076 Your radioshow State of Trance is very popular. How did the project start and what is the key to its success? My radioshow was born in 2001 when someone asked me to do a two-hour program about trance music, and I was like, “I don’t know if I can do that.” I grew up listening to the early sounds of dance music on the radio, and I got to know new music through the radio, so I’ve always liked it. When I was 16/17 years old, I couldn’t go to clubs yet because I was too young. I listened to all those radio programs, and I promised myself that someday, if I had the chance, I would do my own radio program, and so I did on June 1, 2001, and now we’re on episode 1114, so more than 20 years passing every week. The radio program started in Dutch; we started in Amsterdam on a small local radio station without internet or broadcasting, and now it’s an online program that reaches many countries around the world, and I do it in English. We also have it on YouTube where fans can watch us make the program every week. We invite fans to the radio program to play new music on it. It’s still the same formula but with new music every week, and it’s something that I’m really proud of, and I use the program as the center of everything I do: to present new music, talk about my DJ sets, play tracks that I’ve heard in Ibiza, talk to fans onmy radio program, and they respond to me through social media, and it’s really cool to have that interaction with the fans, so State of Trance is super important to me. What would you say to someone who is starting out as a DJ? What would you have liked to hear when you started? If you’re starting out as a DJ right now, you know that times are very different from when I started because when I started DJing for the first time, there was only vinyl, that was the only thing there was. Now, anyone can do it with a USB, it’s a big change, but I think it really depends on where you want to be as a DJ. If you want to be a Superstar EDM DJ and play on all the main stages of the big festivals, the fastest way to make hits is not necessarily to make hits on the radio, but it does help your career if people hear your music on the radio, that’s the fastest way. If people can find your music on streaming, it can help you have a radio program, make compilations, have a presence on social media, and I think it’s important that you have a good professional team to help you record all the performances... and I think that’s where you have to start. Who do you like to share the djbooth? I love to share the djbooth, in fact, I was in Miami playing b2b with Ferry Corsten, also with Oliver Heldens. This summer I had b2b with David Guetta at Ushuaïa, it was a great night. Can I play a b2b with almost anyone. I would love to do a b2b again with Ferry.
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