Hart van Nederland (Heart of the Netherlands) is a tabloid newsmagazine programme airing on SBS6 since 1995. It is the station's longest-running programme. The show focuses on in-depth coverage of regional and local news from across the Netherlands, as well as reports on lifestyles and cultural traditions in and around the country.
History
Hart van Nederland's first broadcast aired on August 29, 1995, one day after the launch of SBS6. The idea of a programme focused on regional news was attributed to SBS6 founding general director, journalist Fons van Westerloo, and its programme director, Bart in 't Hout. Lacking the resources to develop a full-scale news department to rivalize with the NOS and RTL, Van Westerloo proposed Marck Feller and Jean Mentens, partners of independent production company Cameo Media,[1] to produce a news programme composed exclusively of regional and local news, featuring reports and voxpops. Feller and Mentens had already conceived the idea eight years before, but the proposal was turned down by existing broadcasters.[2]
The show initially aired at 22:00 during its first months on air, however, it was moved to the 22.30 timeslot at the beginning of January 1996. The show's first presenters were Milika Peterzon and Gallyon van Vessem, with Cilly Dartell and Carine Holties joining soon after. The show had a rocky start, with ratings between 30.000 and 100.000 viewers, which were very low compared to those of its longer-established rivals. In an attempt to increase these figures, an early edition was launched in September, airing initially at 19:50. It was ultimately unsuccessful and it was replaced by a serious newshour to compete with its competitors. However, in the midst of this, the hiring of Albert Verlinde as entertainment reporter, and weatherman Piet Paulusma, as well as its coverage of the 1997 Elfstedentocht, changed the programme's fortunes, and established the show as an alternative to the more serious offers provided by their competitors. Regional TV channels were also given a boost, as Hart van Nederland often shared content with these stations, which also helped with their ratings. By the summer of 2005, when the show celebrated its tenth anniversary, viewing figures reached its peak, averaging 1.6 million viewers in July and peaking at nearly 2 million viewers in some days.
The success of Hart van Nederland did not go unnoticed by the competition, which created similarly focused programs, such as 5 in het Land, NL Net and 4 in het Land. These programs were unable to catch on the show's popularity, and were later promptly canceled. Its competitors also took elements from the show, which were integrated into their serious news programmes.[2]
The show, as it began to thrive, added a Saturday edition in late 1999, and attempted, during 1997, with breakaway windows for news related to specific parts of the country. The breakaway window experiment was not a success, mainly because of budget contraints.[3] In the midst of this, Albert Verlinde left the show in 2001 to join rival RTL, as it prepared to launch a tabloid newsmagazine, but with a different focus to that of Hart van Nederland. Nevertheless, SBS took in-house the production of the programme in 2001,[1] and also began to expand its news programming, with the launch of the opinion-led format Stem van Nederland (2002–2003) and the crime newscast Actienieuws (2004–2006). However, these shows were duly canceled due to disappointing viewing figures and/or excessive production costs. In the opposite, the entertainment news block was spun-off into its own programme, Shownieuws, to great success.
In 2006, as part of a major relaunch, Hart van Nederland brought back an early evening edition. Although it has changed several times its slot to accommodate new programming, it has become moderately successful. The show initially had its own anchor team and a different format emphasizing human interest stories, but soon it became more in line with overall approach of the show.[4]
In 2011, the new owners of SBS6 (Sanoma and Talpa) announced a major revamp for the show. This began with the firing of three of the show's longest-tenured presenters, Milika Peterzon, Cilly Dartell and Maureen du Toi, which generated heavy negative publicity.[5][6] The show gradually downplayed double-headed presentation and the use of voiceovers to narrate stories, with the show's reporters now being responsible for narrating their stories; they also began to appear on screen during their filmed reports. The full relaunch went on-air on September 24, 2012, with double presentation being permanently replaced by a single presenter, and a more fast-paced and journalistic approach. This included RTL reporter Sandra Schuurhof being hired as new main anchor.[7] The Shownieuws programme also became separated from the overall SBS news service, gaining its own team of presenters and analysts, but still sharing a studio with Hart van Nederland.
The changes proved to be disastrous, as the show lost over 200.000 viewers one year after the relaunch. The show gradually returned to its original presentation style; by mid-August 2013, the show reintroduced double presentation for its early evening edition, with the late edition following suit by December 2014, this time, in preparation for another relaunch, which happened on January 5, 2015.[8] As a result of this, the presentation style went back to a more traditional approach, with the use of a voiceover to narrate stories being brought back.
In June 2020, the show left Amsterdam and moved to Talpa Network's headquarters at the Media Park in Hilversum.[9] As a result, the show's presentation was refreshed, with new graphics and music, as well as a new virtual reality studio.[10] The show also hired its first male presenters, Maarten Steendam and Wolter Klok;[11] hitherto, the show was well known for having only female newsreaders. The show went back, for a time, to single presentation for its evening edition, only to bring back double-headed presentation by early 2021. Since January 1, 2021, the show also has a morning news service, with 15-minute updates being aired on weekdays from 6:30 and weekends from 7:00.[12]
Format
The show is known for its tabloid style and its in-depth coverage of regional and local news, as well as cultural traditions and lifestyles across the Netherlands. Most times, every edition is presented by two presenters (usually, a pair of female presenters), although, during some weekends and holidays, and during the morning news service, the editions are presented by a single anchor. Reports are usually read by a voiceover, as opposed to a reporter, and sometimes, in the case of brief news, by the newsreaders. For many years, Arno Lubbinge has been the show's lead voiceover, when he is away, he is replaced by Robert Feller.
