became a weekly magazine from 1940 onwards. NIROM broadcasts were occasionally relayed to the Netherlands. On

Queen's Day ''Koningsdag'' () or King's Day is a public holiday, national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April (26 April if the 27th is a Sunday), the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. When the Dutch monarch is f ...

1935, NIROM provided a live broadcast of speeches by the governor-general B.C. de Jonge and the chairman of the

Volksraad The Volksraad was a people's assembly or legislature in Dutch or Afrikaans speaking government. Assembly South Africa *Volksraad (South African Republic) (1840–1902) *Volksraad (Natalia Republic), a similar assembly that existed in the Natalia Re ...

, followed by a performance of the popular singer Miss Riboet, who regularly sang for NIROM. Relays continued after the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 through

Radio Oranje ''Radio Oranje'' (; Dutch: "Radio Orange") was a Dutch radio programme on the BBC European Service broadcast to the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II. It was transmitted from London and broadcast programmes of approximately 15 mi ...

; for instance, Indonesian politician

Haji Agus Salim ''Haji'' Agus Salim (; October 8, 1884 – November 4, 1954) was an Indonesian journalist, diplomat, and statesman. He served as Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1947 and 1949. Early life Agus Salim was born Masjhoedoelhaq Sali ...

addressed Dutchmen in the

occupied territory Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

in January 1941. Announcer Bert Garthoff gained fame by concluding NIROM's broadcasts on the day of the surrender to Japan on 8 March 1942 with the words "We're closing now. Farewell, until better days. Long live

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

." Garthoff later told that the station's employees were told by the Japanese authorities to "carry on as usual". This they did by concluding the broadcasts with the Dutch national anthem, much to the surprise of the listeners. When the Japanese found out about this, they executed three NIROM employees in retaliatio

References

{{reflist Dutch East Indies Radio networks Radio stations established in 1934 Radio stations disestablished in 1942