Mark van Cuylenburg (Flying Dutchman) (2024)

Mark Anthony David van Cuylenburg (also known as Flying Dutchman) is a Singaporean radio presenter, host and entrepeneur. As of September 2019, he hosts the ONE FM's #1 Breakfast Show along with Glenn Ong, the husband of Jean Danker. Mark also owns seven businesses dealing in events management, hospitality and wedding planning.

Background

Mark attended St Michael’s School and St Joseph’s Institution during his school days.^[1] He went on to do computer studies at an institute in Germany but did not complete his time there. Before radio, Mark reportedly modelled at the now-defunct Downtown club.^[2]

Flying Dutchman

Mark's moniker 'Flying Dutchman' came about during his early years as a radio host on Rediffusion between 1980 and 1984.^[3] At the time, he worked a non-stop 48-hour shift to cover for both of Rediffusion’s English stations and needed to run back and forth between the two stations.^[4] Moreover, the moniker was a homage to Mark's Dutch heritage and was easier to pronounce than his name.

Career highlights

Radio (1980 - Present day)

Mark’s radio career started when he was spotted by Paul Cheong, a radio pioneer in Singapore. At the time, Mark was hosting fashion shows at the Cortina Department Store opposite Colombo Court.^[5][6] In 1980, Mark joined Rediffusion as a DJ with Paul's recommendation.^[7] Mark left Rediffusion in 1984 due to a conflict between his DJ duties and his events management company.

Mark joined Mediacorp as a radio presenter in 1990 after he was scouted by Bernard Lim, a broadcast veteran in Singapore. From 1996 to 2000, Mark co-hosted 'The Morning Express' on Class 95 with Joe Augustin. The show was popular among Singaporeans, with some saying that they “commanded the morning radio airwaves”.^[8] The show was able to pull in 365,000 listeners per week at its peak, making it “the most popular breakfast show on national radio” at the time.^[9] Mark and Joe’s style of quick, witty comments made it interesting and the duo helmed the two-DJ format that became popular with other local radio stations.

After Joe Augustin left the radio station in 2000, Mark was partnered briefly with Gurmit Singh, then with Petrina Kow and Jamie Meldrum.^[10] Mark was then partnered with Glenn Ong and Rod Monteiro on 'The Morning Express in 2003'. Mark and Glenn hosted the show from 2005 to 2013 after Rod left the show.^[11]

In August 2013, it was announced that Mark and Glenn would be split up. Mark was shifted to Gold 90.5 FM to helm ‘The Gold Morning Show’ with Vernetta Lopez while his ex-partner Joe Augustin replaced him as the host for ‘The Morning Express’. In 2014, Mark left Mediacorp to focus on his businesses.^[12]

Mark and Glenn joined SPH Radio in July 2015 as the new deejays for the morning show on ONE FM 91.3. The station held a contest for listeners to guess the identity of the new DJs, offering a prize of S$10,000 for the correct answer.^[13] Mark and Glenn took over the timeslot from Andre Holden, Elliott Danker and Part-time Pete. At the start of the new segment, Mark and Glenn co-hosted with Andre and Elliott. Eventually, the latter two were given other radio shows in the station.^[14]

Hosting (Television)

Business ventures

Personal life

Mark was born at Kandang Kerbau Hospital.^[38] His parents were Marjorie Ann Boudewyn, an English-Eurasian hairdresser-turned-housewife, and Harold Norman van Cuylenburg, who came from a wealthy Dutch family that had migrated to Singapore from Sri Lanka.^[39]

His parents separated when he was 16 years old. Following the separation, Mark’s father moved to Thailand while his mother migrated to Australia with his two siblings. Mark remained in Singapore.^[40] At one point in his life, Mark struggled with alcohol addiction being able to “clear half a bottle of scotch every night”.^[41] In a 2006 interview, Mark mentioned that he was “a bum who wandered through life not knowing what he wanted to do” before his radio career.^[42]

Marriage and family

Mark married Michelle Anne Seow in 1991. They met while working at The Music Force, where she was an administrator. In 2012, Mark suffered a heart attack.^[43] After his heart attack, he has taken to keeping fit by exercising regularly and going for salsa lessons with his wife. He has four daughters - Natasha, Nicole, Chloe and Leigh, and a grandson from his eldest daughter.

Mark has an interest in watches^[44] and pens.^[45] He specifically collects Mont Blanc pens for sentimental reasons.^[46]

Personal advocacy

Newsworthy incidents

Guinness World Record (2014)

In 2014, Mark participated in The Guinness World Record for the Longest Club DJ Session Relay alongside 132 other DJs. The event was held at The Marina Barrage during the National Day Carnival leading up to the 2014 National Day Parade.^[54] They successfully broke the previous Guinness World Record during the event.^[55]

Inappropriate on-air content (2007)

Mark and Glenn Ong had gotten heat for asking listeners to call in or SMS their views on whether they were turned on by loud noises in the bedroom.^[56] Mediacorp Radio was subsequently fined S$5,000 by the Media Development Authority.^[57]

Earlier in his career, Mark and Joe Augustin were taken off the air temporarily for using an expletive on Class 95FM’s Morning Express show.^[58] They received warnings from Singapore Broadcasting Authority, known today as the Media Development Authority.

Show cancellation prank (2005)

Mark, Glenn and Rod Monteiro received flak from listeners after their prank announcement that the show was going to be cancelled. A listener had spent S$100 creating a website to rally support for the show where a petition had even been sent to Mediacorp Radio. In reality, the DJs intended to take a break from their show for only a week.^[59]

Awards & accolades

References / Citations