Radio Nederland, final sign off on 6065 kHz, 29/06/12

[@robertlancaster8190]

Thanks for letting us hear when they pulled the the big switch…

[@mutezone]

Your welcome.

[@Tirana44]

I still miss Happy Station, and Jerry and Dodie Cowan. At the time, around 1972/73, I was living in a very remote and isolated part of the UK. For a kid, the people at Radio Netherland felt like real friends. I miss them all, and mourn the ending of the short wave service. Thank you folks.

[@gatrodgers]

Your recording will go down in history. Radio Nederland had the best signal strength of any station in my childhood in West Texas. Thank you.

[@AI4QT]

ahh the memories! ... what a great SW station. Always looked forward to Radio Nederland programming.

[@mutezone]

Thanks for the comment. Yes its true that shortwave is not what it used to be. I still get some excitement trying to catch low powered stations, although only when conditions are good. I recorded this because RNW brought back a lot of memories when I started SW DXing back in the 80s, when the airwaves were almost jam packed.

[@chrisakarazor9612]

I loved the bells

[@mutezone]

@@chrisakarazor9612 Yes it had a hypnotic sound. Thanks for the comment.

[@newanatolia]

Still miss them. Sad days.

[@Degaggg]

Radio Netherlands had sent me a little book , in the middle of the 80's , about how to build an antenna for short waves...there signal was always a good signal in Morocco,north africa...when i was 15 i used to listen to a program talking about reception,new radio's on the market,new technology...i miss it a lot

[@mutezone]

They were one of the first stations I received back in the 80s when I discovered shortwave DXing, also to get a program guide from with schedules.

[@nillchen]

that's so nice...I really miss European short wave stations...

[@LuvvyDuck]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I loved listening to Radio Nederlands and I'm sorry it's over. But at least we have our memories! ❤️

[@mikesam347]

Thanks for uploading this piece of historic material. I used to listen and write to RN in the early 70's. Then in the mid 70's I went to live in Holland, stayed 30 years..! I still have many QSL'S from all over the world, framed and on the wall. So sad that most SW stations pulled the plug. :(

[@mutezone]

Your welcome. Radio Netherlands was one of the stations I would write to asking for schedules when I first started listening to shortwave in the 80s. I also miss many other SW stations that has left over the years.

[@mikesam347]

@@mutezone I think the purpose of shortwave was entertainment, and also distributing political matters. At home we had a big old tube receiver, and I remember how the glass plate glowed with all the names of far off stations. It is true that you couldn't listen to hifi music, with the fading and crackles, I guess folks accepted that for what it was. Maybe SW fell outta fashion..??

[@mutezone]

I agree that SW was not only entertainment but also providing political content, especially to those that were deprived of the truth. An example is clandestine stations opposing their own regimes, or those during the cold war that were so vital like Radio Berlin International. There are still clandestine stations about like for eg the ones that oppose North Korea & Iran. The thing is there are far less of those type of stations about than compared to the past. The decline of SW could be down to the end of the cold war, but also stations moving to digital media especially when internet streaming came about. Stations would be catching on knowing there are a lot less SW listeners about & to save money they just move online. With regards sound quality, I remember satellite radio in the late 80s & early 90s but it did not really catch on although I was amazed how clear BBC WS sounded when I heard it for the first time other than on SW. Cheers.

[@mutezone]

Thanks for the comment. I thought it was important to make a recording of this, since Radio Nederland reminds of my early DXing days when there were a lot more shortwave stations on the air.

[@chrisakarazor9612]

I converted an AM radio to SW and I could hear Radio Nederland on it

[@stormchsr101]

in the late 60s and beyond, i tuned in to 11.730 to listen to dx jukebox all the time. technology has come so far but no matter how sophisticated it will get, it wont be the same as tuning in a fluttering signal and enjoy the smell of vacuum tubes warming up!

[@anthonyperkins7556]

I used to listen to the daily English lunchtime transmissions in the late 70's and thru the 80's at 11.30 UTC (12.30 UK) / 13.30 CET on 5955 and 9715 kHz SW. The transmissions were beamed to Europe from Flevo in The Netherlands and were operated by Nozema (the Netherlands' answer to the UK's Independent Broadcasting Authority) using 500 kW each with a 360 degree omnidirectional mast pattern that adequately covered the whole of Europe and got into the UK rather well.

