Hilversum 6.5

Hilversum is a municipality and town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "Het Gooi", it is the largest urban centre 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.TownHilversum lies 24km south-east of Amsterdam and 15km north of Utrecht. The town is known for its architecturally important Town Hall (Raadhuis Hilversum), designed by Willem Marinus Dudok and built in 1931.Hilversum has one public library, two swimming pools (Van Hellemond Sport and De Lieberg), a number of sporting halls and several shopping centres (such as Hilvertshof, De Gijsbrecht, Kerkelanden, Riebeeck Galerij and Seinhorst.) Locally, the town centre is known as het dorp, which means "the village".BroadcastingHilversum is often referred to at "media city" since it is the principal centre for radio and television broadcasting in the Netherlands, and is home to an extensive complex of radio and television studios and to the administrative headquarters of the multiple broadcasting organizations which make up the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system, as well as to those of many newer commercial TV production companies. Radio Netherlands, which has been broadcasting worldwide via shortwave radio since the 1920s, is also based here.