Rene Van Elst

My radio adventure began in 1968 with a small illegal transmitter on FM in Amsterdam. It was a way to impress my neighbor by disrupting the signal of the station she was listening to. She lived diagonally below us, and because it was a warm summer evening with open windows, I could hear that it had worked: my music, played from a cassette recorder, resounded through the street. Nothing else came of it then, by the way.
Later I moved to Lelystad because of the housing shortage in Amsterdam (even then!), and that is where my adventure with ‘real’ radio began. At first I worked alone, but soon I joined a neighbor who also provided radio broadcasts. After tracking each other down, first via FM and later in person, a new radio station was created.

Our first broadcast went on the air, initially on Saturday evening and later on Sunday during the day. We called it Radio Lelystad, and that was in 1978. More and more DJs joined, and Radio Lelystad grew into a popular station. And yes, I also stood in court at the time.

In addition, I make the program ‘Soul Disco & Funk’ for Radio Lelystad every Sunday, which can also be heard on many other radio stations.

Our first broadcast went on air, initially on Saturday evening and later on Sunday during the day. We called it Radio Lelystad, and that was in 1978. More and more DJs joined, and Radio Lelystad grew into a popular station. And yes, I also stood in court at the time.

In 1986 I moved back to Amsterdam, which put an end to my time at Radio Lelystad. I have now been living in Baarn for quite some time. At one point I was asked if I wanted to make a program again, this time again at Radio Lelystad. Together with the co-founder of the time, we made four hours of radio on Sunday afternoons, which became a reunion with the DJs of the past. This program, ‘Classic Sunday’, was later expanded with another DJ from the past, Jan Staphorst (he also wrote a book about it).

In 1978 I also started the program ‘Platenprak’, which I picked up again many years later at Extra Gold, where I played three days a week. Five days unfortunately turned out to be unfeasible, so I decided to stop there. This gave me the opportunity to play at various radio stations every day. Unfortunately, I had to undergo 35 emergency radiation treatments in 2022. Due to fatigue and hormone injections, I was forced to stop ‘Platenprak’. During that period, I continued to make programs at Radio Lelystad: two hours on Sunday afternoons, which I could just about manage.

I slowly got back on my feet and got enough energy to make radio. Now I make the program ‘Grand Café René’ every working day. In the meantime, I have also picked up ‘Platenprak’ again. Every working day from 1 to 2 pm, I play music from the previous century on various radio stations, with an occasional excursion to the 2000s.

In addition, I make the program ‘Soul Disco & Funk’ for Radio Lelystad every Sunday, which can also be heard on many other radio stations.

Dj