English and Indonesian language services ceased on 29 June 2012 due to steep budget cuts imposed by the Dutch government and a concomitant change in focus.

[1] The last programme broadcast on shortwave was a daily half-hour show in Spanish for Cuba named El Toque (The Touch) on 1 August 2014.

[2] Radio Netherlands Worldwide was replaced by RNW Media, a Dutch non profit for free speech and social change around the world.

[3] Following a series of experiments on various wavelengths in 1925, reports of good reception from a low-power shortwave transmitter were received from Jakarta on 11 March 1927.

[citation needed] Dutch Queen Wilhelmina made what is believed to be the world's first royal broadcast on 1 June 1927, addressing compatriots in the East and West Indies.

There were several prewar technical innovations: The Research Laboratories continued with the development[5] of new transmitters that could operate at shorter wavelengths and could be re-tuned for broadcasts to different parts of the world.

[4] One of the chief commentators on Radio Oranje, Henk van den Broek, was given the task of restarting public broadcasting once the country was liberated.

On 3 October 1944, van den Broek travelled from London to a liberated Eindhoven and began broadcasts as Radio Herrijzend Nederland.

The interval signal of Radio Netherlands was a version of the Eighty Years' War song Merck toch hoe sterck played on a carillon.

[11] The final show was posted online by Jonathan Marks, the former Radio Netherlands Programme Director (1992–2003) and host of Media Network.

The station developed a reputation for providing unique, objective and high-quality public radio, garnering dozens of international awards for its productions.

When the station closed down, the extensive English-language multi-media archives were deleted, but a group of former employees has made over a thousand of documentaries and radio programmes available again.