A former artficial offshore island, which used to be the base of the Dutch ‘pirate’ TV broadcaster TV Noordzee, will find a new home in the Amsterdam harbour this summer.
The so-called REM Island was used in 1964 for the first commercial TV broadcasts for The Netherlands. Located off the Dutch coast near The Hague, programmes were beamed into the country on UHF channel 11. Within months the Dutch government speeded a law through the parliament and senate prohibiting unauthorised broadcasts from artificial structures on the Dutch part of the Northsea.
Following a military raid on the island, TV Noordzee stopped broadcasting in December 1964. The organisation behind the station launched a public campaign and became part of the public broadcasting system as TROS.
Meanwhile, the artificial island was used by the Dutch state as a measuring station in the sea until it became obsolete in 2006. The island was ready to be demolished, but the Amsterdam housing association De Key decided it was worthwhile to keep the island intact as a monument of Dutch broadcasting history.
The island is now in the process of refurbishing in the harbour of Delfzijl and will be towed to the Amsterdam harbour, where it will open as a restaurant this summer.
