- published: 29 Mar 2011
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Coordinates: 52°14′N 5°11′E / 52.23°N 5.18°E / 52.23; 5.18
Hilversum (help·info) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages. Hilversum is part of the Randstad, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.
Hilversum lies 30 km (19 mi) south-east of Amsterdam and 20 km (12 mi) north of Utrecht.
The town is often called "media city" since it is the principal centre for radio and television broadcasting in the Netherlands. Radio Netherlands, heard worldwide via shortwave radio since the 1920s, is also based here. Hilversum is home to an extensive complex of audio and television studios belonging to the national broadcast production company NOS, as well as to the studios and offices of all the Dutch public broadcasting organizations and many commercial TV production companies. As a result many old radio sets in Britain had a "Hilversum” dial position marked on their tuning scales (along with other exotic locations like Athlone).