pm on 31 August 1974. The final hour was, like most of Veronica's programmes, pre-recorded in the station's studios in Hilversum. However, the station's final news bulletin was read live from the news studio on board the MV Norderney. A number of the station's directors, including Bull Verweij and his brother Jaap, were on board the ship during the final hour, as were many of the staff. In his final speech DJ Rob Out said "Part of the democracy in the Netherlands is dying with the closure of Radio Veronica and that is a tragedy for the country". Following the Dutch National Anthem, a Veronica jingle was played and the transmitter was switched off halfway through. Photos of the scene in the studio show workers openly weeping. Radio Atlantis and RNI also closed on the evening of 31 August 1974. Radio Caroline had already decided to continue, as it had in 1967 (although as a precaution the ship moved to a new anchorage to reduce the likelihood of a "raid" by Dutch authorities), and after some debate, Radio Mi Amigo also decided to stay on the air. After Veronica's closure, Radio Mi Amigo "borrowed" many of Veronica's programming formats. Veronica applies for legal status After 1974 some of Veronica's staff set up the Veronica Broadcasting Organisation (Dutch abbreviation VOO) in the hopes of applying for a broadcasting license. After some bureaucratic obstruction, which one critic described as a mini-Watergate, the VOO was finally granted a licence and was invited to open the new Hilversum 4 radio network on 28 December 1975. Hilversum 4 was a classical music service, and the irony was not lost on Veronica, which began its first legal programme by "accidentally" playing a snatch of The Beatles' "Long Tall Sally" instead of the announced classical piece. Beginning in 1975, the VOO was part of the Dutch State broadcasting System, but in 1995 Veronica formed a joint-venture with CLT to create the new Holland Media Groep and became a commercial independent broadcasting station in the Netherlands. This ended in 2001; in 2000 it sold its shares, and in 2001 the television station V8 was renamed Veronica TV, which began broadcasting on 20 September 2003. Starting on 31 August 2003, the radio station became part of the Sky Radio Group, where it currently remains. Lex Harding and Erik de Zwart also founded the station in 1992, referring to the