Media Network lives on with a series of video interviews with David Smith, a lifelong shortwave enthusiast - and someone who has put it to good use in several projects un Africa. He is back again with some more great radio stories from Southern Africa. This time he explains what made him search out Capital Radio 604 while in Zimbabwe in 1983, and end up working there - twice. There is a website that looks at Capital's music years in the 80's and 90's (capital604.com), but not the project that David ran in the 90's. Perhaps it was just ahead of its time? The video can be found here.

This programme begins with an illustrated call for entries for the Memory of the Millennium competition (programmes and stations that no longer exist) and then moves into a feature about the time signal station WWV and WWVH in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Thanks to Alfonso Montelegre for grabbing the interview material (he went to Fort Collins, not me) and also to the late Dave Rosenthal who shared a fascination in these ticking clocks. These stations now have a website full of photos and even more technical background than we had time for. Check out http://tf.nist.gov/stations/wwvh.htm

Eleven years after the first show on jingles (republished last week) I revisited the subject of jingle production in the 1990's, this time talking with makers on both sides of the Atlantic. This edition was originally broadcast on the last Thursday of 1994. I've posted it following nice comments on the first one!

We made several visits to the topic of radio jingles, how they are made and what programmers in the early 1980's thought they were for. Their use seemed to go in waves, sometimes stations overused them and there were periods when stations hardly used them at all. There were enthusiasts like Tom Konard who made vast collections of station idents and sweepers. Some are still on line - check this reference. http://www.reelradio.com/af/index.html . This show was broadcast on December 29th 1983 and I remember the recording well. Technican Pim Wijmer thought it would be a simple mix and wondered why I had booked four hours of studio time. Today, you can make the same show on a laptop using free multitrack software. In those days you had to cut and splice audio tape and cue everthing with yellow leader. There was more yellow leader on those montages than tape. Fun, nonetheless. Let me know if you want to hear more of these kind of features.

We take you now to a Thursday in May 1986, when we did a lot "with" the public, ten years before e-mail was mainstream. The show starts with a report on the balloon hunt organised by the NOS Hobbyscoop programme. The interview is with the late Hans G. Janssen, with whom I worked on the BASICODE project. Then, Trevor Brook of Surrey Electronics (now editor http://www.radiojackie.com) reports from Spain on something he saw from his hotel balcony. He went off to find out more rather like a fox chasing chickens. Knowing this show had been found, he wrote back to me just a few days back. He writes. Here are a couple of photos that you are welcome to use. Shots with the mast are very rare. At the time I did the report, the ship was a kilometre offshore at Santander, an overcast evening and a drab rainy morning I seem to remember. Telephotos can't fix everything! The rest of the holiday had been solid sunshine." There's also a story on Radio Wapping in UK and Prof John Campbell reviews a book on illegal stations in UK. Rebel Radio by John Hind and Steve Mosco. Victor Goonetilleke reports from Asia and changes at Radio Afghanistan. We sign off with computer line promo...when you had to call internationally to connect your computer with ours.

It is April 30th as this entry is published. Its a national holiday to celebrate the Queen's Birthday, although Beatrix is not actually having a birthday today. Her late mother was born on April 30th and this is a better time of year than the queen's official birthday on 31st January (1938). So when she was inaugurated in 1980, Queens Day didn't move. The programme attached to this entry is also from Queens Day, but as broadcast on Thursday 30th April 1987....23 years ago. In this show we learn that VOA Europe goes stereo and will also carry commercials, through a barter arrangement with Westwood One We hear the plans for satellite scrambling in MAC mode. AWR Guam signs on. There's also a feature on Audience research - Tom Fikkert of Radio Netherlands and Graham Mytton who was Head of the International Broadcasting Audience Research department at BBC World Service. I find it fascinating to hear how shortwave was declining back then. Finally, clandestine radio expert John Campbell reports on some fascinating books he discovered at book fairs across the North-West Europe.

As 1999 came to a close, Jonathan Marks was fortunate enough to attend a broadcasting conference in Australia for Radio Netherlands. He grabbed the opportunity to make a short visit to Auckland, New Zealand to examine the amazing radio scene that was emerging at that time in the Pacific. The local members of the NZ Radio DX League did us proud with a very warm welcome right in the middle of the America's Cup yacht race. Our narrative steers a different course as we explore radio history in New Zealand. New Zealand is also home to the great Radio Heritage foundation. In this programme you'll hear the voice of Media Network's correspondent Bryan Clark who explains his interest in radio was sparked in the mid 60;s by the offshore ship Radio Hauraki which had a major impact on NZ public radio. The station still operates today (2019) and their logo still reflects the nautical past. in 1999 the old Hauraki MW frequency of 1476 was reused for a rather ingenious listener-sponsored relay of the BBC World Service. The sped up the programmes from London slightly so as to be able to insert some local commercials. Bryan then takes us through a bandscan of the radio dial in Auckland, explaining the background to some of the stations. And no, Radio Tarana has nothing to do with Albania. Barry Hartley recalls his experiences of Radio New Zealand International. Adrian Sainsbury reflects on the current discussion about the future of RNZI and its role in the Pacific. The travelogue closes with our visit to George FM (easy to find on any web radio) which has one of the most efficient antennas on the planet. They need it, because they only have a few microwatts of transmission power. They have brilliant ideas - and have since become a major force in the Auckland music scene. The programme continued a week later from Sydney.

The first half of the programme is devoted to an interview with the developer of secret radio transmitters used by the agents working for the Special Operations Executive during WW 2. The sets were remarkably crude because the budget was a pittance. We then cross to southern Germany at the command centre for the European Space Agency. Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels was aboard SpaceLab 1 at the time. Those were the days when any space mission got ample coverage.

This show, broadcast on 14th November 1985 has an in-depth feature on the offshore station Laser 558 being escorted by a sister ship hired by the UK DTI authorities. Lack of power forced the station to ask for assistance. Interview with station representative John Catlett and former owner of the ship, the Guardline Seeker. We also caught up with Bob Horvitz, at that time running the Woodpecker Project, which involved watching the Russian Over The Horizon Radar. There is also a visit to VOA Europe in Munich, African Media News with Richard Ginbey and the Propagation Report from Mike Bird. I remember I had the flu that Thursday, so excuse the croaky voice.

Seeing that Thailand is in the news as I write this, I picked this programme broadcast from Bangkok on 4th December 1987. This includes an interview with Richard Jackson who was working for many of the stations there at the time and who was instrumental in bringing the show together. We looked at the 60 years celebration of Thai King's Birthday and noted the poor quality of AM transmitters. NBT runs two services. including HSK-9, Radio Thailand's external service. VOA also has a special service called Voice of Free Asia. There were clandestine stations from Communist Party of Thailand via Beijing. Thanks to telmo32 on flickr for sharing the photo under Creative Commons. http://www.flickr.com/people/telmo32/