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The Media Network Vintage Vault 2024-2025

November 2024 - A message from Jonathan Marks, producer Media Network.  Yes, we're still here although my other work has meant I have little time for shortwave these days. I've started sorting out some off-air archives in the audio-only selections. It's true, radio has a terrible memory. (I'm delighted to learn that the British Vintage Wireless Society is still going strong https://www.bvws.org.uk ) Now you know why I am publishing old editions of Media Network here on this site, as well as some of the off-air recordings of stations I monitored in the 80's and 90's as part of the research for the programme. I'm simply looking for ways to capture more unique stories that I believe need to be told before we all forget. I realise that in 1000 editions of Media Network, we had only just begun the scratch the surface. So at this time of reflection, I'd just like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement as the archive project enters a new phase.   First time visitor? I'm Jonathan Marks. If this is the first time you've visited the vault, then I'm glad you dropped by! There are over 660 editions of Media Network, representing just over half the episodes that we made and broadcast from the Radio Netherlands' studios in Hilversum. I'm pleased to say most survived in excellent studio quality (quite often in stereo). 

Nov 24, 2011

Satellites helped Radio Netherlands become far more topical in the 1980's. Before that, feature programmes like Media Network were recorded three weeks in advance and then shipped to Madagascar and Bonaire for playback at the transmitter site. By the time I arrived at the station, the programmes were being fed by...


Nov 23, 2011

Much of this programme is devoted to looking at World War 2 receivers and visits two Dutch collectors who have turned their houses into workshops to restore old receivers. One collects the old German equipment, the other material from the Allies. I remember this programme well having recorded both interviews in...


Nov 22, 2011

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...


Nov 21, 2011

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...


Nov 21, 2011

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...