The Media Network Vintage Vault 2024-2025

Marks on Mechanics (final) Part 5: JukeBoxes

10 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utre...

Marks on Mechanics Part Four: Gramophones and Phonographs

09 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utre...

Marks on Mechanics Part Three: Pianola

08 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utre...

Marks on Mechanics Part Two: Machines that Play Bells

07 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utre...

Marks on Mechanics Part One: Singing Clocks

06 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993 I made a summer series of five 30 minute programmes on the history of recorded sound. The series was inspired by a visit to the Museum in Utre...

MN.01.02.1996 Midem, Monaco and Radio Riviera

04 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This edition was recorded in Cannes France and nearby Monaco. We look at the state of the music industry in 1996 (they still don't really understand t...

MN.06.04.1995 Radio Hilversum Wartime Occupation

03 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Six months ago we took you on a tour of a special exhibition being held in the Netherlands Broadcasting Museum on the south-side of Hilversum. The gre...

MN.11.04.1996 - Profile of Channel Africa

03 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This week most of the programme focussed on a profile of the new South African external service, Channel Africa. Lebona Mosia was its first director a...

MN.25.05.1995 Clandestine Women & Antennas

15 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This vintage edition of the programme contains news of a special amateur radio station PA6RNW to celebrate the Dutch transmission company Nozema, we f...

MN.24.08.1995 Indonesian Radio Part 2

25 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This is part two of the documentary about Dutch broadcasting in Indonesia. The programme begins with a look at the current state of the sunspot cycle ...

MN.17.08.1995 Indonesian Radio Part 1

25 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This is an expanded rewrite and reworking of an episode of Media Wars, first broadcast in the 1980's examining the curious broadcasting situation in t...

MN.12.12.1991. Hungarian Uprisings 2

25 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme starts with a report from Hungary about protests to changes at Radio Budapest. We also learned of the passing of the editor of the RBSW...

MN.23.11.1995. Audio Audio

24 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Great to find a specialist book like Audio Audio by Jonathan Hill still in print after 15 years - and just a few pounds more than when it was publishe...

MN.03.10.1991. AFN Documentary Update

24 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

There were major changes going on at AFN Europe at the start of the 1990's. That explains why I revisited the station even though we'd done an extensi...

MN.16.01.1992 - Veil Lifted on Vilnius

23 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This show starts with callers to the Radio Netherlands answerline concerned about changes to Radio Netherlands' European service. A caller from German...

MN.02.01.1992 Farewell 208 and Thailand Update

23 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme was aired a few days after Radio Luxembourg's English service signed off from the highpower mediumwave channel of 1440 kHz, better know...

MN.09.04.1991 - VNG and Richard Ginbey

23 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme turned out to have a different ending than was originally planned. During the recording session on a Wednesday afternoon came the tragi...

MN.23.01.1992 - More from Moscow on Russian Bards

23 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

I see that Vasily Strelnikov is back on the Voice of Russia, reminiscing with colleagues about the days of Radio Moscow World Service. They have a fac...

MN.07.11.1991.WRNO Rock of New Orleans

23 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme contains an interview with the late Joseph Mark Costello III, the founder of WRNO shortwave in New Orleans. He passed away from complic...

MN.06.06.1986 - AM Stereo and Paris FM

23 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This was a regular edition of Media Network in the summer of 1986. We review the Grundig Satellit 400 shortwave receiver made in Portugal from German ...

MN.03.08.1995 The Radio London Train

21 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

About 90 minutes drive east of Amsterdam towards the German border you’ll come to the city of Apeldoorn. If you turn south-east and drive along the ...

MN.01.06.1995. Internet and SWLs in 1995

20 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This show kicks off with the news that ICRC (Red Cross) reorganises in Geneva. Has Lowe Electronics missed the boat with the lack of passband tuning? ...

MN.06.09.1995. PressNow in Bosnia

20 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme looked at the activitiee of Press Now in former Yugoslavia and its work to support independent media in Bosnia. In other news Veronica ...

MN.27.07.1995. Boundless Sound Documentaries

19 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

We visit the Radio Documentary Festival in Amsterdam “Boundless Sound”. More than 100 documentaries from all over the world were played and more t...

MN.20.04.1995. Receiver Survey & Web Launch

19 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This edition marked the start of Radio Netherlands presence on the World-Wide Web (21st April 1995) after three years of experimenting with MCI-Mail a...

MN.21.08.1995. Great Explanations - Victor Goonetilleke

19 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

I co-hosted the show with Victor Goonetilleke who was passing through Hilversum on his way back to Sri Lanka. With recent discussion in January 2011 a...

MN.10.08.1995.Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal - Belgian External Broadcasting

19 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme was made just after Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal celebrated its official 50th anniversary with a great listener get together in Brus...

