This was a consumer oriented edition. We did a lot about high solar activity and the effect it can have on satellites, especially as there were several satellite failures and the topic came into mainstream news coverage. It started with the temporary loss of the SOHO spacecraft studying the sun. Joe Allen has discovered more than 10,000 examples of satellite failures. So there is no terrestrial back-up for most satellites. We also talked about new recycling projects which were just starting in 1999. Bob Tomalski has story of a digital dogs dinner. Pay-TV set-op boxes have been plagued with teething troubles.

This programme starts with the news about Chris Carey was caught in New Zealand connected with pirate decoders. There's a rather ironic item about public service broadcasting. Steve Whitt generated a nice response about earthing rods. Feb 1st was a landmark day in the end of Morse Code for maritime use. We talked about a Atlantic Hop experiment using Morse Code and involving the old Kootwijk shortwave site in Holland. We also looked at why Radio Luxembourg is still remembered, even though its been off the air for years. Shaun Tilley talked to us from Swansea. He argues that Luxy hasn't really been replaced. There are also the results of the Christmas contest to guess how many hits we had on RNW.nl in 1998. Alan J Knapp got my 1999 copy of the WRTH.

Search for Common Ground opened Studio Ijambo in 1995, a year after the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. For years Burundi media had helped fan the flames of hatred between Hutus and Tutsis. By 1995 more than 200,000 Burundians had been killed in the conflict and it seemed that the country was following Rwanda’s lead in destruction.

The transformation in Burundi was painful and slow, beginning in a small studio known as Ijambo, meaning “wise words” in Kirundi. “Studio Ijambo would become a place where Hutu and Tutsi journalists, writers, producers and broadcasters would together create programs to dispel the rumors, stereotypes, and hate messages that had permeated the Burundian public sphere.

While most media reported atrocities committed by the “other” side, Ijambo journalists covered them all. Teams, one Tutsi and one Hutu journalist, ventured together into conflict zones, refugee camps, and devastated lives, seeking to make sense of events and share their knowledge with their fellow Burundians.

By 1999, Francis Rolt (who used to work for Radio Netherlands) was the manager of Studio Ijambo. We made this portrait of the challenges for media in this country with his help. The programme also had other news in brief, including a tribute to the founder of Sweden Calling DXers, Arne Skoog.

This programme includes updates from Kosovo, the Swatch watch company cancels its Beatnic project on 2 metres from space after protests from amateur radio operators. Bryan Clarke has his report from the South Pacfic. David Smith reports from Bangui on how the project Radio Minurca is going. He explains the problem with the shortwave transmitter. Harry Helms, a popular US radio author, retires and makes an interesting comparison between international broadcasting and railroads. He expects the web to eat shortwave radio's lunch! (Not a bad prediction!)

This was a listener driven edition of the Media Network, asking questions about DAB. We talk to Roberts Radio and World Radio Network in the UK. There's also a link to Professor Doug Boyd (pictured) who has comments on the Worldspace radio system and why it might have difficulty try to fly. Andy Sennitt has a bumper bundle of listening suggestions.

More time travel. This programme starts with the news of a fire in the Ostankino TV tower in Moscow, a blaze that later turned out to be very serious indeed. Vasily Strelnikov went off to investigate and was surprised at the extent of the blaze. We talk about security on the web comparing it with spy number stations! Love the Marconi radio joke. Also the Lincolnshire Poacher recording was crystal clear. We also talked to Bryan Clarke in Auckland about the BBC Calling the Falkands programme. Bob Tomalski talks about a new Onkyo hi-fi system. The DVD player with have a digital video output. Onkyo had no clue about copyright issues. Philips announces a delay to its DVD+ recorders.

This was the last programme in the Media Network series that looked at pirate radio and the offshore stations. It featured the late Bob Tomalski who, at the time of the recording, was Media Network's UK gadget inspector. 

This programme includes a feature about the US clandestine station targeted at Cuba called Radio Swan. Declassified documents from the CIA reveal how the station was involved in the Bay of Pigs attempted invasion. We hear from a Media Network correspondent at a Blutooth conference in Monaco. Radio Netherlands works with Bush Radio to produce a CD for AIDs awareness. We also look at the MP3 and start the discussion about the best codecs and copyrights. We try to understand how Napster works. Love the parody on the MTV song.

This show is shorter than usual because it was prepared in Johannesburg and fed to Hilversum. I can't find the original show which would have had propagation news and listening tips as well. But the 20 minute feature on broadcasting in South Africa as it was at the start of the Millennium is interesting in itself. I get the impression that community stations in South Africa have not embraced the new media as well as had been hoped. That's strange in a country where mobile has become so important.

This news programme starts with a call from Fiji (the furthest we ever got), and we investigate all the various radio projects that CLT is involved in. This included a rather obscure radio service in French on shortwave towards Quebec. CLT was also planning a classical music station as well as Atlantic 252, together with RTE, from County Meath, Ireland. All India Radio tests shortwave out of Port Blair. Pete Myers reports on hopes that HDTV plans will expand.

We also looked into the problems of frequency announcements on shortwave, including the parody from Radio Morania and some bloopers from BBC World Service. Radio Australia spends 2.5 minutes announcing their schedule and have decided to get rid of references to "metre bands". Remember Radio Moscow with announcements that just mentioned metre bands - they had some many tranmitters they didn't need to be more specific. Kim Andrew Elliott, a researcher at Voice of America, had been doing research into receiver coverage. Andrew Piper explains why they add metre bands in some the transmissions to Africa.

Andy Sennitt has news about Namibia and transmissions from Radio RSA. RCI from Sackville (see photo) started using 13 MHz for the first time.