"You'll Never Walk Alone": EHOPE Joins the China-Europe COVID-19 Solidarity Effort

On March 20, 2020, as European countries battled COVID-19, 183 radio stations across more than 30 European countries simultaneously played the same song: Liverpool's anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone".

The initiative was launched by Sander Hoogendoorn, a presenter at Dutch station 3FM, to bring encouragement and hope to frontline medical workers and to everyone affected by the virus. "We all must do everything we can to overcome this crisis. Something like this transcends the borders of radio stations — why not have every morning show play the same song at the same time? 'You'll Never Walk Alone' can encourage people doing incredible work in healthcare, those who are ill, and those who cannot leave their homes."

At 8:45 a.m. Dutch time, 183 stations from the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania and beyond played the classic together. For a moment, a moving melody filled the skies over Europe:

When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high, and don't be afraid of the dark… Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone.

In that moment the song transcended its identities as a Broadway number, an Elvis cover and a football anthem — it became spiritual sustenance for Europe's pandemic response, a voice of humanity standing together for a better future. Listeners praised the initiative: "Never before have I felt Europe so united!" "After the storm, the sun always shines."

EHOPE International Translation subtitled the video at the first opportunity and shared it with Chinese audiences, volunteering online to help Chinese and European netizens interact and cheer each other on. The team also translated existing Chinese anti-epidemic handbooks into multiple languages at once, so readers in different countries could benefit. Even far from home, people could feel it: at this moment, China stands with the world — together in the torrent defending human life and health.