MN.21.06.1995 Lichtenstein & Isle of Man Plans

18 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

In this edition: Chris Greenway of BBC Monitoring reports on RFE-RL moves from Munich to Prague. Paul Rusling has an idea for a longwave radio station...

MN.23.11.1995 Baygen Freeplay Wireless Test

15 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

I remember this edition of the programme well because we had one of only ten prototypes made of the Baygen Clockwork Wireless. I bought it in South Af...

MN.04.04.1996. Endangered Sounds Project

14 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This was one of the first shows to also be broadcast on mediumwave via the 1440 kHz Radio Luxembourg transmitter. These are some of the items mentione...

Video Tribute to BBC 648

13 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Been cleaning up a video archive and came across video I shot in Ordfordness in 2003. It turns out to be topical because the BBC will cease using 648 ...

MN.28.12.1995 Rhodesia - Answering Back From Francistown

06 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

I met the late Harold Robin a couple of times at his home in Tunbridge Wells, UK. He was a brilliant Foreign Office engineer who built the wartime Asp...

MN.27.06.1996. Barbados Special in the Caribbean

18 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Most of this week' s edition of Media Network was narrated from the island of Barbados in the sunny Caribbean. It contains quite a lot off off-air rec...

MN.19.10.1995 - Dutch Medium Wave Pirates and dreams of experiments with satellite DAB

14 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This edition of Media Network includes a feature about a guy in the North-West of the UK who had contact with hundreds of Dutch Mediumwave pirates. Ha...

MN.07.12.1995 - BBC World Service Cuts announced and visit to HCJB Quito Ecuador

12 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Amazing how history repeats itself in international broadcasting. At the start of December 1995 we reported that BBC World Service has to cut back by ...

MN.06.04.2000 - DAB Needs a Rethink Too

09 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This is what was news in April 2000 - We had quite a few e-mails reacting to our comments on this show that we believe Digital Audio Broadcasting DAB ...

MN.19.08.1999 - Veronica Revival Planned

09 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme comes from a park bench in the Vondelpark, Amsterdam - I was testing out a new Minidisc recorder and it was a boiling hot summers day. ...

MN. 23.07.1998 - Digital TV needs a rethink!

09 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

We talk to Herman van Wijk of Digitag who explains what's right and wrong with the future of Digital television. We also talk about the long running D...

MN.13.04.2000 Radio Netherlands Training Centre

09 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This edition of the programme looked at the work in the garden of Radio Netherlands, the Radio Netherlands Training Centre founded as a joint venture ...

MN.24.02.2000 Tonga & Propagation

09 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

We talk of propagation and desert islands. There's also a profile of broadcasting in Tonga. Mike Bird appears twice and chooses the kind of music he'd...

MN.17.02.2000. Kerbango & Worldspace test

09 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme looks at Kerbango, the Internet radio that (with hindight) never was.At the last count there were three devices promised on the world m...

MN.15.04.1999 - Serbia and Changes to UN Radio

07 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

We started this week's edition by looking at how Western countries are trying to get signals into Serbia now that the authorities have silenced indepe...

MN.14.Jan.1999 - Swatch Attempting to Digitize Time

05 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Flashback to a news show in January 1999 when the capture of Chris Carey in New Zealand were the radio headlines and Lou Josephs explained how Command...

MN.02.09.1999. DAB in the home for 800 quid

17 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Yes those early home DAB receivers were kinda expensive. Interesting to hear the thinking behind digital radio as captured 11 years ago. There's a gre...

Media Network 10.01.1991 - Radio Moscow World Service is born

15 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years ago the Media News was centred around changes at Radio Moscow. With no way of doing a direct interview, we called Richard Measham at BBC ...

Media Network revival needed?

15 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Quora: Is it time to revive a show like Media Network broadcast 1980-2000 on Radio Netherlands? I put this question out on Quora to see what people th...

MN.15.10.1998 - Radio Voyager is the news from America

09 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme includes a report from the late Bob Tomalksi about digital television and how bandwidth is being squeezed to cram more channels into a ...

MN.16.07.1998. RFE, the CIA and Russian Media Mafia

04 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This programme is typical of a listener supported edition. We talk to Linden Clark of Radio New Zealand International about budget reductions. Derrick...

MN.03.12.1998 - Karl Rossiter on the future of Media (1998)

02 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

This edition includes a mean Christmas contest promo, Media News from Victor Goonetilleke and we talk to special guest Karl Rossiter, on the future of...

MN.16.09.1999 - Jerry Berg & Internet Radio Arrives via the Sonicbox

02 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

We came across a fascinating a promo for "Books from America" broadcast in the US in the 1960's. They were trying to collect books in English to count...

MN.09.05.1991. Radio Budapest Hungary Remembered

31 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

If the names Laslo Pinta and Charlie Coutts mean anything to you then this edition of Media Network recorded in Budapest, Hungary in 1991 will bring b...

MN.08.07.1999 - Indian Radio at the end of the Millennium

24 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This show starts with the news that money troubles are affecting the BBC World TV, Wolf Harranth reports that James Blades who played the drums on the...

MN.23.12.1982: Christmas Review 28 years ago

22 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I picked this recording out of the archives because it has a nice capsule summary of the major media stories from 1982. The highlight was, of course, ...

MN.03.12.1982 - Problems with UK Pirate Radio Stations

19 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Love this programme about the UK Radio Interference service, especially with hindsight. In the 1980's, perhaps stimulated by the offshore stations, th...

MN.13.Feb.1992 - Nice Radio and Update from Kiev

12 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This was a news edition of the programme including a portrait of the battle for English language radio on the French Riveria. I remember visiting the ...

MN.25.06.1992 - Before they were Infamous Aum Shinrikyo

12 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In the summer of 1992, if you tuned up and down a shortwave radio in many parts of the world you could hear what sounded like a Yoga meditation class ...

MN.13.08.1992.St Helena & Sudan

04 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This programme includes news about jamming in Sudan. What's curious is that in 2010 the jamming transmitter in Sudan would seem to be back on the air,...

MN.18.02.1998 - Solar Storms & Terrestrial TV

04 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This was a very consumer conscious edition of the show, in which Jonathan and Diana find out why some leading scientists expect the peak in the solar ...

MN.24.09.1998 - BBC World Service Changes, CNN Stats

28 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In late September 1998, we broadcast a news edition of the programme at a moment when the revelations about President Clinton were threatening to over...

MN.02.04.1998 Iridium & Arrow Classic Rock

28 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In this first Media Network of April 1998 , we kick off a brand new summer season of our weekly communications programme by staring into space. Can a ...

MN.07.05.1998. CNET Radio in San Francisco

26 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I find Northern California to be steeped in fascinating broadcast history. There's the Marconi transmission and receiving centre in Tomales Bay. Check...

MN.29.07.1999. Messing about in boats

26 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In this edition of the show we were messing about in boats. For instance, Light Vessel 18, the former Trinity House lightship was nearly ready for her...

MN.07.05.1998 - Inside the CBC in Ottawa, Canada

20 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I have always been struck by the connection between radio and transport, especially trains. Many of my friends in broadcasting have an interest in tra...

MN.13.08.1998 - Screaming Lord Sutch CD

20 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

So who remembers the radio stations that operated from the Forts in the 1960's? They were trying to break the monopoly of the BBC but choosing to use ...

Thanks for saying hello at the Amsterdam RadioDay 2010

14 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Enjoyed saying hello to several listeners to this podcast. You gave me several useful suggestions about which editions of Media Network they'd like me...

MN.Tokyo Rose Take 2 (1998)

02 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In 1998 we remade a documentary on Tokyo Rose in the light of new recordings and websites that were springing up. This was before Wikipedia of course....

MN.12.08.1999 - Congo Flashback and DAB Predictions

31 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This was a regular edition of Media Network which aired on my birthday in 1999. In this week we included an interview with Quentin Howard, then the bo...

MN Special - Counteracting Hate Media

31 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This edition was recorded in a small village just outside Geneva, Switzerland. Hirondelle, the Swiss media foundation which had been running several p...

MN.09.06.1983 - African Media News & Basicode 2 plans

27 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In this edition, let's head back to the 1980's. The late Richard Ginbey was a keen shortwave radio listener who did more than most to document African...

MN.22.01.1998 - Estelle Winters Insight on Moscow

27 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

We only really started to get an idea of what broadcasting was like during the Cold War towards the end of the 1990's. I remember we had a visit from ...

MN.04.12.1982 Hadlow on the Solomon Islands

27 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This is a very early Media Network from December 1982 when distance still had a certain magic. There was no wikipedia to get a briefing on far away pl...

Media Network: 29.05.1998. Broadcasting like the Cutty Sark

24 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Towards the end of May 1998, 150 international broadcasters got together at a hotel golf resort just outside Ottawa for a conference on the future of ...

Media Network - Memories of Radio Independent Spain

21 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

During the Cold War there were several clandestine stations that popped up from Eastern Europe, being the voice of the communist party in exile. One w...

Media Network Beirut Special 1998

20 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I remember listening to a jingle of the Voice of Lebanon, a shortwave radio station that operated well outside the conventional 49 metre short-wave ba...

MN.06.05.1999 - Escape to Torremolinos

02 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

There used to be a great round-table discussion about radio content organised by the EBU and Spanish National Radio RNE. It was held every two years i...

