Radio Netherlands Worldwide -- Last broadcasts via Tinang & Trincomalee

The last English language broadcasts of Radio Netherlands Worldwide were logged on 28 and 29 June 2012.

In its broadcast to Asia and Australia, RNW via Tinang was received on 15.110 kHz from 10.00 to 10.57 UTC. "South Asia Wired" was broadcast twice during the transmission and sandwiched between the programme "Earth Beat". Occasionally during the transmission, listeners were reminded that this was the final English language transmission of RNW on 15.110 kHz. Reception (SINPO): 45334 -- good signal strength, clear and audible speech despite slight fading and atmospheric noise. Interestingly, on the 29 June 2012, RNW transmitted its last Indonesian language broadcast on the same frequency as well as 15.300 kHz and others in the 19, 16 and 13 meter band. 

RNW via Trincomalee, Sri Lanka was heard on 29 June 2012, transmitting to South Asia on 9.800 kHz. This retrospective broadcast of RNW was monitored  from 13.58 to 14.57 UTC. Reception (SINPO) at 13.58 UTC was 45444 good signal strength, clear and audible speech despite slight fading and atmospheric noise; at 14.30 UTC reception worsened with increased atmospheric noise to 45343

Programme content (for this English language broadcast) included:

13.58 - RNW station interval, followed by RNW station ID and announcement of the last RNW English language broadcast which was presented by a male announcer.

14.02 - One vocal song, followed by a Dheera Sujan narrating the history of RNW: "The Happy Station" hosted by Eddie Startz and  Tom Meier; Jonathan Marks was featured; Pete Meyer's "Asia Beat" was highlighted;  and the award-winning RNW documentaries were touched upon

14.19 - Dheera Sujan mentioned  RNW would continue on the Internet, then followed with interviews of various RNW producers and favorite programmes, i.e. its African service

14.31 - Instrumental music, then retrospective on RNW continued with a look at the  "Weekend Europe" and "Network Europe", then a song entitled "Good-bye My Love"

14.36 - Retrospective resumed with "Curious Orange" stories about Afghanistan, a prostitute and a robot designed for sex

14.43 -  Mary Hopkins sang "Good-bye My Love", followed by a look at "Earth Beat"

14.48 - Dheera Sujan presented favorite episodes from her 23-year repertoire with RNW, i.e. interviews with Indonesian liberators from Dutch rule, Australian outback, etc

14.56 - Announcement of thanks to listeners for 65 years and  last broadcast, followed by RNW station interval (the bells)

14.57 - Short-wave transmission ended...forever!

For a bit of nostalgia I used a Grundig Satellit 500 to listen to RNW's last English broadcast. 

Reception reports were submitted online at RNW and emailed on both days. The QSL card for the Trincomalee transmission arrived on 20 July 2012; it came with an RNW sticker. Confirmation of the Tinang transmission arrived in the post on 24 July 2012.