For many years, the show ended with a weather report presented by Piet Paulusma, often done outdoors. Paulusma was known for his humorous approach and for his West Frisian sign-off oant moarn (until tomorrow). He left the show in December 2019 as part of a restructuring of SBS' weather department,[13] he would move to public broadcaster Omroep MAX shortly thereafter. Since January 2020, the weather forecasts are done under the umbrella name Weer.nl, which is also the name of Talpa's radio and web weather services, bought from MeteoGroup in 2019.[14] The website's meteorologists provide the weather forecasts from a separate studio in the Media Park complex (at the former NCRV headquarters).
Related Research Articles
RTL 4 is a Dutch free TV channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment channel with infotainment, television drama, talk shows, game shows, news and talent shows. It is owned by RTL Nederland, a subsidiary of RTL Group. The station has three sister TV channels: RTL 5, RTL 7 and RTL 8, and four thematic TV channels: RTL Z, RTL Lounge, RTL Crime and RTL Telekids.
Net5 is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial TV channel and is part of Talpa TV, formerly a part of SBS Broadcasting B.V. and now owned by Talpa Network. Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are SBS6, Veronica, and SBS9. It is aimed at high-educated female viewers. The station broadcasts various series, reality shows, and films.
RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched as Veronica on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, soccer, motorsport and talk shows about sports. During daytime business and financial news channel RTL Z was broadcasting on RTL 7 until RTL Nederland revamped RTL Z into a 24-hours channel on 7 September 2015.
SBS6 is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial TV channel and is a part of Talpa TV, formerly known as SBS Broadcasting B.V. and now owned by Talpa Network. Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are Net5, Veronica, and SBS9.
Veronica is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial television channel currently a part of Talpa TV. The channel was launched as TV10 Gold on 1 May 1995, then became TV10, Fox, Fox 8 and V8, before becoming Veronica on 20 September 2003. The channel is dedicated to young adults and the male audience.
RTL Nederland is a Dutch media network, a subsidiary of DPG Media. The media company is located in Hilversum, although the licences of its TV stations are issued in Luxembourg.
Patty Brard is a Dutch entertainer and entrepreneur of Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) descent. She is a TV personality and a singer notable as a former member of the girl group Luv'. For four decades, she has often hit the headlines of the tabloid press.
VriendenLoterij Miljonairs is a Dutch game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The show is hosted by Robert ten Brink. In 2011 the show was hosted by Jeroen van der Boom. The main goal of the game is to win €1 Million by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. It has been shown from 6 February 1999. From 6 February 1999 to February 2006, it was shown on SBS 6, and from 4 March 2006 to 24 May 2008, it was shown on RTL 4. In 2011 it returned on SBS 6.
Robine Tanya van der Meer is a Dutch actress and model. She is best known as Meike Griffioen in Goede tijden, slechte tijden and for hosting the TV-show Model in 1 dag.
Wendy van Dijk is a Dutch actress, comedian and television presenter. She is best known for her portrayal of Ushi Hirosaki, a hapless Japanese journalist featured in both a series of Dutch television shows and a theatrical film.
Ewout Genemans is a Dutch tv producer, presenter, moderator and keynote speaker. He is well-known for presenting various tv programmes at RTL and produces popular shows with his production company No Pictures Please.
Talpa Network is a Dutch media conglomerate created by John de Mol Jr. in 2017.
Talpa TV is a Dutch commercial broadcasting company owned by John de Mol's Talpa Network.
Humberto Tan-A-Kiam, better known as Humberto Tan, is a Dutch radio and television presenter, sports journalist and writer of Surinamese descent.
Winston Ronald Gerschtanowitz is a Dutch presenter and actor.
Man bijt hond is a long-running Flemish TV programme. The show aired in Flanders and the Netherlands, with separate versions for each country. The Flemish version aired from 1997 to 2013, whilst the Netherlands version originally aired from 1999 to 2015, with a revival airing since 2019.
Lucille Martine Werner is a Dutch television presenter and politician. She is best known for hosting close to 2,000 episodes of the word game show Lingo in the years 2005–14.
This is a list of events taking place in 2023 relating to television in the Netherlands.
Leonie ter Braak is a Dutch television presenter and actress. She is known for presenting several television shows, including the talk show HLF8. She also played a role in the 2020 film The Marriage Escape, the 2022 film De Tatta's and the 2023 film De Tatta's 2.
Priscilla Maria Regina Veltmeijer, known professionally as Cilly Dartell, was a Dutch radio and television presenter and actress. She is best known for presenting the program Hart van Nederland, which she presented from 1996 to 2012, as well as the program Shownieuws.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
