The program that Derksen will make from tonight together with technician Freek Medendorp is the successor of the popular Radio Drenthe program Harry’s Blues. That was over thirty years to hear. Presenter Albert Haar presented that in the beginning together with Harry Muskee and continued after the death of the blues singer. But recently Haar dropped out because he was unable to combine presenting well with his new position as alderman in the municipality of De Wolden.
“It will not be the same as Albert did”, Derksen looks ahead to his own program. “What he did was beautiful and I would have allowed me to continue for another hundred years. Albert also did a lot of Americana, that is his preference. I keep it more with Harry himself, so pure blues.”
“Because where do you still hear blues on the radio these days?”, Derksen grumbles about the lack of that music flow in radio stations, according to him. “It’s really kind of like a battle with today’s radio stations.” According to Derksen, radio stations mainly serve today’s youth, but according to him they forget the young elderly in the Netherlands.
“They grew up with the Stones, Dylan and The Beatles. They have developed a certain taste, but that is not discussed at all. I have talked about this with John de Mol. But he told me that they mainly serve people up to 49 years old. “because after 49 you wouldn’t be open to advertising anymore. Then you stick with the products you’ve always used. And so you’re not interesting commercially. Well, that’s bullshit because I bought a Volvo for the first time when I was 55 Derksen whispers.
Then let’s talk about that one guilty pleasure of Harry Muskee. A pop star that you say to yourself, but who you might not be so quick to link to Muskee. But it really is Elton John. “He always said: I hate songs, but the songs of Elton John, those are real pop songs. He thought it was a crazy clown with his crazy clothes and glasses, but as a musician he appreciated him very much,” laughs Derksen . As an intermezzo in his new program, he therefore stops a song by Elton John every time.
Starting tonight there will be a new episode of every Sunday evening Harry Muskee’s Legacy can be heard on Radio Drenthe between 18:00 and 19:00. “We are very careless in the Netherlands with legends and people who have meant a lot. Such a shame if he is forgotten and lost, so I will keep Harry alive until the last breath,” Derksen concludes.