The NPO Radio 2 programme Get started! has won the Golden Radio Ring 2025, an audience award for the most popular radio program. This was announced on Thursday evening in De Vorstin theater in Hilversum. Broadcaster AVROTROS, which organizes the ceremony, had announced in advance that it would stop the Radio Ring after twenty years. An association of media companies announced on Thursday that they wanted to continue the award.
Get started! is a so-called ‘music driven‘ AVROTROS radio program, which is broadcast every working day from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. With the exception of a few games, disc jockey Bart Arens says he mainly plays “recognizable music” – for example, this Thursday’s broadcast featured Sabrina Carpenter, Douwe Bob and Bruce Springsteen. Arens called winning the Radio Ring “a team effort” Earlier in the evening he also won the award for most popular radio presenter. Arens works for NPO Radio 2, the most listened to station with a market share of 13.1 percent, according to reports. figures about 2025 from the National Media Research.
During the ceremony, mention was made several times of the discontinuation of the Golden Radio Ring. “An evening with a dark golden edge,” said the presenters. AVROTROS is stopping the award due to the cutbacks, which require “sharp choices”. It was “not an option” to continue the award “in a slimmed down form”, the broadcaster said. NRC know. “That would simply be a disservice to the profession.” In recent years, the ceremony could no longer be followed on the media in question, the radio, but via a live stream and social media. “To better convey the unique atmosphere in the hall to the audience,” says AVROTROS.
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Talpa Radio, DPG Media, FD Mediagroep and Mediahuis Radio have said that they are “making plans for a follow-up to the radio awards”. “The medium of radio is alive and well.”
Radio maker Arjan Snijders invented the Radio Ring in 2006, he found it “strange that a medium that millions of people still listen to” did not have an audience award – unlike television. “It was a fun evening that brought together competing radio makers, often also enthusiasts of the medium,” says Snijders. “And for some people it was nice that they could express their appreciation for programs that they listen to every day. As a result, there was sometimes an odd one out among the nominees, such as the boys who perform in the evenings.” [dancestation] SLAM were chained. They had few listeners, but those listeners turned out to feel so connected to the makers that they voted for them en masse.”
In addition to the Radio Ring for the most popular program, there is also a prize for the most popular presenter. Snijders hopes that if commercial parties continue the awards, they will not all add categories in which they can win themselves. “Then the value of the prize erodes, it is better to set up a foundation that safeguards independence.”
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