It was close to the fact that Guido Weijers’ TV New Years Eve conferences never got off the ground at all. SBS 6 initially thought it was a waste of money.
Guido Weijers was able to announce good news yesterday: he has been contracted again by RTL 4 boss Peter van der Vorst to provide the New Year’s Eve conference for that channel. It is already the eleventh time that he does that and that is a record: never before has a comedian done that so often in our country.
Guido at SBS 6
What not everyone will remember is that this tradition was born on SBS 6. Tina Nijkamp, former director of that channel, remembers the early days in 2006 well. “Irene van den Brekel, now the producer of Arjen Lubach, knocked on the door of the SBS group in 2006,” she says on her channel.
The conference was bought because of her enthusiasm and the insight of former SBS bobo Eric van Stade, says Tina. “It was a first: never before has a commercial station in the Netherlands broadcast a New Year’s Eve conference.”
Waste of money
Initially it would be broadcast on Veronica, says Tina. “But soon their budget turned out to be insufficient and SBS 6 had to broadcast it. We at team SBS 6 actually thought that was a waste of money, because on December 31 there is little to earn. Advertisers would like to advertise up to and including 24 December.”
It was feared that the costs would not outweigh the benefits. “The New Year’s Eve conference cost us the same as six episodes of Road Abusers, and that for a single broadcast. With fresh reluctance we programmed it and the outcome is known: 1.3 million viewers. Wow.”
Tradition born
Guido’s tradition was born then. “We didn’t know what we were seeing, so the baker was called for whipped cream pie and, of course, we ordered Guido Weijers’ ‘commercial’ New Year’s Eve conference in the following years.”
Where did it go wrong? “Unfortunately, Guido made the switch to the KRO after five times, because more opportunities: he also got his own program there. That failed and after one time KRO will now be on RTL 4 for the fifth time.”
Guido on Instagram:
