Exploring a Gem From The Red Light District of Amsterdam - Red Light Radio

Combing the length and breadth of the canal on the other side of Amsterdam Central, is akin to seeing various types of canoes and river- boats sweeping in and out of actions, like a grand scene from any given film.

But cutting across the alleyways that stretch to the Red Light District itself, is the real deal as anyone’s guess.

And that is actually, where the business starts and ends as far as visual human reality is concerned.

Who would have thought, that out of all places such as the Red Light District, an award winning radio station could be tucked among one of the Red Light windows. Day or night, they are also around just like their namesake.

Who said what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam? This time, the cat is out, so is the good news too.

Delving into their studio was not as easy as one would think, having tried for the first time and failing, I got lucky on the second day’s attempt.

And this was the time I asked, as to what prompted the establishment and subsequent existence of the station that won the best Online Radio Station in Europe for the year 2015.

Speaking to one-half of its owners-Orpheu De Jong said: “Red-Light Radio is an Online Radio station and internet only that has been here in the Red Light Districts for the past almost six years.

“And we started out in a period where quite a lot was changing in this neighbourhood. So the change that was going on back then was that, a lot of the prostitution windows were disappearing and other stuff was possible.”

Hatching a master plan and developing the station from scratch he continued “So me and my friend Hugo, thought like it is ok, let’s start a radio station in here. So six years ago we started in the little studio, basically with the idea of inviting all these people that are in Amsterdam who have good musical taste and amazing records or special music to play and talk about it. And since then, it grew and grew and has now become the worldwide internet radio that it is today, I guess music radio mainly.”

Red-light Radio’s method of operations do not bear any similarities or resemblances to a twenty-four-hour service station, “We have a twenty-four-hour signal for sure, but really been live, is about seventy –hours service a week, so let say for example today, we started at noon and we go till ten, so it’s ten hours of live radio and the rest is like re-runs of earlier shows. It’s a small town so having twenty-four-hour live programming is a bit much for Amsterdam” he said.

Discussing the station’s slots for regular, full time, part-time or freelance Djs on Red Light Radio, Orpheu explains “Well our program is quite varied, like we have people that come in every week or every two weeks or every month, those are like our regular Disc jockeys.

“But also, we have a lot of people who cover for shows and a lot more who travel from abroad to Amsterdam for a gig to have a one time show.

In as much as they want to see various types of DJs come and play, there is a rule to it “Well you have to email us, and basically we check what the music is like, because we are mainly a music station to see if it fits well with our program and if so, then we look at the schedule to see if there is a space on those dates then we either make it happen or not by saying thank you.” Said Orpheu.

The genre of music they expect from DJs as to the station’s musical identity is vast in its compasses and spectrum “The station’s music direction is very broad, we play percussion music, wave, house, old music, new music and under the radar sorts of music, because we are not like a Top- 40 or mainstream music station.”

In general, the Red Light Radio does what most mainstream radio stations do not do: by giving freedom and exposure to its numerous listeners through collections and selections of music varieties.

The Red-Light-Radio plays music of all genres as well as welcoming all sorts of disc jockeys and various music enthusiasts from across the world to their unique platform.

Red Light Radio’s location is out of this world, given the reputation of its neighbourhood. So anytime you visit Holland or Amsterdam, be sure you pay them some visual visit through one of the red windows.