Radio Netherlands (RNW; nl, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) was a public

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

network based in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilver ...

, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

from 1947 to 2012. Its services in Dutch ended on 10 May 2012. English and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

n language services ceased on 29 June 2012 due to steep budget cuts imposed by the Dutch government and a concomitant change in focus. The last programme broadcast on shortwave was a daily half-hour show in Spanish for Cuba named ''El Toque'' (''The Touch'') on 1 August 2014. It was replaced by

RNW Media RNW Media (formerly known as Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Hilversum, the Netherlands. RNW Media focuses on engaging young people and supporting them to create positive change in thei ...

, a Dutch governmental organisation for free speech and social change around the world.

History

Early days (Philips Radio)

Following a series of experiments on various wavelengths in 1925, reports of good reception from a low-power shortwave transmitter were received from Jakarta on 11 March 1927. Dutch Queen Wilhelmina made what is believed to be the world's first royal broadcast on 1 June 1927, addressing compatriots in the East and West Indies. Regular international broadcast transmissions started shortly afterwards from the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

shortwave transmitter in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022, They used the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

''PHOHI'' for broadcasts in the Dutch language to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

(now

), and ''

PCJJ PCJJ (later known as PCJ) was a pioneering shortwave radio station in the Netherlands operated by Philips Radio on behalf of Philips Laboratories, a division of Philips Electronics. It was the first shortwave radio station in Europe, and the fir ...

'' for broadcasts in English and other languages to the rest of the world. The Philips company in Eindhoven saw a market for its radios in the Dutch colonies. Its research laboratories received support from companies that were trading goods between The Netherlands and Batavia (now Indonesia). The PHOHI was officially founded on 18 June 1927. In 1928, test transmissions commenced from a site in

Huizen Huizen () is a municipality and a village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. The name "Huizen" is Dutch for "houses" and this usage has been linked to the belief that the first stone houses, instead of the more common sod houses a ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. It was chosen because of the high water table on the land near the Zuiderzee lake (now Gooimeer). This meant there was a good conductivity for an efficient earth, which led to stronger signals in the target areas. Around 1929, the Philips

was simplified to PCJ. There were several prewar technical innovations: The Research Laboratories continued with the development of new transmitters that could operate at shorter wavelengths and could be re-tuned for broadcasts to different parts of the world. By the end of 1936, the power had been raised by connecting a stage with two water-cooled type TA 20/250 valves. This provided a power output of 60 kW at a frequency of 15220 kHz and immediately became the strongest short-wave transmitter in Europe. In 1937, this transmitter was moved from Eindhoven to the PHOHI Transmitter Park in Huizen. * Broadcasts were considerably improved in 1937 with the construction of beam antennas supported by the world's first wooden antenna masts rotatable on two concentric circular rails at the transmitter site in

. In November 2006, a 1/5th size model of this antenna was officially inaugurated on a roundabout a few hundred metres from the original site. * Rotatable curtain array antennas were not in common use until the 1960s, so PCJ was far ahead of its time with its introduction of rotatable HRS type antennas.

Dutch broadcasting in exile

Broadcasts from the Netherlands were interrupted by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing ...

in May 1940. There were three transmitters in operation at that time. On the afternoon of May 14, the Dutch military commander gave orders that the transmitters should be destroyed, to prevent them falling into the hands of the Nazis. After several attempts, which included calling in the help of the Hilversum fire brigade, two of the three transmitters were completely destroyed. The third was only partially damaged and was later repaired and used by the Germans for pro-Nazi broadcasts, some originating from Germany. There were also relays of music concerts from Dutch broadcasters operating under German control. The

Dutch government The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekk ...

in exile was granted air-time on BBC transmitters in 1941. The programme ''

Radio Oranje ''Radio Oranje'' (; Dutch: "Radio Orange") was a Dutch radio programme on the BBC European Service broadcast to the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II. It was transmitted from London and broadcast programmes of approximately 15 min ...

'' was a daily commentary on the Dutch situation both in the Netherlands and the rest of the empire ( Dutch East and

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

). One of the chief commentators on ''Radio Oranje'', Henk van den Broek, was given the task of restarting

public broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

once the country was liberated. On 3 October 1944, van den Broek travelled from London to a liberated Eindhoven and began broadcasts as ''Radio Herrijzend Nederland''.

