Dutch Public Broadcasting suspends plan for Radio 7

Dutch Public Broadcasting (NPO) has put on ice its plan to create a seventh radio network dealing with social issues, because of the need to save 200 million euros. The intention was that the highly successful daytime format of Radio 5, the network for the over 50s which can be heard in adjacent countries on mediumwave 747 kHz, would be extended to a 24-hour service, and the social issues programming now heard in the evenings and night hours would be transferred to a new digital network, Radio 7.

Jan Westerhof, the NPO Director of Radio, says that under the current arrangement Radio 5 is de facto two different stations. But it would be unwise to proceed with the split while public broadcasting is having to make cuts in existing services.