VARA

For other meanings of VARA, see Vara (disambiguation).

Omroepvereniging VARA

Type	Public broadcaster
Country	Netherlands
Availability	Netherlands and parts of Belgium
Founded	1 November 1925 (1925-11-01)
Owner	membership association
Former names	Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs
Official website	omroep.vara.nl

The Omroepvereniging VARA (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɔmrupfəˌreːnəɣɪŋ ˈvaːraː]), the VARA Broadcasting Association, is a Dutch public broadcasting association that operates within the framework of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system (Dutch: Nederlandse Publieke Omroep). The association was founded in 1925 as the Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs (Association of Worker Radio Amateurs). The name was changed to Omroepvereniging VARA in 1957 and is no longer an acronym.

VARA originally focused on labour and socialism. In the era of Dutch pillarization the association had close links to the Social Democratic Workers Party and its successor, the Labour Party. For many years VARA's chairmen, such as Marcel van Dam and Andre Kloos, were prominent members of the party. Although the connection between the two organizations loosened, affinities remain—such as a large overlap between their respective support bases.

VARA adopted its current logo in 2002.

Programming

Some VARA television programmes are:

• Kassa (1989–present)
• Kinderen geen bezwaar (2004–2013)
• Kinderen voor Kinderen (1980–present)
• Pauw & Witteman (2006-2014), a live programme about current events, presented by Jeroen Pauw and Paul Witteman
• Sonja (1983–2006), a talk show hosted by Sonja Barend
• De Wereld Draait Door (2005-present), a live programme about current events, hosted by Matthijs van Nieuwkerk
• Paul de Leeuw (various programmes)
• Pipo de Clown (various programmes)

VARA also broadcasts some localized programming, such as:

• Alfred J. Kwak, a Dutch-German-Japanese animated series
• The Smurfs, an Amero-Belgian animated series

External links

• Official website