By Dr. Yoke Berry from Dutch in Wollongong, released at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Dutch Connection radio programme.
On Sunday the 9th of November 1997, the first Dutch program in the Illawarra was broadcast on the community radio station VOX FM 106.9.
For the programmers and listeners alike it was an arduous task to stay up on a Sunday night from 11 to midnight to present or hear the show.
In the first years there were many people involved in presenting a happy hour of music, interviews and news items from the Netherlands.
Twenty five years later, the Dutch Connection is broadcast twice a week, on a Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon with the one presenter who stayed all those years: José Arends. On the days that she is away, Peter Blom who was one of the original team members of the Dutch Connection, takes care of the program.