[@mutezone]

Thank you for the information. RNI still brings back memories of when I first started SW DXing back in the 80s when I received them with their famous interval signal.

[@mutezone]

Yes it is a shame that another shortwave giant has drastically reduced its service. I believe they are still transmitting to South America / Caribbean area in Spanish for an hour or two a day. Thanks for the comment.

[@mutezone]

Thank you. Yes, I have some nice memories of RNW being received all those years ago on my first shortwave radio. Same as other stations no longer broadcating on shortwave or to Europe.

[@sbrown307]

Thank you for recording and sharing this. I used to listen to Radio Nederland when I was a kid in the 60's. It was easy to find on the old (tube type) shortwave radio I had because the signal was strong (eastern Kansas) and the bells were very loud and clear. I wonder if shortwave radio will ever return.

[@mutezone]

No problem. If you mean to like it was in the past, then I doubt it with digital technology advancing ever more. It won't go away, just different in my opinion.

[@RealAct]

Very sad, thank you for posting this, I remember listening to Radio Netherlands back in the early 80s in Cuba, stations such as RN were the ONLY means to know what was happening in the world behind the iron curtain. After 20 years of absence from SW I recently decided to go back DXing and it saddens me to see many of those great radio stations are no more, specially seeing new projects such as DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) are still alive.

[@angryhammerite3849]

Shortwave in general is mostly vacant thse days. :(

[@mutezone]

AngryHammerite Although there is nowhere as much to receive on SW like back in its heyday, there are some things which are worth trying to catch. We can only take advantage as much as we can of this once almost everyone decides to go digital, although with Sudan & Spain returning to SW it shows there is still a future for this medium.

[@Richard_K1630]

AngryHammerite: Nothing but religious kooks broadcasting from the USA trying to make the world more Christian. I'm so glad I sold my radio last year. I bought my first radio in the summer of '68, the height of the Cold War. Those were great times.

[@mutezone]

***** Sorry to hear that you lost interest with SW DXing. I had to invest in better antennas to get the more difficult & rarer catches. For eg, low power stations from South America, pirate stations n Europe, African stations, & some far east Asian stations are keeping things going for me which is why I still listen. I do remember when DXing for the first time 30 years ago, a lot more to catch.

[@pookerville]

mutezone The only stuff that's broadcasting on shortwave radio is renegade broadcasters, Radio Havana Cuba, EWTN and Radio Marti, not to mention Brother Stair and WWCR.

[@chrisakarazor9612]

So sad. I loved it when I was a kid. In my teens I had a crystal radio that could hear shortwave

[@G6JPG]

I _so_ wanted them to come back after a few seconds of the hiss, like in the film "the ship that rocked" (or something like that - about the pirate stations off England in the 1960s/70s).

[@anthonyperkins7556]

My favourite shows on RNW were Media Network and The Happy Station Show

[@chrisakarazor9612]

Tom Meyer on Happy Station read my letter on the air one time. 6165khz was where I listened

[@masuk39]

I've just seen this sad news. I started to learn Dutch on RN in 1965, and was a keen DXer.

[@mikesam347]

Did you learn it ?

[@balistixmapping197]

5:15 to 6:03 RNW played Netherlands Anthem "Het Wilhelmus" for the last time.

[@pookerville]

Thank you so much for this great final recording! I wasn't able to hear it because there's no wi-fi where I went. And hopefully, we wish RNW the very best as they embark on this new era of its remarkable history.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

That transmission came from Wertachtal transmitter site South Germany.

[@mutezone]

Thank you for the information.

[@mikesam347]

But I heard them say, from Hilversum..?

[@anthonyperkins7556]

@@mikesam347 RNW gave up on its own transmitter site at Flevo in the late nineties and hired transmitters elsewhere in Continental Europe because the Dutch Military took Flevo back from RNW to keep the site for national emergencies.

