Just before the Dutch National Final, TROS and NOS gave a mutual press conference to inform Dutch press about the change of broadcaster for the Eurovision Song Contest. Right after the winning song was announced, De Toppers took time as well to answer some questions and esctoday.com was in attendance.

The Netherlands and the Eurovision Song Contest

In 2010 TROS will take over the broadcasting rightsof NOS for at least 3 years. According to the director of NOS, Gerard Dielesen, the Eurovision Song Contest, didn't fit into the profile of the broadcaster any longer.TROS will take over both national final and the Eurovision Song Contest next year. This year will be considered as a transition year.

Spokesman ofTROS, Peter Kuipersthinks the Eurovision Song Contest really fits them, as TROS is known tobe the main broadcaster of music shows on Dutch TV. According to Kuipers the national final of 2009can be considered tobe the guide for the new system organised by TROS. Kuipers: 'We're gonna make a big party of it, and all musical genres will have a fair chance, not only music in the Dutch language.'

DE TOPPERS ON EUROVISON SONG CONTEST PARTICIPATION

Right after the Dutch national final, De Toppers held their press conference. All three of them were happy that 'Shine' was selected by the Dutch viewers. Gordon, who wrote the song himself using the pseudonym Ger van de Westelaken, got emotional. He explained:"I've been through a lot the last couple of months. First, Gerard Joling left De Toppers, which caused a big media circus in the Netherlands. Besides that, my health condition is in a bad shape; I've been released from hospital only a couple of days ago.So I wrote the song 'Shine' on arainy Sunday morning around 6 o'clock in the morning, trying to forget all the misery. It's a feel good song, and people can use some happiness in these days".

De Toppers are preparing a promotional tour throughout Europe for a whole month, in order to make themselves known in the rest of Europe. Gordon stated that they received several invitations already from international TV broadcasters; 'We've been in touch with the BBC already'. René Froger: 'We believe that these promo performances abroad are very important, so we're going to visit as many countries as we can.' We will be prepared for Moscow, and trust me, we will catch the eyes of everybody in Russia', Gordon concluded.

TROS can look back upon a successful debut: more than 1.8 million viewers watched the national final yesterday, which meant viewer ratings of 12,2% and a market share of 24,4%.

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