Media Network Vintage Vault 2018-2019

This programme broadcast in February 1988 included news of the Philips D2999 shortwave portable receiver. Early models were recalled and modified, so we tested a new unit. We also included a test of the Philips D2935. There is also news of the conflict between Chad and Libya. John Campbell talks about transatlantic pirate radio stations. Andy Sennitt described catches during the heavy geomagnetic storm.

On 3 July 1988, at the end of the , an B2-203, was shot down as it flew over the  by   fired from the United States Navy  . The aircraft, which had been flying in Iranian airspace over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf on its usual flight path to Dubai, was destroyed. All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, perished. The only way of getting the Iranian side of the story was via shortwave from the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the transmitter was only switched on mid sentence when we listened in.  Radio Japan and Radio France Internationale have decided on a transmitter swap. NHK, for some reason, insisted on using narrow bandwidth phone lines so the audio sounded awful. Radio Bras also started relaying Swiss Radio International. We also talked to William Marsh about changes Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. He argued that dramatic events in the Baltic were not reported on by Soviet media.  Radio Netherlands was also celebrated 300 years of Anglo Dutch relations. I wen

In February 2000, Media Network experimented with a live webcast simply to see if the audience would react and could get a reliable audio feed. This is 10 years before Ustream or Google Hangouts. We had several hundred reactions, although by today's standards the audio quality was only marginally better than AM for most users. Remember dial-up? This programme which followed the webcast throough the regular shortwave and satellite channels analysed the results.

This was a news edition of the programme, reporting on a bumper postbag from the UK as we started using the 1440 kHz outlet from Radio Luxembourg. We looked at how well the 120 different ethnic communities get access to the Dutch media. The participation of ethnic groups in mainstream media was improving. Arthur Cushen reports on what he could hear in Invercargill New Zealand. Radio Singapore International blocked by Chinese interference.  We review two portable radios, the Sony ICF-SW40 and the Grundig Yacht Boy 360. 

The super typhoon Yolanda which hit the Philippines in November 2013 reminded me of a Media Network we made in November 1992. At that time  had hit the US Marshall Islands putting many of the radio stations off the air there. This news edition of the programme also looks at the discussion in the UK about the licence fee for radio and TV from the BBC, Radio Luxembourg decides to pull the plug on all English language transmissions, Doug Boyd had a joke about audiences and apples, VOA has reduced its Spanish language broadcasts to Latin America. TWR Bonaire 800 kHz announces major transmission cutbacks on MW and SW. The programme starts with one of those classic Hallicrafters SW Radio commercials from the 1950's.

Tony Jones is a Welsh radio enthusiast who emigrated to Paraguay in the 1970's. His name appeared in several DX magazines are a very active shortwave listener and specialist on the Latin American radio scene. He later went on to become one of the main editors of Passport to World Band Radio, a publication started by Larry Magne. I contacted him in late 1981 and asked him to give a presentation about the radio scene in South America at that time. We didn't have access to any station recordings, only music in the Radio Netherlands record library. So this time capsule episode would have been produced differently now. But it is an example of how the newly renamed programme was trying to do more reporting about media, rather than just times and frequencies. 

This "clandestine" editon of Media Network checked the media accuracy of the gadgets in the James Bond Film, the Living Daylights. We found quite a number of mistakes. But then, James Bond is fiction guys!. Danish Radio decided to broadcast extracts from the book Spycatcher by Peter Wright. The book had been banned in the UK. Wright died a millionaire in 1995 after selling 2 million copies so it was clearly a good publicity move to have the book censored. Reminds me of the recent revelations about the NSA. WHRI is testing to Europe, but not announcing the frequencies they are transmitting on. The good ship Sarah is being prosecuted for transmitting from ship off the US coast. Wim van Amstel explains the radio regulations. Dorothy Weirs has a story about a clandestine station in San Salvador.

This was a news show 1.6 million tune in to Radio Netherlands in Dutch during their summer holiday. WWV and WWVH have had problems with their automated time announcements. Drum recorders are back on line. Victor Goonetilleke has news about Cambodia. VOA is having challenges building its transmitters at a new site 50km North of Colombo.  Why did we broadcast all these numbers? People forget none of the listeners had access on-line and only a fraction of the audience had access to printed DX bulletins. Andy Sennitt reports on what is in the 1992 World Radio TV Handbook. James Robinson reports that several UK local radio stations are leaving mediumwave. WLS 890kHz is scrapping its FM format. A new Catholic SW station WEWN was being built in Birminngham, Alabama. Dave Rosenthal reports on an experiment in McMurdo. Remember this show is 22 years old! Vasily Strelnikov signs off at Radio Moscow World Service and recommends people to tune into Radio Netherlands. Radio Moscow staff watch the red flags of the USSR bei

