- published: 29 Mar 2011
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Hilversum (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɪlvərsʏm]) is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "Het Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilversum is part of the Randstad, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.
Hilversum lies 31 km (19 mi) south-east of Amsterdam and 19 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 (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting), as well as to the studios and offices of all the Dutch public broadcasting organisations and many commercial TV production companies. As a result, many old AM radio sets in Europe had a Hilversum dial position marked on their tuning scales (along with Athlone, Kalundborg and others).