MN.09.05.1985 - Cuban Clandestines and the Paint Factory

01 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This edition was a mixed bag....no single theme. Strange going's on in London as reported by Nic Newman (Suitcase TV), African Media News from Richard...

Media Network - Early SlideShare from 1986

30 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In 1986 I attended an ANARC convention and gave a slide show about European and Asian radio. I dragged two Kodak Caroussel projectors across the Atlan...

MN.17.06.1999 - Kosovo And On the Shortwaves Review

27 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This programme covers three media wars going on in the middle of 1999. One was in Kosovo, there was increased tension in the Koreas (nothing has chang...

MN.26.11.1998 - Shanghai Postcard

26 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

In 1998 I had the chance to go to Shanghai to take part in an Asian Broadcasting Union meeting. Frankly, the topics for discussion were mind numbing -...

MN.01.10.1998 - Kazakhstan and Future of Shortwave

26 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Looking back through old radio magazines of about 25 years ago, you see some very strange articles. Speakers at international radio conferences like A...

MN.11.11.1999. Memories of the Millennium from China

25 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I remember this edition of Media Network because it had a superb story from China as part of the Memory of the Millennium. The author explained how ra...

MN.03.09.1998 - Radio 10 Remembers Offshore

25 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Diana Janssen sent the following postcard on her holiday which we published on the web, asking you to identify where she'd been. I thought it was Alba...

MN.05.01.1995 - Analogue Already on the Wane

25 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

A news programme reporting on a remarkable number of closedowns and mysteries. You can see that several stations are starting to play with the web, th...

MN.30.04.1998 - Bravo for Bakelite

15 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s radio feature says bravo for bakelite, an early form of plastic which brought radio to the people. When radios were first manufactured in th...

Media Network Long Delayed Echoes

14 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

First broadcast in 1984, this programme looks in some detail at a mystery that took decades to solve. Light and radio waves travel 7 times around the ...

MN.10.02.2000: RAE Argentine International Radio Profile

26 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Buenos Aires is a truly amazing city, a mixture of Paris, Madrid and London all rolled into one. The Brits built the communications infrastructure in ...

MN.26.05.2000: Challenges for Change

26 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

At one time, Radio Canada International hosted some very interesting discussions on the future of international broadcasting. If you're interested in ...

Radio For Peace International Revisited

23 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

If you tuned a shortwave radio a decade ago, one of the more exotic catches in Europe was Radio For Peace International. So when I had a chance to go ...

MN.22.07.1999: Cardiff Calling the Radio Academy

23 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This wireless show came from Wales when the Radio Academy decided to hold its annual conference in the Welsh capital. I remember flying over with Dan-...

MN.21.01.1999: Radio Venceremos - 18 Years On

19 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

There are still hundreds of clandestine radio stations operating in the world. Some are part of psychological warfare campaigns organised by the milit...

MN 18.08.1988 - Prague Truth Shall Prevail

18 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This is the complete edition of a documentary called Truth Shall Prevail, the engaging story of Radio Prague in 1945 and 1968. I discovered a rather l...

MN South African Safari March 2000

17 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

A safari to South Africa at the start of the Millennium, including an interview towards the end with the father of community radio, Zane Ibrahim (phot...

MN.30.07.1987: Radio New York International & MTV

16 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This programme examines the boarding of Radio New York International , which broadcast from a radio ship anchored in international waters just off Jon...

MN.16.03.2000 - Masirah Moves & Victor drops by.

16 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This show looks at vintage radio copies. And following a tip from Tony Barratt we recall how Harold Robin chose a transmitter site in Oman from a plan...

Media Network 20.01.2000 - Tanzania Safari

15 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Don't let the opening music mislead you. This show contains another indepth safari, this time in the form of an in-depth interview with Janet Anderson...

Margaret Howard Interview

14 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I have been getting some nice reaction to a video that's sitting in my video vault over on Vimeo. It is part of a series of interviews I have been doi...

Peter Homfray, Radio Australia

14 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

I remember listening to Peter Homfray on an R-107 communications receiver back in the early 1970s. They boomed in the mornings in a era when distance ...

Media Network Angola profile

09 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

It has gone rather quiet media wise in Angola, though since this programme was made the country has had to do a lot to recover from decades of civil w...

MN 01.08.1985. Laser 558, Caroline & Space Shuttle

05 Aug 2010

Contributed by Lukas

August seemed to be the month when we frequently looked at off-shore radio. This edition was crafted together with a big contribution from Nic Newman,...

Media Network - Behind the Berlin Wall November 1990

29 Jul 2010

Contributed by Lukas

This podcast is actually two Media Network programmes rolled into one. We originated the show from Berlin on November 8th and 15th 1990, a year after ...