“With pride and some regret our ways part here. Just one last thing - thank you.” This is how an emotional Peter Veenendaal, head of the Dutch department, bid farewell to 65 years of Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s Dutch-language broadcasts.
The occasion was marked with a 24-hour radio marathon, with many current and former staff witnessing the service’s last few hours of broadcasting. The end of the Dutch programmes is just the first phase of RNW’s complete overhaul, due to a 70 percent cut in its annual budget. As of 2013, RNW will focus exclusively on free speech in countries where it is lacking or under threat, in particular in Africa, the Middle East and East Asia.
(cl/imm)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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Bye bye RNW ...
A great Dutch marathon and emotional too for all..best wishes..
It is unfortunate. Listened to it a fair bit. Hope you can sort out something for us people overseas. Thanks for everything. Cheers.
Unfortunately, budget cuts by the government to shortwave radio services are not exclusive to Radio Nederland, it has become somewhat of a trend around the world. Many stations stopped broadcasting this year, and many more will cease in the upcoming months. I hope this situation will be soon overcome, but until then, we will miss the Dutch waves here in South America.
RNW in Dutch is indeed going to be missed a lot in Brazil.
)-;
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