Year-end campaigns on Belgian public broadcaster VRT’s Studio Brussel (StuBru) and MNM channels, the French-speaking public broadcaster RTBF’s VivaCité, and Dutch public youth station NPO 3FM collected a combined total of more than €36 million. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, public radio plays a central cultural role, and these annual charity campaigns are among the most prominent broadcast events of the year.
NPO 3FM’s Serious Request, which began in 2003, marked a record-breaking edition this year. Serious Request is an annual charity campaign in which a small team of DJs broadcasts continuously for several days from a transparent “glass house” studio set up in a city center, with listeners donating money in exchange for music requests. This year’s broadcast from Den Bosch raised €18,423,566. The previous record was set in 2012, when €12 million was collected for charity.
The 2025 Serious Request featured DJs Barend van Deelen, Sophie Hijlkema and Mart Meijer, who were locked inside the glass house for the duration of the broadcast to support children with muscular diseases. Donations were made through paid music requests, with proceeds benefiting Spieren voor Spieren (“Muscles for Muscles”), a Dutch charity focused on neuromuscular conditions in children.
Moving mountains
In Belgium, StuBru and MNM broadcast De Warmste Week (“The Warmest Week”) around the clock from a mobile studio complex in Cosmogolempark in Genk, in the province of Limburg. Running from Thursday, Dec. 18, through Christmas Eve, the campaign supported more than 220 projects under the theme of “invisible illness,” a term commonly used in Belgium to describe medical conditions that are not immediately visible but significantly affect daily life. Artists including Milk Inc., Pommelien Thijs, DJ Licious and Metejoor performed live from the Genk studio.
VRT’s Eva De Roo, Manu Van Acker, Dries Lenaerts and Kawtar Ehlalouch presented the 24/7 broadcast from De Warmste Huis and raised €9,033,435. The King Baudouin Foundation, an independent Belgian public-benefit foundation, will distribute the funds to the supported projects. “De Warmste Week demonstrated that when we join forces, we can move mountains,” said Frederik Delaplace, CEO of VRT. “Every donation makes a difference, but above all, we made invisible illness open for discussion.”
In the French-speaking south of Belgium, RTBF organized the 13th edition of Viva for Life in the city of Seraing. Viva for Life is RTBF’s annual charity initiative and focuses on combating child poverty. This year’s edition raised a record €8,907,464, reflecting strong public support across the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Belgium’s French-speaking community.
Based in Antwerp, Belgium, the author began hosting a weekly program at a local radio station in 1980. He then joined the Dutch-language national broadcaster VRT as a reporter and music programmer. Since 1985, he has been a freelance writer for the national press, industry publications and magazines.
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