AGAINST THE MAINSTREAM :: AGAINST THE NORM
HIGHLIGHTS AND DEEP HITS
TURBULENT TIMES AT RADIO SYLVIA
At the beginning of 2017 some programme changes were introduced: We planned to boadcast the six-hour show "Sonnabend of Death" live on every 1st Saturday of the month; furthermore the programme "Harte Zeiten" with Artschie and Tom was to be extended to two hours.
The first "Sonnabend of Death" started on 7th January 2017 at 6 p.m. and ended as late as 2 a.m. the next morning. The show was presented by Dom van Hool, Piet van der Straaten, Artschie, Tom, Brewford T. Justice and Mark Andersen.
Unfortunately, a few weeks later Brewford T. Justice had to suspend his work for Radio Sylvia due to severe illness. As a consequence, we were not able to use our Studio North any longer. The "Sonnabend of Death" was discontinued and the "Harte Zeiten" show also had to take a break. We could not continue the Radio Sylvia Hotline either.
But we were absolutely determined to carry on broadcasting. So - instead of the "Sonnabend of Death" - we aired the show "Blackout" with Mark Andersen on 4th February 2017 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. During the following months, the "Blackout" ran regularly on every 1st Saturday of the month.
On 17th May 2017 we disassembled the Studio North und stored the equipment temporarily. In June 2017 the studio was provisionally rebuilt at a new location. So Artschie and Tom were able to produce new two-hour editions of their "Harte Zeiten" programme.
Already a few months before, Dom van Hool and Mark Andersen had started to assemble a little mobile studio to enable us to broadcast live from any desired location. It was planned to use this studio during our upcoming anniversary broadcast.
And soon time had come: In July 2017 we celebrated Radio Sylvia's 40th anniversary. On this occasion, we came on the air with a superb live birthday party on 8th July 2017 at 6 p.m. It lasted 8.5 hours and did not end before the next day at about 2.30 a.m. Apart from the best music from the last 40 years, we presented old programme excerpts from the early years of Radio Sylvia. Presenters were Dom van Hool, Piet van der Straaten, Artschie and Mark Andersen. Our new mobile studio performed very well. From 8 p.m. onwards, the Clax bar in Hamburg also celebrated Radio Sylvia's anniversary with a live party. The team of Radio Sylvia joined the event early in the morning. It was a long night...
However, then fate struck again: Brewford T. Justice, the co-founder of Radio Sylvia, passed away in September 2017. His death was a great loss for Radio Sylvia.
But despite this heavy stroke of fate, we did not want to give up. We found a very good new studio location and rebuilt the Studio North.
On 7th October 2017 we aired the first sounds live from our new location. Parts of the programme were dedicated to Brewford T. Justice. And one month later, the "Sonnabend of Death" returned too - from 6 p.m. onwards, we were on the air live for more than seven hours.
After the great success of our first special broadcast on 8th July 2017, we decided to air a second live 40th anniversary show. It took place on 2nd December 2017 from 6 p.m. to midnight. During the first four hours we also transmitted on shortwave 6070 kHz. Piet van der Straaten, Artschie, Dom van Hool and Mark Andersen presented their favourite songs from the last four decades and looked back on the times when Radio Sylvia was active under the name "Radio Scorpio". This broadcast concluded our 40th anniversary celebrations.
