AEGEE.fm in the Eyes of its Founder, Hemmo de Vries

Not too long ago, Aegee’s own radio station, AEGEE.fm, was established in Eindhoven. We spoke to Hemmo de Vries, the mastermind of the Friday weekly shows.

IMG_20150415_071657The AEGEEan: Hemmo, thanks for finding the time for us! AEGEE.fm has received a lot of attention as a brand new project in AEGEE. How did you get the idea of establishing it?
Hemmo: I have worked for different radio stations in my area for many years, and had also played with making my own online radio station together with friends. Later I kind of stopped with this when I started studying, joined AEGEE and later started working. For a long time I didn’t have enough time to make radio next to studying, having a job and being an AEGEE member, but later I did, and got the idea to combine my three passions (AEGEE, journalism and radio). AEGEE.fm is the result [he smiles]

You’ve mentioned this is not your first time doing a radio show. What exactly is your previous experience with the radio?
I have been working for different radio stations ever since 2005. I did the technical part of a radio programme from 2007 until 2013. This show was a magazine type of show with local news and interviews with people from the neighbourhood.

Say someone has not heard of AEGEE.fm yet. How would you describe it to them?
AEGEE.fm is all about bringing different parts of AEGEE together, and to their members. I would like our members to be aware of what project groups are doing so they could either participate or join them. The same counts for allowing members to be aware of what events are available to visit. When you hear the organisers explain why you should visit it, you would be motivated more easily then just by checking the agenda on aegee.org

Sounds great! When can we hear the show and what does it mainly focus on?
Right now it’s every Friday at 20.00 CEST (GMT+2 during summer), but this will change to a time slot more suitable for listening by most students. The show focuses on events and projects, and on the opinion of the members on things in the news. But, it also brings listeners up to date on what happened within AEGEE on the European level: new antennae, Comité Directeur (CD) changes, and of course all the news about Agorae and European Planning Meetings (EPMs).

Seems like a lot of work! Do you have anyone else who cooperates with you on the show?
For now Eric Luckner from AEGEE-Aachen is helping me with some ideas. Also I have a close friend who I worked together with for many years in radio.

How do you see the future of AEGEE.fm? Do you have some dream about what you would like it to become one day?
I would like AEGEE.fm to become more known amongst members. I also want to establish a team with enthusiastic AEGEE members to work together in making this an awesome radio station. I have a list with a lot of awesome ideas for things to do during the radio show. AEGEE is a very broad network with remarkably enthusiastic people. The next and very specific goal I want to achieve is to be able to broadcast live from the Agora in Kyïv. For the long future I would like to expand the wings of AEGEE.fm by working together with AEGEE-Europe and other journalistic platforms like the AEGEEan.

Another thing, AEGEE.fm is a 24/7 radio station, but currently focuses on the Friday Night show. In the future, we might choose to use the technology provided to allow other DJ’s to make a radio show on the station.

Your project is quite new. What have the reactions been so far? Any idea about how many people tune in on your show?
Every single response so far has been positive and amazing. I really did not expect this many people to like the project. Currently there are usually between five and 15 listeners to the live radio shows on Friday night, and between 40 and 60 listen to the show at a later time.

You are a member of AEGEE-Eindhoven. How does your antenna help you with this project? 
The project is 100% independent from AEGEE-Eindhoven. However, since we started my board and members have shared enthusiasm and suggested a lot of ideas, of which some have been implemented. For example: the idea of having fixed hours with specific kind of music during the week.

Let’s turn a bit to you as  a person. What are your other activities in the AEGEE world?
Well I’m an AEGEE member for one and a half years now, and already had a lot of regular activities like Summer Universities (SUs), ‘Winter SU’, some exchanges, and last year I joined the board of AEGEE-Eindhoven. First as President, later as PR responsible.

You became the President quite soon after joining AEGEE. How did that happen? What had your pre-AEGEE.fm, AEGEE-life been like?
After a week long visit from another antenna I noticed that I really liked AEGEE, and also to a level where I wanted to help organising the antenna. That’s why I decided to join the board. Later on I switched with the PR responsible because we felt the different roles suited each of us better.

IMG_20150415_234239What are your personal and/or your antenna’s other plans in the AEGEE world?
I really hope to be able to visit a lot more events across Europe, and just enjoy AEGEE for a few more years. As I am making AEGEE.fm pretty much all by myself, it takes a lot of time. Depending on the success of the project, this will have a lot of influence on the choice whether I want to be in AEGEE-Eindhoven’s board for another year. In the future, also depending on how AEGEE.fm develops, I might do things for AEGEE on a European level. Chances are pretty high that this will be in a communication/journalistic thing.

Lastly, if you could ask yourself a question, what would it be?
Only if you answer the same question as well, Jirka. What is my favourite song?
This would be Land of Confusion, by Genesis.

I suppose for me that would be Trains by the Porcupine Tree. Thanks a lot for the interview!

Written by Jirka Lhotka, AEGEE-Praha