Gerard Ekdom

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Gerard Ekdom (born in De Bilt, 26 March 1978) is a radio-dj at the Dutch radio station 3FM. Since september 2001 he hosts the show Arbeidsvitaminen (lit. labour vitamin, a Dutch term for music played while doing manual labor) each weekday from 9:00 until 12:00.

From early in life, Gerard Ekdom had the ambition to become a DJ. As a young talent, he was frequently asked as a drive-in jockey since he was fourteen. He started his radio career at local station Radio De Bilt. He has worked for the Stadsomroep Utrecht and NEW Dance Radio. He owes his career in part to dj Fred Siebelink. Ekdom met Siebelink one day in Utrecht, recognizing him by his voice, and introduced himself. Siebelink spotted the boy's talent and showed him around the Stadsomroep, which was happy to employ him.

In 1998, Ekdom started his career at 3FM. A year and a half earlier he had sent a demo tape to then-manager Jan Steeman of the project Pyjama FM by AVRO studios. After a phone call from Steeman he was welcome to AVRO's night school. During this studies he was occasionally heard on Magic FM and Hot Radio.

In september 1999 Ekdom moved from night shows to sunday morning and hosted the show EKDOM!. His major breakthrough was seven months later, when the Arbeidsvitaminen needed a stand-in host. Both Ekdom and the AVRO enjoyed his hosting of that show, and quickly afterwards he was given the opportunity for his own nightly show. On 17 September 2001 he succeeded Wim Rigter as host of Arbeidsvitaminen. Since then, he has been on air every weekday between 9 and 12, and has made the show the most famous of its station.

[edit] 3FM Serious Request

Around Christmas 2005, from monday 19 December until saturday 24 December, Ekdom, along with colleagues Giel Beelen and Wouter van der Goes, made the show 3FM Serious Request. In this show, they spent all week in a 'glass house', audible on radio 24 hours a day, without food. Listeners could request songs for a small payment, which was given to charity for the victims of war in Congo. The year before, this charity show had won a Marconi Award. In 2006 he entered the house again.