Ekstra Weekend
 | |
| Running time | 180 minutes |
|---|---|
| Country of origin |  Netherlands |
| Language(s) | Dutch |
| Hosted by | Gerard Ekdom, Michiel Veenstra |
| Produced by | Tjitse Leemhuis (a.k.a Tjibbe Tjibsma) |
| Original release | September 1st, 2006 – present |
| No. of episodes | 930 |
Ekstra Weekend is a Dutch radio broadcasted by the Dutch public broadcaster NTR for 3FM. The show airs at Friday nights between 7 and 10 pm. The show is hosted by Gerard Ekdom and Michiel Veenstra. The name of Ekstra weekend is a contraction of the last names of the two hosts. When one of the two is absent, he'll be replaced by Domien Verschuuren, who is then temporarily being re-christened to “Iemand Anders” (Someone Else). Producer Tjitse Leemhuis (a.k.a. Tjibbe Tjibsma) is also part of the show.
An important characteristic of the show is that it sounds like a total chaos. Usually more of the items go wrong or won't air on the time that they're meant to be aired. The presenters call the show their party on the radio [1]. Although Ekstra Weekend is aired on a music station, the hosts talk a large part of the show [2].
An important part of the show is the guest. Every week, Ekdom and Veenstra receive a guest. Usually this is a celebrity from The Netherlands or Flanders. Incidentally they'll receive a guest from The United Kingdom or United States.
Ekstra Weekend is the successor of Lantinga & Swijnenberg. That show moved to afternoon drivetime as Coen & Sander Show when Wouter van der Goes moved from 3FM to the commercial broadcaster Q-Music.
Since March 6th, 2009, the show is also broadcasted on the digital tv channel 101 TV.
Ekstra Weekend has been nominated for the Gouden Radioring twice. On both occasions it didn't win this price for best radioshow in The Netherlands.
Sections
De Uuropener (Top of the hour)
Ekstra Weekend starts its first hour with an edited version of the normal 3FM top of the hour jingle. In this section, the station voice (Eric Corton), makes a weird version of this jingle. Corton plays himself but as being drunk, in a very bad mood or even melancholic in this section. Sometimes he uses violence against producer Tjibbe Tjibsma.
The voicelift
Gerard and Michiel play a part of a voice recording of a Dutch celebrity whose voice is completely distorted. Listeners can call to the studio with a solution. As a gimmick, Dutch television presenter Ron Brandsteder is usually the first answer. Veenstra then takes a look down the hallway if it is really Ron Brandsteder and Ekdom plays a jingle of the typical laughter of Brandsteder (which sounds much like someone in severe respiratory problems). In the Februari 20th 2009-show, Michiel almost got a heart attack when he opened the door and found Ron’s son Rick Brandsteder on the doorstep. On December 17th 2010 Michiel again got a big shock when the real Ron Brandsteder bustled into the studio.
Mailbox
Gerard and Michiel read letters of listeners on air. Occasionally, there’s a letter of a ‘German’ listener. Then the German national anthem is being played and Gerard reads the letter shouting and in German, so it sounds like a speech.
Wisseling Van De Wacht (Change of the Guard)
At 8:30 PM (though usually later), Ekdom and Veenstra change seats. The ritual is joined by a lot of shouting and puffing. For the guest, this is a strange experience, the more because he or she doesn’t have a clue what is going to happen and why this is necessary.
Het Weerbericht (Weather Forecast)
Michiel Veenstra reads the weather forecast in a superfast and unintelligible way. Words are being pronounced in a ‘wrong’ way and there a lot of laughing over inaudible jokes. Sometimes they get famous Dutch people to do this. It also happens that these people have some sort of significance to the hosts of the show (family, for instance).
Uit Het Raam (out of the window)
In this section an object will be thrown out of the window, usually by the guest. This section is by far the most popular of the show. Part of this is to call security, they have to make sure no one walks around the building when this happens. Since january 2011, this segment also has a 'decibel ranking', how louder the bang, how higher the guest ends up in the ranking.
Vijf Vragen (five questions)
If there’s a guest in the show, he or she may choose five questions out of a list of fifty The guest says a and doesn't know the question behind that number in advance. The questions that are thus asked to the guest are usually quite difficult or personal, but the guest does actually construct his or her own interview. When the guest is relatively new to the show and it's contents, they often think they have to answer all 50 questions.
Het Geheime woord (The secret word)
Listeners can send their text messages at the moment the 'secret word'-jingle will be played. When a listener is chosen, he or she receives the secret word off-air. Then a friend or relative of the listener is called. When they pick up the phone, the contestant has to describe the secret word, without actually saying it or mentioning they are on national radio. When the other person guesses the word, instantly the James Last version of the "Too Fat Polka (She's too fat for me)" is played, while the entire studio goes crazy. Hammering things with trashcan lids or forming a conga line to celebrate the correct answer. At last the prizes the contestant wins are revealed. When the provided relatives or friends can't be reached, Fabienne de Vries will be called. She's always a great sport and usually gets the word right.
Operation DJ Sandstorm
Gerard and Michiel play a DJ mix specially made by DJ Sandstorm for Ekstra Weekend, which usually contains about five popular songs.
Ekstra Weekend Jingle / Voice mail Service
Listeners could send in a text by email or text message that Gerard and Michiel would turn into a jingle or voice mail message. Often the jingles were used by radio amateurs or local radio stations. By May 2010, the jingle service was replaced by the voice mail service. Shortly ofter that the voice mail service was dropped.
The Kazoo Classic
Every show music is being played where a kazoo is being used. At the start of the show, this is always the tune "And So They Say" from David Schnitter.
Trivia
- Usually, something either breaks or goes horribly wrong at the start of the show.
- Whenever Gerard and Michiel play a song of the Pet Shop Boys, the "Pet Shop Boys Alarm" sounds. While the song plays, they impersonate the Pet shop boys. Gerard puts on a hat with a rotating light on it and Michiel puts on a traffic cone or anything which is ready for grasp.
- When one of the jocks says the word "Vroeger" (Early days), they put a paper mug on their microphone. This creates an ancient sound effect. Following is a talk about "the old days", usually with humorous references to WWII.
- At the start of each show, the weekend will be opened at 7.15 PM. The DJ's, producer and all listeners will send a Tweet reading "WWWWEEEEKKKKEEENNNDDD #ekstraweekend #3fm" and Tweetdecks will throttle.
External Links
- Dutch Website of Ekstra Weekend