radionetherlands

Episode 3 about Radio Netherlands has now been published on Vimeo and YouTube. It is video so it complements the collection here on Libsyn.  I get mixed reports about YouTube containing adverts, but it is not my intention to try and monetise this archived content which has already been paid for by the Dutch taxpayer.   Here is Episode 3 in the new second series of Media Network.   or   This edition focuses on the forgotten firsts connected with Dutch International broadcasting. I mixed a lot of footage I shot myself with other vintage footage from rescued archives from Radio Netherlands and YouTube. I hope it is a public contribution to a better understanding of what all of us involved in Dutch international broadcasting achieved over 85 years. In the Netherlands. There is a tendency by Dutch domestic media to always pick ancient footage from the 1960s when making documentaries or news items about Radio Netherlands. They ignore the brilliant investigative journalism and wide-ranging music productions from the early ’80s until 2012. We were pioneers in many formats, not outdated laggards. As the RNW studio complex at Witte Kruislaan 55 is sold to a private investor in January 2021, I think it is time to set the record straight. This adventure may be over, but let’s examine what we learned about international communication. I believe a lot of the ideas connected with community media are still valid, especially in a post-Trump world. Enjoy the past, but think about the future!

Christmas and New Year were traditionally quiet times at Radio Netherlands, with a lot of pre-taped specials. We didn't really know whether anyone was listening. But apparently, they were because we had plenty of feedback to report on in this last Media Network of 1996. So join us for some time travel, back to the birth of the Internet.

This programme was broadcast on the station’s 50th anniversary. We learned that World Service of the Christian Science Monitor is getting out of shortwave. Monitor Radio is going away on June 30th 1997. WCSN has already been sold. It cost them US$6 million dollars to run the service. TWR has expanded their facilities on Bonaire. The future of Radio Australia is in doubt and the domestic services of the ABC takes priority. Radio Austria International is running a special station OE1M. Lou Josephs explains that IE4 has been launched by Microsoft. Microsoft has announced their answer to Real Audio. It’s called Netshow. Radio Netherlands Latin American service is organising a special conference for its 500 partners. We present a quick overview of what it sounds like.

From 1980 to 2000, I produced and hosted a communications magazine on Radio Netherlands, the Dutch International broadcasting service. We made over 1000 editions of Media Network. Just over half of those shows still survive and are now on-line. Since then I have travelled the world several times in search of the stories of what made shortwave international broadcasting such a fascinating place to be towards the end of the 20th century. I am currently exploring what’s left of the Radio Netherlands archive. Here’s another VIDEO discovery. In 1997 I contributed to a documentary commissioned by Radio Netherlands TV department, released on the 70th anniversary of international broadcasting, or so we thought at the time. It looks rather slow-paced by today’s standards of documentary producing. But there is some rather rare footage of Radio Tirana in Albania. If you were listening to a shortwave radio at the end of the last century many of these names will be familiar. You will find it here: