| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

Jan Castricum

Hi !

I'm Jan, I'm 52 years old and bookkeeping is what I do for a living. I also work at several regional radiostations, making my own shows. I also am a coach for new radiocollegues .
I discovered Eurovision in 1980, when it was broadcasted in the Netherlands on TV but also on the radio in stereo ! In the 80's I participated in a popquiz on national radio. It was the dutch preselection for the european popquiz !!! I became 3rd in the preselection. The host of that preselection was Willem van Beusekom, he became a personal friend of mine ! Willem has been the commentator for the ESC from 1987 until now. 2005 was his last job ! Unfortunately Willem died in May 2006.
I represented the OLON (the organisation of local radiostations in the Netherlands) 7 times at the ESC.
(That was between 1991 en 1998) I had to make impressions, interviews, etc. etc.
Every regional and local radiostation could ask for material from me. It was a very nice time and I made a lot of friends.

The ESC nowadays is too big, I'm afraid. I love the years when there were only 20 countries and a live orchestra ! I still recall how Mrs. Einstein got the audience and the orchestra totally wild during the rehearsals ! These girls were so good to work with !!
The finest couple I worked with was Ruth Jacott and her partner Humphrey Campbell. Love them !!

I never make pictures of myself with a eurovision artists, but I made an exception for Dulce Pontes back in 1991. Such a lovely girl ! Now she is the most famous singer in Portugal !!

Well, my friends, I still follow the ESC, but the last years every song had to be wild, with a lot of dance and a lot of drums ! Am I too old for the gig now ? Neeehhh.... 2006 proved that a beautiful ballad from Bosnia went to # 2 and that Texas Lightning were topping the charts all over Middle Europe, so..
Even Brian Kennedy did very well ! The Russian "act" was impressing (Dima Bilan in 2006) . And Lordi ? Well, back in the 70-s (yes, I am that old) we all liked Alice Cooper with his "horror" act, so what's new ? Oh.. yeah.. Grunt !

I am NOT a fan of the junior competition. It should be stopped immediately. Let children be children and don't let them compete. Competition enough when they grow up !

I think there should be a competition for newcomers and for established singers, like they did at the San Remo contest.

In february 2007 I had an interview with Edsilia for the OLON. This interview has been sent to 300 radiostations in the Netherlands !!! Roger Cicero is one of the biggest revelations of Eurovision in the last few years. If he wouldn't participate in Eurovision, he would have been unnoticed.

I am glad that western countries are taking Eurovision more seriously now. Patricia Kaas for France, Jade singin' a Lloyd-Webber song for the UK, Toppers for the Netherlands, well.. It turned out to be a good vintage year ! Norway was a very good winner and Iceland a supreme runner-up !

My favorite Eurovision artist ? It would be Johnny Logan. Everytime I meet that guy he will always ask me in perfect Dutch "Hoe gaat het met jou?" (How are you doing?) When I ask him the same question, he will answer it with "goed" (good). Linda Martin is such a sweetheart too.. Back in 1992 I sent her a picture that I made of her in Malm�¶ and she thanked me so much for that, because it was such a lovely one..
Not every artist has the time to react that way... I promoted the dutch entry (Without you-ReUnion) in Sweden in 2004 on National Radio and was delighted to see them going to the final.

Well if you want to know more about me, please ask and mail to jancastricum@hotmail.com