Birth of Radio Netherlands Worldwide

On 24 May 1945, a programme for Dutch people living abroad was transmitted with the help of the BBC. In July 1945, the Dutch government founded the ''Stichting Radio Nederland in den Overgangstijd'' (''Radio Netherlands in Time of Transition'') and gave it the mandate for both domestic and international broadcasts. Later, under pressure from the pre-war Dutch broadcasting companies, the government decided to separate national and international broadcasting. On 15 April 1947, the ''Stichting Radio Nederland Wereldomroep'' (''Radio Netherlands International Foundation'') was established. Broadcasts in Dutch, Indonesian, English and Spanish began in that year. Subsequently, language services in Arabic and Afrikaans (1949), French (1969) and Brazilian Portuguese (1974) were added. Radio Netherlands was editorially independent and received 6% of the Dutch annual public allocation for public broadcasting. The interval signal of Radio Netherlands was a version of the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Ref ...

song '' Merck toch hoe sterck'' played on a carillion. The original recording was made at the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

in Den Bosch. It was replaced in August 1987 by a recording of the carillion in

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

End of radio broadcasts

The English-language shortwave broadcasts to North America were discontinued on 26 October 2008, due to a survey that claimed that more listeners listened to RNW podcasts than listened on shortwave radio. On 24 June 2011, the Dutch government announced a 70% cut to RNW's budget reducing it from 46 million euros to 14 million. On 11 May 2012 at 20:00 GMT (22:00 CEST), the Dutch service signed off at the end of a 24-hour radio marathon broadcast. This included several interviews with past staff members of the station, including the former Director General Lodewijk Bouwens. On 29 June 2012, Radio Netherlands ended broadcasting in English at 20:57 GMT (22:57 CEST) after a similar celebratory 24-hour broadcast. The final show was posted online by Jonathan Marks, the former Radio Netherlands Programme Director (1992–2003) and host of Media Network. Since 2013, RNW's funding had been under the responsibility of the Dutch Foreign Ministry rather than the Education and Culture Ministry.

Shortwave relay stations

The shortwave international broadcasts were heard worldwide via broadcast facilities in

Bonaire Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west ( leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC ...

(opened in 1969) and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

(opened in 1972). The last transmission from the shortwave relay station in Bonaire ended at 1:57 GMT on June 30, 2012, and the installations were dismantled later that year. In 2013, the government of Madagascar and Malagasy Global Business S.A. signed an agreement to operate the Madagascar relay station in Talata-Volonondry. Among its customers are

NHK Radio Japan NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-ser ...

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service cons ...

Vatican Radio Vatican Radio ( it, Radio Vaticana; la, Statio Radiophonica Vaticana) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, ...

Adventist World Radio The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and i ...

and Free Press Unlimited. Radio Netherlands Worldwide used a shortwave station in

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

from 1985 to 2007. The shortwave transmissions were supplemented by an extensive network of partner stations.

Languages

Programming on the English Service

The English-language output included news and current affairs, as well as documentaries and programmes about the Netherlands, Europe, culture, music, the media and international affairs. The station developed a reputation for providing unique, objective and high-quality public radio, garnering dozens of international awards for its productions. When the station closed down, the extensive English-language multi-media archives were deleted, but a group of former employees has made over a thousand of documentaries and radio programmes available again. ''DX Juke Box'' was a media show that ran from 1961 with Harry van Gelder (1911–2003) and Jim Vastenhoud through to 7 May 1981, when the name and format was changed to '' Media Network''. Jonathan Marks took over in August 1980 and re-launched the show less than one year later by adding news/topical features. He produced over 1000 editions of the programme. It became a full-time website/weblog in October 2000. The blog was discontinued in 2012 as a result of budget cuts. The Media Network archive containing around 300 of the broadcasts is available online. ''

Happy Station Show The ''Happy Station Show'' was one of the world's longest-running international radio programmes, having originated in 1928 on shortwave radio and airing its final edition on 27 December 2020. The original show followed a format of light entertain ...

'' was another long-running popular radio show, originating on the network's predecessors in 1928 and continued until 1995. From 1976 until his death in 1998,

Pete Myers Peter Eddie Myers (born September 15, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player and a former assistant coach for the NBA team Chicago Bulls. Early life and college career Born in Mobile, Alabama, Myers graduated from Williamso ...

was a prominent presenter and producer in the English section, including as a presenter of ''Happy Station'' for two years.

References

External links

*
Radio Netherlands Archives
{{coord missing, Netherlands International broadcasters Defunct radio stations in the Netherlands Netherlands Public Broadcasting Radio stations established in 1947 Radio stations disestablished in 2012 1947 establishments in the Netherlands 2012 disestablishments in the Netherlands Internet radio stations State media