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Veteran Dutch DJ, Willem van Kooten (Joost den Draaijer) has died

DATELINE  3rd January 2025

Veteran Dutch DJ Willem van Kooten (Joost den Draaijer) has died at the age of 83.

Willem Van Kooten was born in January 1941 and started his career as a radio disc jockey, using the name Joost den Draaijer, eventually becoming Programme Director at Radio Veronica.

During the time he worked for Radio Veronica, he introduced ideas from  U.S. commercial radio stations - presentation style for DJs, the horizontal programming format, as well as the concept of charts and tip parades. The Veronica Top 40 was first broadcast on 2nd January 1965. Van Kooten also instigated other charts -  the Hitwezen Top 50 in 1964, the Hilversum 3 Top 30 in 1969 and the Radio Noordzee (RNI) Top 50 in 1971.

Van Kooten owned his own record label, a production company and a music publishing company, all under the name Red Bullet. In this capacity, he was the main investor in the group Golden Earring from 1965 to 1988.

Joost den Draaijer left Radio Veronica at the end of 1968 because of business and artistic differences of opinion, (partly related to his other business interests). Later that year he presented the AVRO TV programme Moef Ga Ga. At the VPRO he managed to present a pilot of the Hilversum 3 Top 30 in the spring of 1969. In 1971 he worked simultaneously at the NOS (on Hilversum 3) and at offshore Radio Noordzee (RNI), where he promoted records for his new label, Pink Elephant. He remained with Radio Noordzee and until the spring of 1972.

In October 1972 he made an appearance again at the NOS on Hilversum 3, to present a programme every day between 6 and 7 pm - the first horizontal format programme on public radio. On 29th May, 1978, after a disagreement with the NOS about a conflict of interest, the programme was taken over by Frits Spits. In honour of his farewell, the single Joost mag het weten was released by the Dutch Artist Choir, making it into the top 20 of the Dutch charts.

From 18th May, 1985, Van Kooten could be heard as Joost den Draaijer on the offshore station Radio Monique.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Van Kooten increasingly focused on his real estate business, including houses and golf courses, particularly in Portugal. As a businessman, Van Kooten amassed a fortune (estimated at 200 million euros by business magazine Quote). He also acted as a financier for Samuel Meyering's software house Paralax and made initial capital available for the political parties Leefbaar Nederland and Leefbaar Hilversum.

In recent years, Van Kooten has been a major shareholder in Arrow Classic Rock, Arrow Jazz FM and the spring water company Anl'eau of WMD Drinkwater in Anloo. In 2006 he was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. On 17th December 2018, Van Kooten received the Marconi Oeuvre Award from his grandson in the television programme Time for Max at Omroep Max.

Willem Van Kooten died on 3rd January 2025.

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