[@mikesam347]

@@anthonyperkins7556 Hello Anthony, Thanks for your reply. I used to listen to RN from the UK, then I was moved to the netherlands (in 1975 ) where I worked for 30 years. I regret not contacting RN while I lived there and while they still operated, I must have 15 QSL's from them over the years. Regarding the Dutch military grabbing the Airwave's, didn't the UK Gov do the same, moving us all over to DAB ? What have they done ( or plan to do ) with those reclaimed frequencies ? The Netherlands has a really advanced emergency warning system with special sirens in most towns and cities. As far as I know, the UK has nothing comparable with the Dutch warning system. In fact I think most EU states, Denmark, Germany, Sweden etc all have audible warning systems.

[@JesperD87]

@@anthonyperkins7556 I'm a bit late to the party over here but just wanted to add the fact that RNW gave up on its own Flevo SW transmitter site because of budget, in 2007. Wertachtal was one of the transmitter sites RNW used after giving up Flevo. Sadly both transmitter sites are demolished nowadays. 'Flevo SW' remained unused until 2012, when the Dutch Ministry of Defence aquired it. Starting 2018, all existing antennas were demolished and the transmitter building got overhauled. New antennas are built or will be built (haven't checked for a while) which will be much shorter than the original ones. It will remain mostly unused though, as its purpose is to provide emergency communication services for the military. So lets hope it will only be on air for training missions. Finally, a side note on the nearby Flevo medium wave transmitter site, once used to transmit domestic radio stations on 747 and 1008 kHz at 400 kW each. 747 kHz was used until 2015 (marking the end of nearly 90 years of medium wave broadcasting by the Dutch public radio) and 1008 kHz was used by a religious station until the end of 2018 at reduced power. Early 2019, the entire site was demolished. It was the very last remaining high power medium wave transmitter site in The Netherlands.

[@magneticlanguagesofudon5499]

I was saddened to hear this news. I learned some Dutch from the Dutch service and enjoyed the English service too. I listened to RNWO from the early 70's until early 90's it was good listening time even if it faded a bit from time to time. Well if the internet ever fails us then starting up SW service like RNWO shouldn't be too hard to do again. I hope they have all the equipment in storage somewhere. Nice little video about shutting down the Bonaire station. Farewell to RNW shortwave broadcast from Bonaire

[@mutezone]

Thanks, glad you liked the recording.

[@pookerville]

Thanks for uploading this! I wanted to hear the sign-off on my IPad, but there was no wi-fi service at South Station in Boston.

[@pesnyaozemle]

Great recording ! Now RNW is a page of history book...

[@gustavoceballos5327]

7:08: Radio Static starts

[@steviebboy69]

what was the name of the bells or their interval signal, I heard him say it but would like to see the name of it. I always remember RN, as booming in on my fathers old transistor radio. Even though it had just a telescopic whip.

[@mutezone]

Then name of their interval signal is "Merck Toch Hoe Sterck". RNW was always a strong station for me as well. It was one of the first stations I received on my portable radio back in the 80s when I started to get into shortwave. Thanks for the comment.

[@mutezone]

This is happening everywhere, unfortunately. No doubt more SW services around the world will be finished or reduced due to the same measures taking place.

[@ARS2K7SEAsia]

7:08 transmitter shut off

[@ARS2K7SEAsia]

5:14 national anthem

[@joestokesbary7343]

Sad

[@jve07]

I'm not Proud on my right wing goverment to make this kind of budget cuts.

[@KievitRob]

As the producer of RNW English's final day, I'm proud and happy to find this clip on KZbin. It was a sad task to compile that last day's programming, but inspiring as well. Yes, it's all gone forever (including my job there). For the record, the voices you are hearing are those of Dheera Sujan, who hosted the farewell programme; Jonathan Groubert giving the radio station a very personal send-off, and finally the remaining crew of RNW English at the time shouting Goodbye! The suggestion to play the Dutch national anthem at the end of the very last Radio Netherlands broadcast in English was made by Andy Sennitt. When we came out of the little Cell 4 studio, the building was deserted. The big farewell party which had started at midday was over by then; most of our colleagues at the other language services had gone home, never to be seen again. Some of us walked to the nearby railway station, others got into their cars and I hopped onto my bike to climb the Trompenberg on my way home one last time. Many of you are missing the old Radio Netherlands on the airwaves. You're not alone in that.

[@chrisakarazor9612]

A country needs to be right wing to survive. Remember what the leftist totalitarian Socialists did to Germany in the thirties and forties.