text: The Media Network Vintage Vault 2020-2021: MN.10.01.1985 Radio Truth Zimbabwe
  MN.10.01.1985 Radio Truth Zimbabwe
  November 2020 - A message from Jonathan Marks
  We're now eleven months into the new decade and still in the grip of the COVID-19 virus in this part of Europe. Luckily you can't catch it via this website and maybe this time travel stuff to a much friendly world is a source of light relief. This month we have reached 904,521 unique downloads of Media Network programmes.
  I'm Jonathan Marks. If this is the first time you've visited the vault, then I'm glad you dropped by! There are over 597 editions of Media Network, representing just over half the episodes that we made and broadcast from the Radio Netherlands' studios in Hilversum. I'm pleased to say most survived in excellent studio quality (quite often in stereo).
  As you may know, I currently work with all kinds of high-tech scale-ups working in Photonics and TeraHertz technologies in many parts of Europe, but especially in the Eindhoven and Enschede regions of the Netherlands. I'm particularly fascinated because this country is where international broadcasting started in Europe and where the long-range properties of shortwave radio were first discovered in 1926/1927. Last year on November 6th 2019, we celebrated 100 years of radio in The Netherlands. This year this country is celebrating 75 years since liberation from Nazi occupation as well as 75 years of the UN. The current pandemic will overshadow many of the planned commemorations. Hopefully, they will simply be postponed and not cancelled. Media Network made several documentaries to explain the very different contribution that Dutch international broadcasting made to media in other parts of the world. You can read more about some of the forgotten firsts in this article I wrote on the Medium platform here. A video of the presentation on November 6th 2019 will be posted here when I get a moment.
  In early February 2010, I began an online experiment here on Libsyn with podcasting to understand how the distribution system works and see whether we could rebuild an audience. We wanted to recreate a place to listen to vintage editions of the Media Network programme as broadcast on short-wave by Radio Netherlands in the period 1981-2000. It is over 39 years since "Media Network" was launched as the name of the media show on Radio Netherlands, building on the rich heritage of programmes that went before it.
  As of November 2020, we have now reached more than 904,521 downloads, numbers being boosted by interest in the programmes about Rwanda, Forces Radio, spy number stations and several documentaries about propaganda, during the Second World War and later. On average, when I am actively uploading, this site logs around 6670 downloaded episodes a month, which isn't bad for vintage material.
  I am always interested in your reactions, especially from people who may be discovering this material for the first time. It will encourage me to post more. Looking at the site stats, it would seem that around 13% of the subscribers are downloading via iTunes. The rest do so directly from the site or using 3rd party apps. Please tell friends about the vault and encourage them to subscribe. We have opened an email address for feedback. Just write to: medianetworknewseries@gmail.com
  We have started to release video versions of Media Network. I have succeeded in filming on my travels, including in Washington DC, Bucharest, Caversham, Vienna and Berlin. Watch this space later in 2020.
  Not sure of the exact date of this early Media Network but I am guessing 10.01.1985
  We started with a visit to the Sunspot Index Data Centre in Brussels. I remember assuming that with a name like Koekelenberg, the head of the centre would speak Dutch, but discovered he would only speak French and a smattering of English. Belgium remains a mystery to me with the language divide. We then looked at a proposal for a new Radio Free Europe programme called Radio Maccabee. The programme concludes with reports about various strange stations coming out of the northern part of South Africa. Irish music has been heard, but no station announcements. Reporter Roger Tidy went down to Stockbridge Post Office to investigate a letterbox announced by the South African political clandestine station Radio Truth which is beaming to Zimbabwe. We included several off-air clips from the station. The British Foreign Office wasn't all that interested. Richard Ginbey has been noting some strong signals from Burundi, Kenya and Mauritius.