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
Sunday, September 29, 2019
MN.17.10.1996.BFBS Germany
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.
MN.14.11.1996 Language AI Stasi
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.
Friday, September 27, 2019
MN.13.11.1997. BVN
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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allister_Sparks . 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 has a programme online from Copenhagen. http://www.isherwood.dk/contact.html
MN.28.09.1995 Victor
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.
MN.12.10.1995 Frits Thors
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
MN.09.06.1994.Kalingrad
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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshakovo_transmitter 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Malamud 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 https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/ar3030.html