Welcome to the 1980's and era when giant world expositions were in fashion. By finding the cheapest flight I could, I managed to persuade the RN programme director to let me go and report on what was one of the last great expos. Radio Netherlands was, at that time, thinking of building a relay station in Asia. NHK Radio Japan was part of what I called the gang-of-five international broadcasters, although NHK was much larger than Radio Netherlands. There is an excellent rt on Youtube which gives you some idea of the scale of the event. The Tokyo expo was actually in Tsububa, so I recall my first ride on the bullet train. One hundred eleven countries set up exhibits using the theme, "Dwellings and Surroundings - Science and Technology for Man at Home". More than 20.3 million people attended the three-month event. I was one of them. Wish I had had a camera. But I did have a microphone and help from NHK. Remember being amazed at how cramped everything was at Radio Japan.

recently retired from Radio Australia. Many shortwave listeners know him from the many programmes he produced and presented for Australia's international broadcast network based in Melbourne. Some remember his voice on Radio Netherlands. He was with the English department for 15 years, leaving in 1986 to return with his family to the Pacific. He set up most of the feature programmes during the reorganisation of the output in the early 1980's, as Radio Nederland concentrated more on information than music. Roger has always been a people person, a great colleague and someone who just got things done. He was a regular presenter on Media Network in the early years, along with Pete Myers. Just rediscovered the last Media Network he did with me before literally stepping on the plane for Melbourne. Remember this is 1986 - 27 years ago.

I often feel that many exhibitions in 2014 will go the way of Comdex. Many people don't even remember the name. They were a whole series of computer exhibitions in the US which suddenly collapsed into a black hole. Those were the days when phones were phones and the only way to make a video on it was to fiddle around with Powerpoint and fake it. Far more impressed with events like Techcrunch Disrupt these days.

Very early edition of Media Network when Dennis Powell reported on monitoring the US invasion of Grenada in November 1983. We did everything on very ropey old phone lines which must have sounded horrendeous on shortwave. But we got the news out.

This is a news orientated programme making use of a full postbag. We did a lot of reporting about shortwave receivers on Media Network, broadcasting rather lengthy reviews over the air. Nowadays, the web would be a much better medium. But it wasn't fast enough in the 1990's and only a small proportion of the audience has access.PC computing in a slump - looks like what's happening in 2013 is exactly the same as when we made this programme in April 1997. Shortwave radio dealers were closing. Remember Gilder Shortwave? We discover what is new about the Drake SW-2 receiver. We report that Radio Netherlands use of 1440 kHz (the great 208 from Radio Luxembourg) is being extended over the summer period. Andy Sennitt is trying to solve a Tanzanian mystery. Lou Josephs reports on improvements to broadcasters websites. Victor Goonetilleke has been hearing both Angola and Costa Rica. We also talked about Radio Fax, 6220 kHz from Trevor Brook of Surrey Electronics. Trevor was trying to get an official licence to broadca

We did a special 2 hr webcast to celebrate the 1000th edition of Media Network in February 2000. We were rather ahead of our time because although we were streaming live into the web using a Real Audio server, we only knew that around 575 people were able to listen at any one time. We had none of the webstats that are available now. Glad I found the audio on a CD so we can share it again with the Media Network Vintage Radio audience. It is a marathon session....2 hours of greetings and links with listeners. Were you part of the celebrations? Many were.

Not so many programmes from 1989 have survived because Radio Netherlands switched to a cheaper and rather inferior brand of recording tape. It was fine in everyday use, but it didn't store well. As a result, many of my tapes in this period have become sticky and unplayable. However, this transcription show is fine. It deals with recent violent solar activity and its effects on shortwave radio reception. And we also hear from Wolf Harranth (pictured) who reports on one of the few cases of pirate radio in Austria. I was always amazed at the Austrian monopoly maintained by the ORF. 

This edition of Media Network includes news that the Dutch broadcasting museum in Hilversum has reopened to the public and TV Marti has been off the air because the blimp balloon keeps blowing away. We look at Radio , an in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Antennas often got a lot feedback from listeners, especially when we went outside to talk about how to set up an effective aerial like a T2FD. Actually that antenna I am describing is still hanging in the garden, though I am doing much less listening on it than I was then. The programme also examines changes coming to Radio Norway International. Do you remember their weekly programme in Spanish? 

This is an edited edition of Media Network which was released on transcription to other radio stations on 11 Jan 1995. In the light of the recent revelations by about espionage currently conducted by the NSA and UK GCHQ, this programme from 18 years ago is rather tame. Spies were expected to sit infront of shortwave radios to take down a message on a one time pad. We talk to spy numbers specialist Simon Mason who made a lot of recordings in the last part of the 20th century and also knew where to find these strange voices. 

A Media Network special from late 1997 focussing on longwave broadcasting. We also profile the Christian broadcaster ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia.

There was a time when Media Network at 1430 UTC would carry special editions of the programme aimed at the large shortwave audiences in India. At least, we used to get thousands of letters from that region. And when we responded with relevant programmes, we get several thousand brown postcards via the p.o. box in New Delhi. This one example from 1994. Time travel indeed.