Media Network Vintage Vault 2018-2019

In this episode, Oliver Pass and Drisopholis discover the secrets behind how DX programmes are made as they explore inside Radio Politzania. How are stations really broadcast on shortwave? And why do DX shows keep interviewing each other? Thanks to George Wood of Radio Sweden and Ian McFarland, formerly of Radio Canada International for agreeing to play along. This episode was originally broadcast on April 30th 1981.

It is thirty years ago since I wrote a rather silly parody on both international radio broadcasting based on my favorite radio series at the time, the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. There seemed to be so much to make fun of at the time...the boring propaganda at the height of the Cold War, jamming, the waste of energy shouting from one country to another, and the variable quality of reaction from listeners. I don't think it was the listeners's fault that most of the feedback was very technical, to do with signal strength and QSL cards rather than comments on the programme. May be people were being too polite. My father would often answer the door to religious groups by apologizing that he couldn't continue the conversation because we were "drisopholia"in this house. It was years later that I p and understood the wry smile on his face as he closed the door. It seems like an excellent name for a character in this fantasy visit to Radio Politzania, the place where all shortwave signals really come from. There

This is one of several bloopers shows I made at Radio Netherlands in the 1980's at a time when a lot of material was pre-recorded and making a mistake on air was frowned upon. Sense of humour has changed a lot in over 30 years. But some of the slips still raise a smile. Enjoy

This programme contains a profile of Radio Austria International in Vienna. That station holds fond memories for me since I worked at the station briefly 1976-1980 in the days when the shortwave service was part of the ORF Zentrum out in the 23rd district. They subsequently moved back to the Argentinerstrasse across the road for the Funkhaus. Several listeners called and e-mailed after monitoring announcements at the weekend on Radio Austria International. The station is just putting the finishing touches to a new 100 kw shortwave transmitter at its Moosbrun transmission centre. But as Roland Machatschke, director of Radio Austria International, explained to us, it looks as though shortwave output from Moosbrun will be cut by 50%. 5.5 million dollars won’t leave much left over for programming. We also reported on the launch of the Sirius satellite radio system and noted that cassette holders were disappearing from shops, which is usually a signal that a format is coming to an end. We were still trying to work

This second part of the series Inside Story broadcast in 1983 explores the broadcasters who joined the public broadcasting system in the 1960's like TROS and Veronica. Another new broadcaster was the evangelical EO. Amazing that it took 50 minutes to explain Holland's Unique Broadcasting system. No wonder it remains unique. The photo was taken on the Dutch media park in Hilversum very near to the new Media experience building Beeld en Geluid.

More time travel for you. This programme was an attempt to explain the extremely complex Dutch broadcasting system to a foreign audience. Remember it is 1983! By today's standards, broadcasting still sounds very formal and scripted (because it was!). People still talk about radio, whereas today the political discussion is purely about TV. In this first episode, we looked at the original public broadcasters AVRO, VARA, NCRV and KRO. The photo shows the KRO building on the Emmastraat in Hilversum. Radio Netherlands used to hire one of the studios for "Ship of the Week" in the 1950's before it had its own studio that could accommodate an audience. I went past the old KRO building in July 2015 on the bus and it seems to be abandoned. There was a plan to convert the place into apartments, but I don't believe that has happened. You can also see it on Google Earth if you use Streetview. The re-release of this programme in 2014/2015 is timely as Dutch public broadcasting goes through a major reorganisation as a resul

This was a "regular"edition of the programme first broadcast at the start of 1993. This week the news is that veteran DXer Adrian Peterson of AWR has been hearing strange harmonics in Costa Rica and the VOA Brazilian Branch has a new lease of life thanks to take-up by Brazilan radio stations of its satellite signal. Shortwave to Brazil was already written off as being no longer viable! Adrian continues with a commentary of what's happening to shortwave services in Central America. Canadian commercial station CKFX, plans a comeback with a low-power transmitter on 49 metres using a single vertical array. We visit Gijs Pappot, then the Chief engineer at Radio Netherlands, who explains how the signal gets to Moscow for the recently started broadcasts to Asia. Victor Goonetilleke has some great recordings of Radio Iraq International plus some other tuning suggestions.

It's ten years since Radio Netherlands organised a "short wave" of publicity stunt targeting English speakers in North America. On July 1st 2001, BBC World Service ended its broadcasts on shortwave to North America. Mark Byford, then the Director of BBC World Service, decided to pull the plug rather abruptly instead of quietly phasing out the service. It caused quite a commotion in shortwave-listening circles. As programme director at Radio Netherlands at the time, I was rather curious to see what would happen if we hired the same BBC transmitting facilities from Merlin Communications for a short period after sign-off to see what the reaction would be. I made a simple shortwave showcase programme explaining that there were other stations on the dial apart from the BBC. The programme got a satisfactory response, so much so, that after two weeks we decided to add a regular morning broadcast to North America, following on from the success that the RN Latin American service had enjoyed. At the time, there were hi

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utrecht, which then was called From Singing Tower to Street Organs. The  is still there. I then discovered people who were collecting pianolas, gramophones and jukeboxes. Of course, it wasn't just the devices. It was the stories that went with them. I've re-released them here as high quality MP3's. Although not a Media Network show, I have had requests from people to put these documentaries into the collection, since they have a connection with communications. This fifth programme explores an unusual hobby in the Netherlands, importing and restoring jukeboxes. I was intrigued at the way they get around the problem of the different phase in the power lines - 60 Hz in North America, 50 Hz in Europe. This was the final and concluding part of the radio series. The earlier episodes are also on line. Let me know what you think!

