This edition starts with a clip of a Radio Netherlands programme I discovered in the archives from 1963 when everything sounded much more dramatic than it really was. We then switch to developments on mediumwave 675 kHz is no longer used by public broadcasters in the Netherlands but an announcement on the frequency by Erik de Zwaart seems to have lead people to jump to the wrong conclusions. Virgin Radio starts testing on the old BBC Radio 3 frequencies and Radio Fax tries to get a shortwave licence again. There's a new guide to Indian broadcasting and John Wilson of Lowe Electronics announces some changes to the proposed HF-250 shortwave communications receiver. The picture is that of the reserve MW mast at the Northern end of the Lopik transmitter site which I watched being dismanted ten years after this show was made. Plenty of calls to the Radio Netherlands - including the new Channel Africa, the new name for Radio RSA. The FCC is trying to decide which system to choose for advanced television standards, to replace NTSC. There's also news from the Society for the Eradication of Televison!

This is an interesting mix of radio news and reportages dating back to April 1986. We started with news about the clandestine radio station Radio Truth which targeted Zimbabwe from a transmitter base in South Africa. There was much speculation at the time as to who was behind it. It broadcast on shortwave, picking a frequency very near to the ZBC. The show encourage listener participation from the start and this programme is yet another example. Engineer and radio enthusiast Trevor Brook took a trip out to the radio station Laser 558 and recorded the experience for us. There was a satellite update on the broadcast satellite TVSAT (what a lemon that turned out to be) and Mike Bullen sent us a profile of changes at Radio Peking. Mike later left Radio Netherlands to become a writer, authoring the very successful comedy series Cold Feet. He now lives in Australia.

Just found a clean clear copy of this documentary that Andy Sennitt and I made one Saturday afternoon in August 1987 at the Radio Netherlands studio centre at Witte Kruislaan 55 in Hilversum. It had been a busy week, so no time to prepare clips for what would be a nostalgic look back at the offshore era. So we took all kinds of records and tapes into the office and spent most of the day just messing about and putting the extracts into some form of logical order. Andy recalls a cleaner asking us towards the end of the afternoon what we were doing in the building at the weekends. I retorted that this wasn't working it was the best fun in a long time. Thanks to Hans Knot (still going strong as one of the main organisers of the RadioDay each year) as well as the late Buster Pearson. I am glad these clips survived quite well. Hans has published countless books and newsletters since this programme was made. If the nostalgia of that era still brings back memories of adventure, then I recommend checking out his site.

This was the first show of the New Year 1986, when the talk of the day was John Campbell's report on political clandestines radio stations in Europe, and Marcel Rommerts calls to observe a "numbers station"in the middle of the 49 metre shortwave band. This was probably a switching error by a transmitter site which put out both broadcasts and spy number stations. Later in the programme, Taher Aftab, a listener from Pakistan, explains the shortwave scene in that country, where HF was still used for domestic broadcasts. Andy Sennitt reports on a crackly line from Copenhagen about the plans that Radio Earth (Jeff White) has to build a transmitter in the Netherlands Antilles and Roland Paget does a pitch for the EDXC Conference to be held in Paris.

This regular show from January 1993 focused on financial problems facing Radio Sweden, changes to BBC Management structure, and Richard Measham from BBC Monitoring updates us on the clandestine station, the Voice of Free Iraq. On a lighthearted note we looked at the problems of printing QSL cards for Radio Netherlands Russian relay.

This is another newsy edition of Media Network, this one dating from December 1992 when Eric Beauchemin was just back from a visit to Zagreb in Croatia. The radio in that part of the Balkans played a crucial role in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. And CNN was taking night-sensitive cameras to Somalia to watch the landings of US troops for an operation in the Horn Of Africa. How little has changed. Radio Czechoslovakia International was to be dissolved with the split of the country into Czech Republic and Slovakia and Radio Norway International ponders the future of its foreign service. Enjoy.

The review of the Sony ICF1000T is still on line though not at Radio Netherlands. In this edition of the programme you can hear us review it on air. I suppose now it seems silly to review equipment over the radio to the level of detail we did back in 1996. But there was no Internet to speak of and most of the audience didn't have access to independent consumer reviews. We spent a lot of time and effort compiling receiver guides and reviewing publications, but it I think it was worth it. The programme also includes updates on what the BBC was doing to restore services after a hurricane hit Antigua, home of one of the shortwave relay stations (since closed down). And there's a celebration of Arthur Cushen's 30 years of service to the media shows on Radio Netherlands.

A news show with contributions from Andy Sennitt, Victor Goonetilleke, and Arthur Cushen reports hearing Radio Alma Ata from Kazakstan. We interview an old friend of the programme who we last spoke to when he was in the Solomon Islands. Martin Hadlow is now in Central Asia for UNESCO. It is interesting that the radio and TV stations in the area have changed little in the last 15 years since this programme was made, although they seem to be on the verge of making heavy investments in digital television. The TV stations were using consumer video formats of Sony's Hi-8 and Panasonic's SuperVHS. Radio was suffering back then. There's a second chance to enter the Media Network Car Route to visit 12 international stations. There were also major refurbishment to Radio Netherlands entrance hall! I remember that well - an early attempt to explain the mission to the general public. I think it worked rather well - but then I was involved in pushing for the change to building. The inside of RN was deliberately austere, because the idea was that all the walls were grey or dark green. The people would bring the colour into the building it was thought, at least by the architects at the end of the 1950's.

In a regular edition of the programme, we hear about the start of the CBC Overnight service in Canada which relayed various international broadcasters while CBC programmes were off the air. The KNVB decides to launch Sport 7. It would cost an extra 12 Euro a year on a cable subscription. Lou Josephs looks at the Telecommunications Reform Bill which removed restrictions on ownership. One company spent a billion dollars acquiring 52 radio stations. DW ceases from facilities in Malta. Radio Mediterranean also leaves the airwaves, a joint Maltese-Libyan operation. We had 500 pages on the WWW ! All those http's. Arthur Cushen reports Radio North Solomans has been reactivated.

By the time 1996 started, Diana Janssen (see photo) was firmly established as the co-host of Media Network. Had enormous fun putting the show together each Wednesday evening. This was one of the few editions where Jonathan didn't present. But the programme was in capable hands. Smart Lady. This edition covers modifications to the Baygen clockwork radio in a interview with Trevor Baylis. There is also the first airing of Media Race 1996. Radio Vilnius hires a radio transmitter in Juelich, Germany. HCJB and Radio Norway announce expansion and VOA tests its new site in Sao Tome. America 1 signed a joint venture agreement to distribute public radio across Europe - remember this is well before Internet audio is good quality was available to the public.