Happy Station PHASE 2 weekly!

Since the revival of Happy Station March 12, 2009 the response has been incredibly positive I can now announce phase two.

Starting July 2, 2009 the transmissions at 0100UTC and 1500UTC will not be re-broadcast the following week, but will be two new shows. The only occasions that 0100UTC and 1500UTC will be the same is when it’s a special program.

Some of the upcoming special programs will be:

Happy Station’s Tribute To Dxers Part 2

A tribute To Edward Startz

Happy Station with Steve Lawrence

Happy Station with Bob McGrath

Happy Station’s Happy Birthday to Radio Australia

Happy Station From Japan

Happy Station Classic Moments

And much more.

For details on broadcast dates stay tuned

For more information please feel free to contact me at anytime. The email is pcj.happystation@gmail.com .

My view of Edward Startz

I was 6 years old when Eddy passed away in 1976 so I never had a chance to listen to his version of Happy Station until a few years ago when I got hold of some of his shows. After listening to them I can understand why people tuned in for many years. He made you feel as if you were in the studio with him. HS was part of his life for more than 40 years and if Eddy was still with us I would love to have him on the show. I have so many questions I would want to ask him. Here is a list of questions I would have asked Eddy.

1. Why Happy Station?

2. What was your feeling about when you first went off air in 1941 during the NAZI occupation of Holland?

3. What was it like returning after the founding of Radio Nederland?

4. Did you ever think the show would last so long?

5. What are some of your fondest memories of HS over the years?

6. What is your relationship with the audience?

7. Did you really drink tea in your cup or was it ever anything stronger?

8. Where do you see radio going?

9. After you retired did you ever want to come back with a new show?

10. Would you do internet broadcasting?

11. Do you think in some way HS helped bring people together?

12. When you started with Philips Radio in 1927 did you ever think it was going last as long as it did?

13. Did you think it was something special?

14. How much of yourself was HS?

15. How do you want to be remembered?

Cheers Eddy! Let's lift our cups of tea!

Some personal thoughts about Happy Station

Tonight when I got home I wasted no time. Because of the response I got from my first DX tribute show I decided to do it again. What I was very happy about is that most of the response was from new SWLs, which makes me believe that a new generation of listeners is buying and listening to SW. But the problem is we don't hear from them.

When I revived the old HSS one of the things I talked about with Tom was that I didn't just want to make it a SW show, but also to use all other forms of distribution. What I am finding is most of the audience is listening on SW, but also many are downloading the podcasts. They write to tell me it is nice to be able to also hear the downloaded version in case they can't tune in to there radio when the show is being transmitted. So my word to the DX community is we should not fear Internet feeds, but also see it as another means of distribution, which for many people listing to SW is not possible. At the same time it could also be used for the advantage of dxers. A good case in point was a letter I got  June 6th from Michael Paige a 17 year old in living in Vermont. He had tuned into a few of the webstreams of HS, found it interesting and then went out to buy a SW radio at Radio Shack to find out more about it. What I was interested about is why he listened to Happy Station. I mean he is only 17 years old.  When I talked to him over SKYPE a few days ago this was my first question. So i ask "I'm very curious, why would a 17 year old tune into Happy Station which is a very old style and format?". He told me for himself it was because it was so different and that he had never heard anything like it before. This just makes me believe more in the old saying "if you keep your shirts in the closet for a few years they come back in to fashion". No I know Happy Station could never become a number 1 show, but there is a niche market for this kind and style of radio. And now the time is right. The SW bands no longer have light entertainment shows anymore they went the way of tube radios, but because they all vanished to have one I personally think is very important. It is a good way for us as program producers and listeners to never forget the past and where it all came from. No I'm not going to change the world, but with all the thousands of hours of radio being produced daily around the world having a silly/fun 55mins a week is maybe a good thing.

The thing I promise all HS listeners is that on HS you will never hear gossip news like so many other programs are doing. You will never hear anything that offends. And the vision Edward Startz and that of Tom Meijer will continue. To bring a little PCJ Peace, Cheer & Joy.

Happiness Is the Happy Station!

Keith

Welcome new members to the Happy Station Show team.

I would like all of you to welcome to the Happy Station team Johan Bakker. Johan
is from Rotterdam and is learning Chinese at Taiwan's National University and
has been in Taiwan since 2007.

He will be in charge of building a data base for the show as well as designing a
website and responding to listeners letters, sending out QSLs and transmitting
the shows to WRMI, Radio Sonora, and World FM. He speaks 4 languages including
Dutch of course. 

And yes I will be seeing all mail.

Welcome Johan to the worlds largest radio family.

73,
Keith

SW to Europe and other regions

A question I am getting asked often is when will Happy Station have a frequency for Europe. Well this is something that is very important to me. But first let me tell you a little about the plan for the show. The idea to restart HS goes back to when Tom retired from Radio Netherlands. At the time HS was still on air with Pete Myres as host. But Tom told me all those years ago in his garden in Hilversum, Holland, that after being at RN for more than 20 years he saw the writing on the wall. 

So lets skip 14 years after HS was canceled in 1995. For me this was the show I always wanted to do. And it has taken me all this time to do so. But I want to give you al an idea of what the scheduled plan is.

1. Revive the show on shortwave. The first region being North America. Why NA? I thought that with all the cuts made for SQW broadcasts to NA this would be a good starting point.

2. Show will be bi-weekly.

3. Show will then be weekly with 2 different editions at 0100UTC and 1500UTC.

4. Spanish edition

5. Two frequencies for Europe.

6. HS website (this is already in the works)

7. Frequencies for Africa and Asia.

Right now we are are number two on this list. And there have been some surprises such as when World FM in New Zealand contacted me to add the show to their Saturday lineup and also Radio Sonora in Indonesia.

So if I could be wait 14 years to restart the show please wait a few months for other frequencies.

73,

Keith

Finally here!

Well since the Happy Station was revived a number of people have been asking if I'm planning to start a blog. Ok ok ok! To be honest i was not to hot on the idea at first, but then I thought why not. This is just another place for me to link the shows that have aired and also a chance to the curious to find out what I'm up to before the show is recorded and in between and everything else.

On June 4th, 2009 I aired a special HS called "HSs Tribute To Dxers" it was a full 55mins about radio. A few of you have been asking if I'm planning to do it again. Short answer is YES! The second in teh DX tribute series will be announced over the next few months.

Anyway this first posting will be very short as my dogs are going crazy and want to head out for a walk. So stay tuned!