MN.17.06.1999 - Kosovo And On the Shortwaves Review

This programme covers three media wars going on in the middle of 1999. One was in Kosovo, there was increased tension in the Koreas (nothing has changed) and problems in the Solomon Islands.There's also an interview with Jerry Berg who wrote an excellent book on the early days of shortwave broadcasting. In June 1999, one of the Radio Netherlands transmitters began carrying a daily programme of just under 2 hours produced by the journalists of Radio 21. If you've been following our coverage of the media situation in Kosovo, you may recall that Radio 21 was a Web-only radio station based in Pristina, serving the Albanian community. In the disputed waters off the coast of Korea, north and south Korean naval vessels became involved in yet another incident in which two North Korean ships were sunk. The political tension between north and South Korea has of course been high ever since the Korean war, and the airwaves of that region are full of propaganda from both sides. Jerry Berg is a well-known and highly respected short wave listener. He is on the Executive Council of the North American Shortwave Association and is chairperson of the Committee to Preserve Radio Verifications. He is also the author of a new case-bound book called On The Shortwaves 1923-1945. It tells the story of shortwave broadcasting from the earliest days up to the end of World War II. It’s surprising that nobody has tackled this subject in depth before. Probably the reason is the difficulty of finding relevant material. But researching information must be second nature to Jerry Berg, as he's an attorney by profession. Photo by unnamed Radio Netherlands reporter who reported from there in 2004.