When Media Network were only available in 1981, little did we know that it would be the last decade in the Cold War. I was assistant editor around the globe Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) during the time, based in Copenhagen because the editor, Jens Frost, was Danish. I became already on the air with a weekly news update through the WRTH editorial office via World Music Radio, a private venture that broadcast using the shortwave transmitter of Radio Andorra. Jonathan Marks had just joined Radio Nederland, as it was still called, and soon had become the host and producer from the popular DX Jukebox show.
Jonathan's vision was of a programme that would interest a wider audience than the shortwave listeners and DXers who formed the bulk of the DX Jukebox audience. Many international broadcasters had similar shows, largely composed of 'DX tips' sent in by listeners to see other listeners what they had heard. Media Network was created to focus on why a station was about the air, rather than just telling people the best way to hear it. I was invited for being part of the team, eventually totalling several hundred people, who contributed to the programme.
Politics prevailed
Most international broadcasts at the time had a political purpose, and also the biggest international broadcaster of all was Radio Moscow, which have dozens of shortwave transmitting stations everywhere in the USSR. In those days, the Soviet authorities didn't publish their frequencies, possibly at the start of each new broadcast period other international broadcasters spent a few frantic days assessing which of their frequencies had to be changed in order to avoid interference from the Russians.
There was another Moscow-based operation called Radio Station Peace and Progress, which described itself because Voice of Soviet Public Opinion. Actually, this was just another service of Radio Moscow, even sharing a number of the same announcers. It gave the Soviet authorities the opportunity to put across different tricks to gauge international reaction, with out them being seen as directly reflecting government policy - quite simply, a sounding board. There was also a number of smaller external services from your constituent republics of the USSR. These stations tended to concentrate more on regional and cultural issues.
China also had a large external service, still called Radio Peking in those days. Its programme format was dreadfully old-fashioned, each broadcast beginning with a quotation from Chairman Mao. News bulletins often contains reading out the names of all the so-called party officials who had attended an important function. Four years at the BBC Monitoring Service had taught me how important this seemingly boring ritual was. An order in which the names were read out gave foreign observers vital information regarding who was rising up the party ranks. Plenty of important diplomatic information was conveyed in this manner, also by the Soviets.
But there were some entertainment
I have never seen any listening figures for the Soviet or Chinese broadcasters, but I suspect that their total audience was quite definitely smaller than for the BBC's external services. The BBC World Service in English carried a complete range of information, entertainment and sports programming, a lot of it taken from the domestic networks. The Voice of America was more limited rolling around in its range of programming, but still included a lot of music. It boasted what's probably the most listened-to music programme inside the history of shortwave - the VOA Jazz Hour, hosted with the legendary Willis Conover.
Other major international broadcasters were Deutsche Welle and Radio France International. In those days, Radio Nederland was one of the most popular stations about the shortwave dial, and listener reaction indicated that our informal and lively style of presentation was highly rated, contrary to the frequently dull and boring output of some other broadcasters.
Looking back at many of the ads that were produced by international broadcasters, I will only say it's a good job they were not made for profit-making businesses. Whoever designed the ad for Radio Nederland decided how the shape of our building - like an aircraft - was it is important to tell the listeners, in lieu of anything about what we actually broadcast. Another major international broadcaster were able to patronise the entire readership of WRTH by suggesting what has programmes could be heard 'provided you are aware how to use your receiver'.
The Falklands conflict of 1982 produced some interesting listening. Britain government took over one with the BBC's transmitters on Ascension Island and from a studio in the basement with the foreign office operated Radio Atlantico del Sur, a clumsy attempt at psychological operations ('psyops') presented by two civil servants, which amused the Argentinians and embarrassed the BBC.
The Woodpecker
Something was present on shortwave during the entire 1980s, was the so-called Woodpecker, an irritating radio signal that designed a repetitive tapping noise, and so the name. The random frequency hops often disrupted legitimate shortwave broadcasts, including those of Radio Moscow and other stations inside Eastern bloc. Believed to be an over-the-horizon radar (OTH) system, this was confirmed after the fall from the Soviet Union. It finally fell silent after 1989, as the Cold War neared its end.
The 1980s saw many attempts to establish private shortwave stations, in particular those broadcasting to or from your US. Radio Earth was the type of organisation, and as some of those involved were personal friends I was persuaded to join them by investing a modest sum. We'd the support of the Cura?ao Government, which had actually issued a licence to create a station on the island. Though the Netherlands Antilles government did its advisable to prevent the project going ahead, along with the end there wasn't enough commercial support. However, my involvement inside project enabled me to take two very cheap holidays to Cura?ao, together with a trip to Bonaire to visit the Radio Netherlands relay station and Trans World Radio.
Projects that failed
Meanwhile, Radio Earth made some successful broadcasts by purchasing airtime on a couple of private US shortwave stations. One was WRNO, an ambitious make an effort to run a commercial rock music shortwave station located in New Orleans. It launched in 1982, and though it ultimately failed to make a profit, it turned out the catalyst that encouraged other US broadcasters to attempt their luck at shortwave. The quantity of private US shortwave stations increased from three to 16 by the end of the decade.
An even more ambitious venture was Alabama-based NDXE, which claimed to become building a high power shortwave station that will broadcast in stereo. It even launched a listeners' club, which subsequently appeared to have been an attempt to raise capital to aid finance the project. NDXE booked a pricey colour advertisement in the WRTH, but didn't pay for it. Needless to say, the station wasn't constructed either.
A show fit for the king
A memorable moment for Media Network was an unplanned interview with King Hussein of Jordan in 1983. King Hussein was a keen radio amateur, while using the call JY1 and regarded his 1983 experience of Owen Garriott, W5LFL, on board Space Shuttle Columbia, as being a high point in his amateur radio career. It was widely reported in the press, so Jonathan rang the royal palace in Jordan seeking more details for the show. To his surprise, he was the subject of directly to the king, who enthusiastically played back a recording of the contact, that was subsequently broadcast on Media Network.
Inside mid 1980s, the most modern shortwave station in the world was opened on the Flevo polder to switch the ageing Lopik site. Throughout a visit to the Netherlands, Jonathan and I took a vacation to the new shortwave station shortly before it was commissioned. The engineers from your transmitter company were still on site, the other of the 500 kW senders was on dummy load having its side panels off, and red and white tape surrounding it in order to avoid anyone from getting too close. It's a sight I will never forget.
Changing places
Later, Jens Frost retired and I took over as editor-in-chief of the WRTH. I decided that there was no reason to stay in Denmark, which was relatively expensive, but I didn't want to live and operate in London. I concluded that netherlands was a better alternative, along with the company that published the WRTH had opened an office in Amsterdam, so there was accommodation available. I set up home about 6 km from Hilversum, which meant I possibly could go to the studio to record my contributions to Media Network.
Because 1980s drew to a close, so did the Cold War, using a popular revolution in Poland in 1989 spreading to Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania, resulting in the fall of the Soviet Union and also the unification of Germany. Media Network had much to report, and therefore there were to be major changes in the way international broadcasters delivered their content, along with the start of a new chapter within my own career.
Author Resource:
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