MN.15.10.1992. Mediaraad Report & RTL Satellite

The programme starts with the voice of the late Paul Holmes, a New Zealand broadcaster who worked at RNW in 1980. I did shifts with him.
International broadcasters usually have friends all over the world, but few in their own country. That's because they don't target their own people - and politicians are often clueless as to what their role is, relying on hearsay. During its life as a broadcaster, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep would regularly become the subject of commissions. One of the most important reports was put together by the Mediaraad (Media Council) in 1992, and triggered a major reorganisation of the station in 1994.
Trans World Radio has hired airtime from Radio Tirana Albania..unthinkable a few years before. WRTH reports that Radio Czechoslovakia International may shortly change its name again as the country splits in 1993. Marcel Rommerts has problems hearing BBC Radio 1 on 1053 kHz. Russian separatists are jamming a station. Andy Sennitt makes me a cup of tea. Lou Josephs says the new transmitter in Costa Rica from Spanish Foreign Radio is difficult to hear. John Catlett of Radio Luxembourg announces the descision to end the English language programming.
The programme concludes with an interview with Pat Gowan, G3IOR, who's fascinated by reception of satellites on the wrong side of the Earth.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.27.02.1992. WARC Malaga and Voice of Russia, Moscow

There are rumours in Holland about the start of a second TV service from RTL, to be called RTL-5. Vasily Strelnikov reports from Moscow about the start of the Voice of Russia, and its plans to serve the Russian speakers living in the Ukraine (sic- compare 1992 to 2014).
There was an extensive WARC report from Malaga, Spain. Some important issues remain deadlocked on future expansion on shortwave broadcast bands. Victor Goonetilleke reports that SLBC has started a service to North America.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.15.10.1992. Caracol Reportage

We're trying to work out why listeners have not received the latest Radio Netherlands programme schedule On Target from Costa Rica. Typhoon Brian hit Guam but didn't do any damage to station KSDA. Jeff White reports from Bogota profiling Caracol and RCN and their use of international broadcasters. Ken MacHarg reports on other areas where they plan to establish relay facilities. Listeners in Asia are hearing National Unity Radio in Sudan. Richard Measham reports on why it was set up - to counteract the clandestine Radio SPLA. Entrepreneur Lex Harding says he will start Radio 538 before the end of the year. Andy Sennitt of the WRTH has news from the Balkans about transmitters for hire.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.07.05.1992. VOA Koreas WSHB

This programme starts with a link to Bill Whitacre who reports on the start of a VOA Kurdish language radio service. Bill also explains that VOA has started relays of its programmes from a transmitter in Armenia - something that would have been unthinkable just a few year ago. Marcel Rommerts can hear Spanish Foreign Radio on a new out of band channel.
The Asian Broadcasting Institute reports on the current war of words between North and South Korea. It includes several recordings. Lou Josephs reports on the financial woes of the Christian Science Monitor. Spanish programmes have suddenly disappeared.
The programme includes a test of the Grundig Satelliet 700. The set is manufacturerd in Portugal. The set comes with a 32 page instruction manual. It sells at 540 US dollars.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.07.02.1992.Kashmir, Iraq and Andorra

Another listener driven programme. Kanwarjit Sandhu spots a station called the Voice of Free Kashmir. It seems to be a separate station from Azad Kashmir Radio. Victor Goonetilleke reports on his observations from Sri Lanka. He can hear Baghdad on 3980 kHz at 1800 GMT. And terrorists have planted a bomb outside the VOA transmitting station in the Philippines. Richard Measham of BBC Montoring reports that Mother of Battles Radio hasn't been heard since 4th of February. Pete Myers looks at the coverage by CNN of the Gulf War. EBU is worried. It later led to the establishment of Euronews.
The feature today is a look at broadcasting from Andorra. AWR Andorra is off the air and there's a dispute in the courts. Andorra wants to restart its plans for satellite TV broadcasting. Richard Langley reports on plans to cut RCI funds again. Richard Measham reports on Radio Rossi.  

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.06.08.1992. Radio Free Asia & Bloopers

We start with receiver news. Yaesu Musen announces a new FRG-800, which is supposed to have better dynamic range than the FRG-8800. Radio Free Europe, TV Marti and Radio Free Asia are under fire from the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Tom Korologos chairs the commission and spoke with us.
It's trash week on Radio Netherlands. So we played a few bloopers from the recording sessions which haven't been aired before.
Tony Barrett has heard a special transmission from HCJB in Quito, Ecuador.


This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.05.02.1992.DX Nightmare SRI 5XX

This programme starts with an interval signal contest with a difference. We played 3 signals at the same time, and one of them was backwards. Can you still get them right? Swiss Radio International announced a major change to its transmitter usage - realising that its transmitters inside Switzerland had limited range. This was a significant change for a neutral country. Tim Hendel believes we should rely more Radio Caroline is being rebroadcast by Radio Fax on 6205 kHz, but they are from the archives.
BBC closes its Daventry SW transmitting station at the end of

March 1992. Ham radio operators have an idea. They have gained permission for a celebration station on April 4th and 11th. GB67XX. Bryan Clarke reports on a station in Bougainville on 3880 kHz.
As of the 8th of February, NOS has started D2MAC test transmissions as Bart Kuperus reports. Victor Goonetilleke closes out the programme with tuning tips from Asia.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

Mn.04.11.1988.VOA Relay Stations Feature

The tape of this programme has not survived well, so I have only included part of this programme. I think it's interesting because it explains the plans the US had to expand the number of relay stations for Voice of America. It involved major investments in several countries to strengthen America's voice abroad. Remember this is November 1988, more than a decade before the Internet was even a remote possibility as a way of getting audio around the planet. Willis Connover (pictured) was broadcasting jazz programmes from the Voice of America.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

MN.04.06.1992 Caribbean Bandscan

Media Network was putting the bang back into WorldBand Radio. We begin with news about QSL cards, which I made myself in the Keukenhof. We also look at the challenges some stations have in making a station identifcation. In the UK and Netherlands, many stations started by pushing their mediumwave wavelength. Lou Josephs has been travelling in the Caribbean, where he encountered many satellite fed music stations. Is the culture of the region being affected by all these US music feeds. There is also a clip from Radio Free Grenada which operated on the 19 metre band, set up to relay cricket commentaries to the UK. We also explain the story of Radio Antilles, originally set up by Deutsche Welle. BBC's Caribbean service was very popular in those days - discontinued in 2011.

This episode is hosted on the Media Network vintage vault

Vintage Radio Revisited - The Inimitable Gerald Wells

Just clearing up some old hardware out of the wireless workshop and decided to re-listen to two programmes I made with Gerald Wells, who passed away in December 2014. I understand the museum is still there despite Gerald's passing, though we will all miss the way he could conjure up the most amazing (true) stories at the mention of a particular brand name - especially Philips.