Media Network Vintage Vault 2018-2019

While the rest of the media was focussing on the Olympic Games in Atlanta, we ran an "Olympics Free" Programme...well almost. Problems for journalists in Atlanta with reporters being refused access to events. Lou Josephs discusses Macromedia and ActiveX technology. We link up with Christian Voice in Zambia and ask why it decided to broadcast only in English. Incidentally, as of 2019, the station is still on the air .

Richard Richter announces the new name for US surrogate broadcasting to Asia: Radio Free Asia They keep quiet about the transmitter sites and the frequencies. We dip into your letters including insights from Japan. AsiaSat is going to have difficulty getting listening in Japan.  We launch a challenge for listeners to find an MPEG-2 satellite receiver in their city – no-one could find one. Apart from the news that Ireland is returning to shortwave for sports commentaries, most of this edition is devoted to calling up shortwave receiver dealers to get a feel of how things are changing. The Internet is having an impact on the level of shortwave listening, at least in the USA.  Bob Grove in Brasstown North Carolina explains that the hobby of shortwave listening is in trouble. Fred Osterman of Universal Shortwave, though, was more optimistic, pointing to the softness in the US economy. John Day runs a shop in Australia. The Kenwood R-5000 receivers are popular there. Hans Doeven in the North of the Netherlands say

Complete schedule of RNW in English in advanced of the winter transmission season.  Interesting to see how extensive the schedule was in 1996. Also, there is an extensive explanation by Jonathan Marks giving tips on how to build an antenna in your garden. It updates a publication that Radio Netherlands published in the 1970’s. Perhaps you remember - Give your antenna some air? There is a curious sign-off from voice over champion Jim Cutler.

An interesting catch-up show as we re-convene for a new season of Media Network. Diana Janssen is back from Asia and has some concerns about how the pace of change is leading to discussions of censorship. Andy Sennitt explains about challenges in Belarus. WorldSpace seems to be expanding. Karl Miosga of WRN explains a plan to carry their network overnight on SAFM. Alok Das Gupta has a new edition of his South-Asia listening guide. ORF KurzwellenPanorama (photo of editor Wolf Harranth) and MN celebrate 15 years of collaboration. Lou Josephs has been testing Shockwave from Macromedia. NOS has abandoned plans to produce a regional TV magazine

Plenty of radio news in this edition of the programme. We talk to Flame Nieuwenhuizen about the future finances of Channel Africa. The station has been saved and moved to become part of the SABC. Radio ABC Denmark is to start up in 7570 kHz using 150 kW via Kaliningrad. The Voice of Tibet has started up from studios in Oslo, Norway. It goes out via the Seychelles. They are on 15445 kHz at 1145. They claim to have funding from private investors. Victor Goonetilleke reports the station is coming from FEBA in Seychelles. We review the Sony ICFSW600 receiver which has 9 SW bands on it. Jelle Boonstra reports a new series about Jingles on Dutch domestic radio.

This edition focused on the future of digital satellite television. We started with an Interview with Scott Zimmer of Echostar about the growing direct satellite television service. They have just launched the DISH network. They also plan data services including educational programmes. All this was the forerunner of what was the set-top box. But the price? Between 1000 and 2000 US dollars. 30% of US households have purchased PC’s of one type or another. There is controversy as to whether these systems will ever be two-way. We linked up with Arthur Cushen to find out about the sale of stations in New Zealand. There is also accusations of censorship and financial problems for stations on the Pacific islands. We talk about the new ATS909 receiver from Sangean. 9590 kHz has some interference problems from Channel Africa. Leo Kohl explains they had to go off the air in Bonaire for a few hours because freak weather threatened to push sand into the heat exchanges. Radio Australia’s Carnavon transmitters.

This edition starts with feedback from the answer line. DAB Radio E. As July 1st sees the daily email news service begins. NOS Gender Portrayal department is shutting down after 5 years which confirm rather traditional views about the way women are portrayed in Dutch media. Only 10% of the interviewed experts on the radio are women. We announce the 750 anniversary contest results. We gave away 50 CD anniversary. Arthur Cushen reports that there has been a lot of snow in Invercargill, New Zealand. He has been hearing a lot of Caribbean and Columbian stations on mediumwave. There is a new Nigerian clandestine via Meyerton, South Africa. 

