Hilversum (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɪlvərsʏm]) is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "Het Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilversum is part of the Randstad, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.

The town

Hilversum lies 31 km (19 mi) south-east of Amsterdam and 19 km (12 mi) north of Utrecht.

The town is often called "media city" since it is the principal centre for radio and television broadcasting in The Netherlands. Radio Netherlands, heard worldwide via shortwave radio since the 1920s, is also based here. Hilversum is home to an extensive complex of audio and television studios belonging to the national broadcast production company NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting), as well as to the studios and offices of all the Dutch public broadcasting organisations and many commercial TV production companies. As a result, many old AM radio sets in Europe had a Hilversum dial position marked on their tuning scales (along with Athlone, Kalundborg and others).

NPO 3FM is a Dutch pop/rock radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. Its format is a combination of contemporary hit radio, alternative and rock. It can be compared with BBC Radio 1.

History

Launching on 11 October 1965, NPO 3FM was created as Hilversum 3 (later Radio 3) by the Minister for Culture and Social Recreation, Maarten Vrolijk, to counterbalance the popular new offshore stations such as Radio Veronica.

Due to the nature of the Dutch public broadcasting system, with several broadcasters being awarded airtime based on the numbers of paying members they have, 3FM hosts radio shows by different broadcasters. In the early days of the station, this led to a mixed bag of programs barely linked to each other. As an example, Christian broadcaster EO used to broadcast Christian-themed programs (including a request show with religious music), followed by the now legal Radio Veronica with a format based on Top 40-pop.

Up until the early 1990s, NPO 3FM (then known as Radio 3) did not have a horizontal radio format, with each public broadcaster filling one day a week. This prevented the station to gain a recognisable stature, although it was easily the most-listened to radio station in The Netherlands, aided by the fact that commercial terrestrial radio was illegal until the early 1990s.