From Habbo to 3FM

‘Ever since I found out, I’ve been on cloud nine’, 20-year-old Joost Schulte says. Mid-October, he received an unexpected phone call from the training coordinator at 3FM, his supervisor at the special-interest channel KX Radio: ‘NTR is interested: 3FM wants you.’

On Sunday night, it was show time. Between 2 and 4 a.m., his programme ‘Joost’ debuted at the national radio station. The first number he played was ‘Wetsuit’ by The Vaccines, followed by a (fake) personalised message by Ivo Opstelten, which the nightly editorial staff had made.

He discovered his passion for radio approximately five years ago. A friend was doing internet radio on a Habbo Hotel fansite, and the then 15-year-old Schulte was interested. ‘It wasn’t much, but it was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of my free time doing it.‘ After a year and a half, he sent a demo to internet radio station Crush Radio and, to his amazement, he got hired. ‘I had professional supervision there and got to do workshops.’

After graduating from high school, Schulte took gap year in 2014. While others went travelling, he decided to get some experience working at radio stations. He ended up working for Traffic, ALLsports and OOG Radio, working fifteen, sometimes twenty-five hours a week. ‘That year I really learned all the basics to get to where I am now.’

Breeding ground

In the summer of 2015 he worked at KX Radio, a breeding ground for radio talent. He made a programme every week, all the while receiving intense supervision from Timo Kamst, the training coordinator. In September, Kamst said he had seen sufficient progress: ‘I’m going to introduce you at a station. But don’t get your hopes up just yet.’

Schulte heeded the warning, which is exactly why he was speechless when Kamst surprised him with the phone call. ‘I had to keep it quiet for a few weeks, though, because 3FM wasn’t announcing the new programming until 7 November. If people asked me about my career in radio during that time, I had a really hard time not telling them, although I think the twinkle in my eyes gave it away sometimes.’

Day job

On 7 November, he was finally allowed to shout the news from the rooftops. ‘I knew people would respond to the name 3FM, but I didn’t expect the amount of responses that I got. Just replying to all of it became like a day job.‘ Some people also asked him how he was going to manage the commute: ‘But I’ve been travelling to the west and back again several times a week for a few years now.’

He also travelled a lot in the weeks before his debut at 3FM. ‘Prior to this I had only been to the 3FM offices once. Right around the announcement on 7 November, I was introduced to the DJs and the station boss, and I got my own access pass last Wednesday. I do still really feel like an outsider. All those people I listened to for years are right there. I had the urge to greet Giel Beelen like we were friends until I remembered that we don’t even know each other.’

Schulte felt it was important to get used to the studio. ‘It’s important to me to get familiar with a place so that I know how all the technical stuff works, allowing me to focus on the contents. I’ve always done everything myself so I wouldn’t need anyone else. It will really be my show: I talk about things that interest me and I’ll be playing music I like.’

Very cool!

Last weekend, the moment finally arrived: Schulte got to make radio in the middle of the night. ‘And all that without coffee, because I don’t drink it. It was so cool! I got so many great responses: from family and friends, but also from listeners. My first words were really special of course, but after fifteen minutes it was just like old times. After the broadcast I basked in the feeling for another hour and then I took the first train back to Groningen at 5:20 a.m. I was in bed by five past eight; I was exhausted. Fortunately, I don’t have any classes on Monday.’

Schulte has yet to come down from cloud nine. ‘It was always my goal to work nights at 3FM. Now that I’ve achieved that I will do my absolute best. Other than that, I’ll see what happens. If everything goes well, things will just flow naturally.’

Dutch