Radio Netherlands Worldwide
 |
|
| Type | International public broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Country | Netherlands |
| Availability | International |
| Owner | Government of the Netherlands |
|
Launch date
|
15 April 1947 |
| Dissolved | 31 December 2012 |
| Replaced | PCJJ/PHOHI (Philips Radio) |
| Replaced by | RNW Media |
Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW; Dutch: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands. Radio Netherlands Worldwide has also distributed content via web and e-mail technology from as early as 1992.
Its services in Dutch ended on 10 May 2012. English and Indonesian languages ceased on 29 June 2012 due to steep budgets 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), which ended on 1 August 2014.
Due to government directives, the service implemented a new mandate in 2013 to promote free speech and independent journalism using new media in areas where people are not free to gather information or to form and express independent opinions and ceased operations as a broadcaster, but as a non-governmental organization under the name RNW.
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 March 11, 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 shortwave transmitter in Eindhoven. They used the callsign PHOHI for broadcasts in the Dutch language to the Dutch East Indies - now Indonesia) and PCJJ for broadcasts in English and Dutch to the rest of the world.
The Philips company in Eindhoven saw a market for its radios in the Dutch colonies. Their Research Labs got support from companies who 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, Noord Holland. It was chosen because of the high water table on the land near the Zuyderzee lake (now Gooimeer). This meant there was a good conductivity for an efficient earth, which lead to stronger signals in the target areas.
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