STER

Credits

Background

The STER, short for Stichting Ether Reclame, is the foundation responsible for broadcasting advertisements on NPO's radio stations and television channels. They were originally founded in 1965 as the Stichting tot Uitzenden van Reclame, before changing to its current name the same year. The company is most famous for their mascot, Loeki de Leeuw, who appeared in most of STER's breakbumpers until 2004. Loeki has made more occassional appearances ever since.

1st Bumper (1972-2004)

Visuals: All the breakbumpers feature STER's mascot, Loeki de Leeuw, in various situations. The STER logo might appear on-screen, or sometimes not at all.

Trivia: Loeki de Leeuw's creator was Joop Geesink, who worked as a TV producer and puppet animator. Joop also founded his own studio, Studio Geesink, where most of the Loeki de Leeuw breakbumpers were animated.

Variants:

• Mostly because of the long timespan of these bumpers, the number of bumper variants are way too many to count; according to various reports, it has been reported that 7,000 unique variants of these breakbumpers have been reported to exist, with some maybe even becoming lost to time.
• There are various bumpers that do not feature Loeki de Leeuw as the only character; side characters would also appear, notably Roosje the Lioness, Welpie the Lion Cub, Piep the Mouse, Guusje the Duck, and Filiep the Elephant.

Technique: Stop-motion animation done by Studio Geesink.

Audio: Mostly depends on the bumper. On most of the bumpers, Loeki de Leeuw's lines were either "Asjemenou!" once something came up from his head, or "Voila!" once he made a solution.

Legacy: Due to these bumpers' often humorous and charming nature, the Loeki de Leeuw breakbumpers have been widely remembered by most Dutch residents of the late 20th century and are considered as an icon of Dutch television even to this date.

2nd Bumper (2000-2001)

Visuals:

Variants: There are special variants made for each NPO TV network that were used in conjunction with the generic breakbumper, mimicking the style of these networks' idents used at the time.

• Nederland 1:
• Nederland 2:
• Nederland 3:

Technique: CGI.

Audio:

3rd Bumper (2001-2003)

Visuals:

Variants:

Technique: Usually live-action footage and fading effects.

Audio: