Emmer was joined by legendary English composer and musician David Bedford, well-known for his work with Mike Oldfield, as well as being a prolific composer and conductor of avant-garde and kids-oriented classical works. The piece was recorded by the string and percussion sections of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Midlands-based England Symphonic Orchestra, with Bedford directing. Here’s a selection of extra cuts from the package, including the normal-length start-up ident, a normal ident, a closedown ident and some cuts used for promos.
Here’s how the new look launched on April 4, 1988, the day Nederland 3 went for the first time on-air (today is the network’s 26th birthday). The new logo was designed by Frans Schupp, an updated, “sexier” version of the interlocking KRO symbol used since the 1950s. The KRO commissioned a survey among the readers of female magazine Libelle; the results of the survey suggested the use of a dark purple color for the overall identity. The impressive, fast-paced ident used new and revolutionary techniques, including a flying “skymote” steadicam, which elevated costs to nearly 1 million guilders, a significant feat for the time.
Here’s how the NOS covered Nederland 3’s launch back in 1988; the opening ceremony was held in Utrecht’s Vredenburg Music Hall (since rebuilt and greatly expanded as a cultural center), and was initially targeted to minorities, with programming emphasizing long-form news programming and cultural content, plus new, experimental formats which couldn’t fit Nederland 1’s nor 2’s schedule; longer-form sport programming was also show in the weekends. NOS became the main programmer of the new frequency, which gave the smaller, public-service, ethnic and minority-oriented services a fixed place to broadcast.
Nederland 3’s inaugural branding was designed by Will Bakker, a prolific designer who was worked for all Dutch TV networks working with production company NOB’s design department, and used 3D technology with a very contemporary and minimalist style for the time, produced by Gabrielle Otten. Music was composed by Dutch composer and bandleader Tonny Eyk (composer of NOS’ Studio Sport fanfare).
The same day, Nederland 1 and 2’s remits were reorganized and rebranded: N1 became the home of conservative broadcasters EO, NCRV, and KRO, plus the liberal-left broadcaster VARA. The network unveiled a new stylized Roman 1 logo from Theo Dijkslag (NOB Design), with music from Emmer; as for N2, the channel became targeted at a broader audience, featuring programming from AVRO, TROS and the Veronica Organization, and, on Sundays, avant-garde progressive offering from the VPRO; the network, nicknamed ATV, wouldn’t have a consistent branding during that time, with a simple, blue “2” numeral being used as channel identification, preferring the use of each broadcaster’s branding.
