Ron Brandsteder did not appear in his own program on NPO Radio 5 on Friday evening. The broadcast was unexpectedly taken over by fellow broadcaster Angela Groothuizen. “Where is he?”
Every Friday night, 72-year-old Ron Brandsteder makes a program on the popular radio station NPO Radio 5, namely ‘Ron waits for the night’. The broadcast of the day before yesterday was unexpectedly taken over by one of his broadcasting colleagues. “Good evening everyone, Angela Groothuizen here, because Ron is not here.”
Ron on vacation?
It is striking how vague Angela is during the broadcast about Ron’s absence. “We go in a bit blind, but the music is just very beautiful again. We’re going to do our best for the next two hours, in the spirit of Ron. I hope you are ready. Not quite, but we will do our best.”
When a listener asks if Ron is on vacation, the presenter says, “Yes, we think so. We don’t actually know. We have not been informed of this, but at least we are doing well.”
‘He’s free’
Because Angela sounds like there’s more to it, she’s getting more and more concerned responses from listeners. “Everyone is asking, ‘Where’s Ron? You must know that, don’t you?’ Ron just has time off. Apparently no one else could and we were taken from the stable and we really like it.”
Moments later, Angela says Ron “I think” is free. “Well, Martijn (the compiler of both Angela’s and Ron’s program) is on vacation, because he has three children under the age of four and he is just on vacation and is at a holiday park. And I think Ron is free too. Yes, so dear people: give it to him. We will do our best to do it the best we can.”
‘If you listen’
Until the end it remains unclear what exactly is wrong with Ron. According to Angela, the playlist was still composed by him. “What beautiful music. Ron, if you listen: what beautiful music.”
Broadcaster MAX has since released nothing about the reason for Ron’s absence.