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 the bumpers' often playful and charming nature, these breakbumpers have been widely remembered by most Dutch residents of the late 20th century, with Loeki de Leeuw being considered as an icon of Dutch television.

2nd Bumper (2000-2001)

Visuals:

• Opening: Over a blurry sky blue background with white streaks, multiple bright lights appear and draw in the STER diamonds logo shape as the 3D shapes of it form. The nearly completed logo zooms back and settles at the center. A shine passes through the logo briefly.
• Closing: We see the completed STER logo on the same background, and all the four diamonds merge into one as the lights appear around the diamond while it fades out.

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: A sustained chord, with an echoing 3-note piano theme. In the closing breakbumper, a higher-pitched arrangement of the piano theme is heard.

Audio Variants: There are different arrangements of the theme used in the NPO channel variants.

3rd Bumper (2001-2003)

Visuals:

• Opening: Over slow-motion footage, usually in three shots transitioned with fading effects, a white diamond outline with the word "Ster" fades in. Various lines of random characters then fade in behind the logo, in this order:
  NL12 R12
  3F R4 47
  AMRM OOM
  RO P. L
  At the end of the fourth line, a square and circle can be seen.
• Closing: We see the Ster logo with another related portion of footage in the background. The elements then fade out in order at the same pace as before.

Variants: There exists multiple versions with different footage.

Technique: Live-action footage and fading effects.

Audio: A soft synth theme that is loosely based on the 3-note motif used in the previous bumper.