Arjen Lubach has caused quite a bit of anger at Joost Oranje. The former Nieuwsuur boss almost freaked out when it turned out that the presenter would become a direct competitor.
It is the most successful new NPO 1 title of the year so far: The Evening Show with Arjen Lubach. The first season ran from late February to early May and was a huge success. The broadcasts were from Monday to Thursday at 10.15 pm, so immediately before Op1 and immediately after Nieuwsuur on NPO 2. That will be the case again this autumn.
Anger at Nieuwsuur
Initially, the plan was to broadcast Arjen earlier in the evening, directly opposite Nieuwsuur, which starts at 9.30 pm. That is what Joost Oranje, until recently editor-in-chief of the news program, reveals in Podcast about Media†
It made Joost furious. “At one point it came to my attention that it could well be that that program would be opposed to Nieuwsuur. That is of course not a good idea. It is of course a great program and it also appeals to a very important part of our audience.”
“He stole our viewers!”
Joost thought it was a bad plan. “Lubach also often uses certain parts from Nieuwsuur. I also noticed that Nieuwsuur editors find it a really nice program. You also saw on Sunday that we were really bothered by that, also in the viewing figures. That makes sense, of course.”
Lubach op Zondag, the predecessor of De Avondshow, did face Nieuwsuur. “I noticed it myself. Editors said: ‘I watched Lubach and watched Nieuwsuur back later. Or not.'”
Everyone called
The NPO shook to its foundations when Joost found out about the plan to put Arjen against Nieuwsuur on a daily basis. He really called everyone. “Then you call all the people who deal with it. Within the NPO, with the network manager, the media director at the NTR. I tried very hard to put my heels in the sand.”
What did Joost say? “I said: ‘Listen, we have built Nieuwsuur together for so many years now, you are also very important in that and it is an important icon of public broadcasting, you say yourself.’”
weird story
An incredible amount has been invested in Nieuwsuur, also from the NPO. “I said, ‘And what are we going to do next? Another very good program, which also has an impact and obvious would be a competitor of Nieuwsuur if you put it opposite Nieuwsuur, put it opposite Nieuwsuur. That’s a weird story.’”
So now Arjen is after Nieuwsuur. “The way it is now programmed and it has finally worked out, it is very good”, concludes Joost.
Fragment
The fragment: