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.

There used to be a programme on Swiss Radio International called the Name Game. It was a travel show which told you everything about a place except the name, We tried something similar on Media Network, except I told the story by doing bandscans in the area where I went on holiday. Fascinating listening to the airwaves after so many years.

Is high power HF dangerous for your health? In the mid nineties there were certainly concerns expressed about the long-term exposure. Many shortwave transmitting centres were originally built well away from population centres, but local housing projects often encroached. Later we discovered that in Russia transmitting towers of the Voice of Russia could be right next door.

This programme from December 1994 was made at the time that reports of the media's role in the Rwandan genocide were starting to emerge. The full horror would only be uncovered much later during the trials in Arusha. We also heard from Frans Suasso, the former programme director at Radio Netherlands, who had been around the Voice of Russia. This was the "new" name for a station we had called Radio Moscow. Now it was possible to get a glimpse inside.

Professor John Campbell was the Professor of Computing Sciences at Univerity College London. He contributed several columns and reports to Media Network in the early eighties because of his fascination with clandestine radio stations. He was a brilliant storyteller. We lost contact until he came through The Netherlands on a lecture tour and we had a chance to sit down and talk about computers and the media. We ended up talking about how computing might look in 2010. Check it out for yourself. I believe John was spot on in describing what would happen to applications. Remember you heard it first on Media Network.

This news edition of the programme also includes a featurs that examined the United Nations media in Cambodia, with the huge UNCTAD programme being set up to ensure fair elections in that country,

Thirty years ago, the business of international broadcasting was very different. I would argue to that do the job well, you needed to understand two cultures rather than just one. The best form of international broadcasting is always a comparison. This early Media Network programme phoned several international broadcasters to find out if they were in a "recruitment posture" as VOA described it. How we laughed all the way to the studio on that one.

The second part of Media Network's safari into Silicon Valley 16 years ago. So what's changed in Palo Alto? Just about everything. We start off with a visit to the Philips Multimedia Center on Sand Hill Road, on the outskirts of Palo Alto. It was originally set up as a outpost of the Philips Research facility Natlab in Eindhoven. But they quickly discovered that consumers in San Francisco were 3-4 years ahead of consumers on the West Coast of Europe. So it quickly became a consumer test facility. At the time of our visit they were testing their equivalent of the Palm Handheld computer and an early smart phone. In the end I believe that with Philips' shift away from consumer electronics and more towards healthcare, the facility in Palo Alto was shuttered. We also drove up to Redwood City to meet the head of Grundig USA. He was bullish about the future of shortwave radio - and had developed a great business selling portable radios through Sharper Image, airline catalogues and camping magazines.

In the summer of 1997, Diana Janssen and I spent the best part of a week in Silicon Valley. This was a period when Netscape was hot, and Google had yet to be launched. We made two shows from San Francisco and Palo Alto. Not bad, bearing in mind there was only enough budget for gas. We first spoke with Spencer Reiss, who at that time was working for Wired Magazine in the SFO offices. He discusses the future of media and how things are converging. He turns out to be spot on! We also went to Cupertino. But we didn't go to Apple. We went to Audiohighway. Nathan Shulholf explained what was really an early iPod. He is regarded by some as the father of the MP3 player industry. The huge problem with AudioWhizz was the bandwidth restrictions. Andy Sennitt and Mike Bird add contributions including what ever happened to the Investment Channel.