We are recording this edition of the programme in advance because of Diana’s upcoming Asian trip. Andrew Rodgers reports that he heard us on the Astra satellite mucking around in the studio 1 preparing jingles with Jim Cutler. We explain what happened. Lou Josephs has launched a new newsletter from Washington DC. He discusses what we would call Fake News today and how cookies can spy on your Internet activity. Profile of the new Radio France Internationale with Eric Baptiste.  6000 jobs to go at Philips in their audio/video divisions as part of Operation Centurion. CDI and DCC were disasters

Ginger da Silva announces that Radio Netherlands will switch from 1440 kHz via Luxembourg to 1512 via Radio Vlaanderen International.  SKY Channel is now turning a profit. It will cost 200 million pounds for Sky to go digital. Lou Josephs gives the secret site for the FCC search. RTB will not be starting a shortwave service. Diana Janssen is off to Chile to attend a major media conference in Santiago. We review a designer-driven shortwave receiver. P-2000 is a new travel portable from Grundig Europe. There is a new book out about the BFBS in Germany. The author is Alan Grace and we spoke with him. It started in North Africa in Algiers. There was even a forces station in Iceland.

Professor John Campbell answered questions about the future of artificial intelligence and language recognition. It is hard to believe this was recorded in 1995! Campbell, as usual, was spot on. Listening to certain radio stations like Radio RSA in India can get you in trouble. Wolf Harranth of ORF’s Kurzwellen Panorama has been looking at the extent of monitoring of DXers by the Stasi in Eastern Germany. We have since visited the Stasi HQ in Berlin - the museum is highly recommended.

BVN and the future of Television: Lodewijk Bouwens (in photo) explains that Wereldomroep TV will get a permanent status as from January 1st 1998. Mike Bird reports on large geomagnetic storm, the 4th largest since records began. Radio New Zealand has been reporting some very bad weather in the Pacific, especially in the Cook Islands. Tahiti seems to have gone off the air, 15167 kHz is silent. BBC has stopped recordings of its news bulletins in New Zealand. Media Network visits NEWSWORLD for newsmakers. There was clearly a crisis of confidence amongst professionals. 24hr news channels not thought to be viable. The late Allister Sparks was quite outspoken, saying it was a first world broadcaster conference. . Chris Cramer from CNN claimed only CNN and BBC were serious about international news.  Coping with sudden spikes in demand when news breaks is a challenge. 400-500 people can watch at the same time with online video. RTE has hired shortwave time to broadcast commentary on the World Cup. Julian Isherwood h

This was a general news programme with an indepth interview with Victor Goonetilleke who was visiting The Netherlands. European winter time has started. People using electronic mail more and more. InfoDutch promo. News from WRTH editorial office. In-depth Interview with Victor Goonetilleke.

Hilversum 3 opening with song by Herman van Veen.  Jonathan’s annoying tie. Anniversaries. Hilversum 3 and Nederland resumes broadcasts to the Dutch East Indies. Interview with Frits Thors. 30 years since the creation of Hilversum 3. We find out more about the Trondheim student radio in Norway. Answerline number has changed. Tim Hendel enjoyed the wind-up clockwork radio. Arthur Cushen has news from the Pacific. Review of new 1996 edition of Passport to World Band Radio. We also talk to Craig Sigenthaler of KIWA electronics. Photo of Frits Thors via Polygoon Hollands Nieuws - Cut from File:WEEKNUMMER461-HRE00013A19.ogv / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid / NOS Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid / NOS, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10564395

This edition of Media Network was salvaged from a cassette and a few seconds before Chris Greenway you will hear that a bit is missing. Radio Netherlands using is a transmitter near Kalingrad, Russia for a European reception. At the time it was one of the world's most powerful transmission sites on MW.  There was a problem with interference to RNW on 6020 from Moscow. We cross to Chris Greenway for news about Radio Moscow. Major expansion of Radio France International of 430 million francs over 4 years. There were two projects one in Djibouti which was abandoned. We also hear about plans for the Internet broadcasting System. They will put up to 2 hours of audio on the Internet. We also spoke with Carl Malamud who put up various data (like all US patents). Philips will put a couple of million into the development of DAB radios. We review the AOR 3030, made by a scanner manufacturer. Willem Bos has been putting it through its paces. Here is a link to a catalogue 

Crazy opening with Coco Jambo. The international service of Radio New Zealand may be axed. We spoke with Linden Clark (photo) who explains the importance of RNZI (now called , producing some 30 bulletins of news each day. Shortwave still makes sense because of the vast distances. There are problems with the license of independent station Star Radio in Monrovia, Liberia. They are funded by USAID. We look at the challenges facing documentary makers. We compare the glory days of radio theatre, programmes like The Shadow and Tales of Two Cities. Lots of quotes from Orson Welles. He explains that most directors and writers are actors. We have another visit to the documentary festival “Boundless Sound” in Amsterdam and hear from Chris Brooks of the CBC. ABC Australia argues that the “Listening Room” project works. Michiel Matszer says there may be too many documentaries being made in the Netherlands. 20-30,000 listeners daily, but each documentary may take a month to produce. Victor Goonetilleke explains the launch

Shortwave radio stations shifted their frequencies to cope with changing propagation conditions. It was often quite challenging to find where your favorite station had gone to when the summer schedule started. Although it may sound boring to read lists of times and frequencies, as in this edition of Media Network, there really was no other way unless you had one the station's programme schedules. Radio Mozambique is facing severe problems both technical and financial. We promote our "email facility". Radio Norway may close down its Fredrikstad transmitter. The Grundig Yacht Boy 320 and 360 has been announces. These sets costs around 150 Dollars. JIngle Feature: We look at the Dutch evangelist Johan Maasbach and how offshore radio disk jockeys would imitate the style of the religious sponsor. BBC World Service has closed its monthly magazine. Radio Netherlands launches new jingles for 1440 kHz from Hans Hoogedoorn.  

This was a news update edition of the programme. Tony Barratt pays us a nice compliment. Lou Josephs reports about the newly expanded AM band above 1600 kHz. US Digital Radio is failing. BBC has announced that DAB demos will be made in Berlin in the Funkausstellung in 1995. We also look at the future of the Emergency Broadcast System as the US moves to a digital service. Who remembers the CONALRAD?  Do you remember to BASICODE experiments in 1992? Optimod killed it. What happened to the AM data system to help spread schedule data in real time? Pierre Schwab in Hong Kong explains ID-Logic. Tom Sundstrom reports problems with the Mali transmitter of China Radio International. HAARP in Alaska is getting ready. Louis Slesin of Microwave News is critical. Voice of Russia has started using a new directional antenna on 1215 kHz, causing grief to Virgin Radio in the UK. Radio Free Europe/VOA has a new service from Holzkirchen on 1593. BBC Monitoring has completed an extension of its facilities in Caversham.  

A news edition of the programme. Radio Tirana is now hiring out airtime on 1395 kHz. Trans World Radio signs on from the 1 MW transmitter in Albania. This is causing a bit of a headache in the Netherlands where Newsradio1395 is being planned by Veronica. Diana Janssen investigates. Piet van Tellingen from NOS Radio 1 thinks it won’t work – but then he would say that. BBC Radio 1 has left mediumwave. TalkRadio is to launch in its place. Dutch troops captured in Bosnia have been listening to Radio Netherlands as their only way of finding out what was going on. Because they knew their captors might understand the word “radio”, they gave the station the codename strawberry instead. We also play the solarplexis joke. The call of the FishEagle used to be the only identification out of Zambia. That was the government broadcaster Radio Zambia. We now follow-up on a new christian station called Christian Voice which has now gone on the air. We find out the details of how it has been organised and the technical details

A news edition of the programme (i.e. plenty of short items).  Richard Measham of BBC Monitoring Services explains that Radio Metropolis in Prague will start a commercial radio service on shortwave including programmes in English. Jeff White reports about the demise of La Voz del CID, the Cuban clandestine run by Cuban exiles. The FCC has a new bulletin board. VLQ9 Brisbane heard in Europe. Mike Bird investigates and discovers it’s a new channel for Radio Australia. George Soros announces it will take over the 15 million items in the RFE/RL archives and move them to Prague. Radio D-Day from Bournemouth is currently on the air. Radio Kiwi has announced a schedule of test broadcasters. Jeff White explains at WRMI. Radio Dnesti International,  broadcasts three times a week heard on 15290 kHz.

A news edition of the programme. Radio Netherlands is closing the Arabic, French and Portuguese shortwave broadcasts after a re-organisation. Holland FM transmissions noted 1224 kHz. Radio Moscow is stopping its broadcasts in several languages including Dutch and Afrikaans. Australian TV’s future is in doubt because of high costs. There were questions when it was revealed that companies had paid to be part of the public service programming. Another review of Radio Australia has been set up. Hans Bakhuizen updates us on DAB’s launch, expected in Berlin in 1995 and the ESA Archimedes project. Visit to IBC 1994 in Amsterdam. Jeff Cohen explains MPEG compression and the plans for the World Radio Network. Arthur Cushen has been following the crisis surrounding the volcano eruption in Papua New Guinea. We also talk with Dutch radio engineer, Willem Bos, about the trend to launch cheaper communications receivers under 1000 US dollars.