[MikeBr]

The English service of Radio Netherlands Worldwide closes June 29.

A special one hour show will be broadcast on their final day. Memories from listeners are invited.

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/were-changing

[Bandspread199]

"The Happy Station?" As a youngster I listened on SW on a Sunday morning. I remember sending for a circuit diagram for a device that let you listen on MW - you placed it next to your radio and it did the conversion!

"Write to us at Radio Nederland, Hilversum, Holland".

[Gwylfa]

'The Happy Station' for me too. I was a regular listener in the Seventies. A really good show.

[hanssolo]

very sad! So for listeners in UK looks like this this will be online only unless some SW transmissions for other areas make it if conditions are right?.
http://cdn.sites.radionetherlands.nl...nw_eng2012.pdf
Astra 1 Europe 19.2º E and Hotbird 13.0º E are not normally used in the UK? It was on Sky, but was removed a while back!!

[Colin_London]

I take it to mean all English Speech programming is ceasing, on shortwave, satellite, online or any medium. It'll be left as a website only like the Dutch language version.

[Andy Sennitt]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

very sad! So for listeners in UK looks like this this will be online only unless some SW transmissions for other areas make it if conditions are right?.
http://cdn.sites.radionetherlands.nl...nw_eng2012.pdf
Astra 1 Europe 19.2º E and Hotbird 13.0º E are not normally used in the UK? It was on Sky, but was removed a while back!!

Additional shortwave frequencies are being planned and will be announced shortly. I will post them here as soon as I get them, and they will be on the RNW website, which is also closing in its present form on 29 June: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/were-changing

[Andy Sennitt]

Originally Posted by Colin_London

I take it to mean all English Speech programming is ceasing, on shortwave, satellite, online or any medium. It'll be left as a website only like the Dutch language version.

No, it's more dramatic than that - the website in its current form will also be effectively closing on 29 June. It will stay online, but there will be very limited new content, focusing on press freedom, which is the only mandate left as of 1 January 2013. News and features about the Netherlands will be discontinued. All those who have not been selected to work for the new organisation have been told that 29 June is their last working day. For the next six months those remaining wiill be settling into their new jobs, many of which are different from their old jobs, and planning for the official launch of the new organisation.

[spanners]

Originally Posted by Andy Sennitt

Additional shortwave frequencies are being planned and will be announced shortly. I will post them here as soon as I get them, and they will be on the RNW website, which is also closing in its present form on 29 June: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/were-changing

I still regularly listen to RNW via Hotbird and WRN and I used to listen via shortwave starting over forty years ago even being a registered listener to the 'Happy Station', so I'm pretty sad to see this happening. However in following the link above my eyes were drawn to the following sentence:

Why?
The measures are a result of steep budget cuts imposed by the Dutch government and a concomitant change in focus. Providing the world with a realistic image of the Netherlands, as we have proudly done since 1947, will no longer be one of our statutory duties.

and couldn't believe how short sighted this action is with very far reaching consequences. What type of image does the Dutch Government now want to give to the world? A world that it now no longer talks to!
Sadly the international broadcasting field is heading towards being dominated by a small couterie of broadcasters who will send out their own messages without any counter argument or point of view being heard.
It's worth noting that RNW started in 1947 after the second world war, I wonder if the European scene would have been any different had they been broadcasting before 1939?

[norderney]

So will there just be one programme lasting 1 hour and repeated throughout the day. Or will they do what the Dutch service did and have a whole day of live transmission? Very sad.

[MikeBr]

Originally Posted by norderney

So will there just be one programme lasting 1 hour and repeated throughout the day. Or will they do what the Dutch service did and have a whole day of live transmission? Very sad.

They have posted another update to their webpage about this in the last 24 hours:

"Preparations for our final radio show (29 June) are underway. We'll try to bring you a great programme!

We're trawling the archives at the moment for programmes and items you might want to hear again. We've already had a couple of very good suggestions from you, but more are welcome!

Meanwhile, even former RNW colleagues are offering to contribute to the final day in some form. Our last day on radio is 29 June. We're starting at 00:00 UTC, and our final hour will begin at 20:00 and last until 20:57.

Our programmes that day will go out on our usual shortwave frequencies, World Radio Network relays, and our 24-hour webstream and satellite channels. At least."

[Andy Sennitt]

Originally Posted by norderney

So will there just be one programme lasting 1 hour and repeated throughout the day. Or will they do what the Dutch service did and have a whole day of live transmission? Very sad.

Yes, it will just be one programme, which will be aired 8 times. There are not enough people, and not enough money, to make a continuous live transmission - the Dutch department was much bigger and had a much larger budget. Many of the people who used to work on the English service are now scattered around the world. We have two ex-colleagues on BBC Radio 4 - continuity announcer Kathy Clugston and the producer of Gardeners' Question Time, Howard Shannon.

[MikeBr]

Frequency for Europe announced today:

We're also on air to Europe on 29 June! RNW's distribution department has arranged this frequency for you:

1900 UTC until 2057 UTC - 6065 kHz from Wertachtal

This will allow listeners in a large area of Europe to share the last two hours of RNW English on air.

Registration is 500kw omnidirectional

[wns_195]

It is sad but inevitable. I used to enjoy the programme where they'd read letters from all over the world, Media Network and Newsline, and listen on AM.

I wonder how many people regularly listened to Radio Netherlands and other international broadcasters in Europe?

Online I regularly read Media Network. Andy did a fantastic job, updating that blog for years, having probably only enough holidays/breaks to count on one hand.

[RadioRob]

Originally Posted by MikeBr

Frequency for Europe announced today

Thanks for the info Mike.

I was slightly and, I admit, irrationally expecting to see 648 or perhaps 1296 made available for an hour or so.

[Andy Sennitt]

Originally Posted by RadioRob

Thanks for the info Mike.

I was slightly and, I admit, irrationally expecting to see 648 or perhaps 1296 made available for an hour or so.

I think the staff at Orfordness have already been redeployed, as the facility is now silent on both frequencies. 648 was already a problem last year when we arranged it as a temporary facility for Dutch Radio 1. It took them several days to get a transmitter on the air, and several more days of testing. There's too much work involved for just one or two hours. But actually, I think the shortwave will work better for people in the north of the UK and some other places. The transmitter will use a non-directional antenna.