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utrecht, which then was called From Singing Tower to Street Organs. The  is still there. I then discovered people who were collecting pianolas, gramophones and jukeboxes. Of course, it wasn't just the devices. It was the stories that went with them. I've re-released them here as high quality MP3's. Although not a Media Network show, I have had requests from people to put these documentaries into the collection, since they have a connection with communications. This fourth programme examines gramophones and phonographs in the company of a local collector, Fred Haanebeek. The final part of this series is released tomorrow.

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utrecht, which then was called From Singing Tower to Street Organs. The  is still there. I then discovered people who were collecting pianolas, gramophones and jukeboxes. Of course, it wasn't just the devices. It was the stories that went with them. I've re-released them here as high quality MP3's. Although not a Media Network show, I have had requests from people to put these documentaries into the collection, since they have a connection with communications. This third programme looks at player pianos or . I was amazed at the number of people in the Netherlands who were collecting at the time. I was particularly impressed by the recordings of Gustav Mahler playing his own compositions. He recorded the rolls in 1908 if I remember correctly. It's obvious that he was a better composer than performer though. Part 4 tomorrow. Enjoy!

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utrecht, which then was called From Singing Tower to Street Organs. The  is still there. I then discovered people who were collecting pianolas, gramophones and jukeboxes. Of course, it wasn't just the devices. It was the stories that went with them. I've re-released them here as high quality MP3's. Although not a Media Network show, I have had requests from people to put these documentaries into the collection, since they have a connection with communications. This second programme looks at Bells in the belltower. If you come to the Netherlands you'll still find carillions being played by hand or by machine. Part three released tomorrow. Enjoy.

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utrecht, which then was called From Singing Tower to Street Organs. The is still there. I then discovered people who were collecting pianolas, gramophones, phonographs and jukeboxes. Of course, it wasn't just the devices. It was the stories that went with them. I've re-released them here as high quality MP3's. Although not a Media Network show, I have had requests from people to put these documentaries into the collection, since they have a connection with communications. This first programme looks at all kinds of clocks that perform melodies. Another one all this week to complete the series. Enjoy.

This edition was recorded in Cannes France and nearby Monaco. We look at the state of the music industry in 1996 (they still don't really understand the Internet do they?) and visit , a radio station targeting British expats living in the South of France. 25 years later (this update in 2021) the station is still there although the website looks as though it was built in 1996 and all they changed was the copyright notice. I love the story about the shortwave site, formerly used by Trans World Radio Monte Carlo. The Germans built it originally to blast into North Africa during the war. 

Six months ago we took you on a tour of a special exhibition being held in the Netherlands Broadcasting Museum on the south-side of Hilversum. The great thing about the museum is that part of the collection always changes. The popular exhibition on off-shore radio which we covered last year has now made way for an equally fascinating portrait of wartime radio. It covers the period of German Nazi occupation, starting on May 10th 1940 when German troops crossed the Dutch border.The exhibition looks at the powerful influence that radio had and the way it was used by the Germans and Allied forces to persuade. As you walk through the exhibition there are headphones attached to many of the glass cabinets. They bring the past to life. Arno Weltens has designed the exhibition and he started our tour by explaining that after the bombing of Rotterdam on May 14th 1940 and the capitulation of Dutch forces hours afterwards a German infantry patrol headed for the centre of Dutch broadcasting on Wednesday the 15th. (note th

This week most of the programme focussed on a profile of the new South African external service, Channel Africa. Lebona Mosia was its first director and he visited Hilversum in April 1996 to discuss possible cooperation. He had worked as a broadcaster on the anti-apartheid clandestine station Radio Freedom which beamed programmes into the country from neighbouring Zambia and Madagascar. Following the change of government, Radio RSA was renamed Channel Africa and went through a major period of change, having much less money than before. The programme also includes an interview with the then boss of Sentech, Neil Smuts, who explained that the Meyerton shortwave centre was being prepared for jamming operations when the regime collapsed. 

This vintage edition of the programme contains news of a special amateur radio station PA6RNW to celebrate the Dutch transmission company Nozema, we follow-up on a call from Florida about the clandestine women on the radio, (Tokyo Rose, Hanoi Hannah, Liberty from Argentina). It seems people were suggesting we should re-issue Media Networks on CD (something which had to wait until this site 16 years later). The programme concludes with a feature on magnetic loop antennas with inventor . A difficult subject, but I thought, well explained. The photo is of the replica PHOHI/PCJ towers put up a couple of years ago in the town in which I currently live, a monument to shortwave's glorious past.

This is part two of the documentary about Dutch broadcasting in Indonesia. The programme begins with a look at the current state of the sunspot cycle and then launches into Part Two of the feature. This part looks at the rather uneasy situation between the Dutch and Indonesian population in the lead-up to independence. Then follows a portrait of the complex radio situation in Indonesia in 1995. I made most of these recordings during a trip there in early 1995. Joe Coman, head of Radio Netherlands Indonesian department at the time, added to the conversation.  

This is an expanded rewrite and reworking of an episode of Media Wars, first broadcast in the 1980's examining the curious broadcasting situation in the Dutch East Indies from 1940 onwards. When the Japanese invaded Indonesia, the Dutch lost control of the broadcast networks. But there are some untold stories of what they tried to do under such unusual circumstances. 

This programme starts with a report from Hungary about protests to changes at Radio Budapest. We also learned of the passing of the editor of the RBSWC, Dennis Herner. Andy Sennitt had news of the reactivation of LRA36, the Argentine station on their Antarctic base. Victor Goonetilleke is on the line with news that TWR plans to return to shortwave. Bob Tomalski has some rants about why wide angle televisions are only appearing in PAL, and we look at some of the thoughts behind the Grundig 206 shortwave receiver.