about Sven

Lots of people had long hair, Neil Armstrong prepared himself for the moon landing, and president Johnson enjoyed his last days in The White House. It is New Years Eve 1968, and Sven Verbeek was born in a small place in the north eastern part of The Netherlands. Exploring the world, he already started to become interested in music as from 1974 when he watched his first episode of the popular Dutch music programme TopPop.

He was surprised by the fact a small country like Holland had three different music charts, and started compiling his own music chart, a summary of the three. It was 1977, and Sven just turned 8. It didn’t take that much longer until Sven broadcasted his first radio show into the air. In 1981 he kidnapped a 27MC frequency and presented his own Top 30 on the Dutch version of Radio Antigoon, together with his radio friends Krijn Oorschot and Gabriel van Overloop.

There was still high school to finish, and as Sven’s dad used to say:“Nice that radio hobby, but meanwhile you must learn for a real profession !” At the age of 18, in May 1987, Sven started at Radio Maximaal, a radio station in Belgium, and was in charge of the weekend morning show, between 08h00 and 10h00. Radio Maximaal continued its programmes from a studio in The Netherlands as from 1993, when finally by law commercial regional radiostations were allowed to broadcast. Sven’s radioshow ‘Koffie Verkeerdt’ (translated: Wrong Coffee), became very popular. A year later, Sven became the text head-editor of Maximaal TV, and there met his later blood brother Thomas Siahaya, who was in charge of the graphical head-editor’s job. Together they established Zeeland’s first commercial tv station.

Meanwhile Sven indeed had learned another job, and moved to Utrecht in 1996, where he started a career at Holland’s most known coffee company Douwe Egberts. He rapidly missed radio, and decided to combine his job with a two hour radioshow at Radio Hilversum, later A-FM. Early 2007, Rob Stenders asked Sven to join his new radio station KXradio, where meanwhile lots of his old A-FM radio colleagues continued their careers. But Sven’s job at Douwe Egberts progressed as well, and mid 2007 he was asked to join Douwe Egberts in Sydney, Australia. He moved to down under, for a two year adventure. His home studio moved with him, and he continued producing his KXradio show from Sydney.

Sven is still in Australia, obtained permanent residency, and will probably stay there foregood. His radioshow is still on, each Saturday from 21h00-23h00 on KXradio. Sven and friend Simone Walraven, the other KX DJ broadcasting from abroad, weekly promote new indie artists from Australia and the US to the audience back in Holland, through their item the KX Expat Plugin. That sometimes results into a song being released, and appearing on the charts in The Netherlands.

Outside radio, Sven is a masterchef and food victim, always interested in the culinary aspects of life, visiting and also reviewing restaurants. Together with his family he enjoys the space, relaxed atmosphere, nice people, and great weather Australia has to offer.