Deutschlandradio (DLR; ) is a national German

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

radio broadcaster.

History

''Deutschlandfunk'' was originally a West German news radio targeting listeners within West Germany as well as in neighbouring countries, ''Deutschlandfunk Kultur'' is the result of a merger of

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

's RIAS station and

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

DS Kultur Deutschlandsender (, ''Radio Germany''), abbreviated DLS or DS, was one of the longest-established radio broadcasting stations in Germany. The name was used between 1926 and 1993 to denote a number of powerful stations designed to achieve a nat ...

after

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

. Both networks that used to broadcast mainly on the AM bands have since spread throughout Germany, having been allocated many additional FM transmitters. However, because of lack of analogue frequencies, during 2003 Deutschlandradio changed its distribution strategy to digital terrestrial transmission.

Stations

It operates four national networks: *

Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in t ...

: mainly news and information *

Deutschlandfunk Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of three national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station ...

: culture in a broader sense *

Deutschlandfunk Nova Deutschlandfunk Nova (; abbreviated ''DLF Nova''), formerly known as ''DRadio Wissen'', is a public broadcasting radio station and part of Deutschlandradio. The program is aimed at students and young adults. Their broadcasting studios are situate ...

: aimed at young adults, mainly spoken-word *: opt-out channel, often for special events ''Dokumente und Debatten'' is a digital-only special-event channel. It broadcasts coverage of the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch of Australia (represented by the governor ...

, sports events, talk shows and shipping forecasts. Many of the talk shows are rebroadcasts of the audio portions of TV shows made by ARD,

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

or Phoenix.'' World Radio Television Handbook (WRTH)'', pp. 209–211, 2007 edition, and pp. 194–195, 2008 edition It uses digital frequencies of both Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. ''Deutschlandfunk Nova'' is knowledge orientated station, started in 2010 as ''DRadio Wissen'', targeting a younger audience, and broadcast only digitally – via

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

, DAB, and online. ''Deutschlandradio'' is based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, with some departments—including ''Deutschlandfunk Kultur''—based in Berlin.

Branding

On May 1 2017, ''DRadio Wissen'' was renamed ''Deutschlandfunk Nova'', ''Deutschlandradio Kultur'' was renamed ''Deutschlandfunk Kultur''.

Distribution and transmitters

The three programs and the additional special event channel are all distributed terrestrially via Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB+) on a nation-wide single frequency network (SFN) in VHF channel 5C. The coverage at the end of 2019 is for portable indoor reception 85% of the population and for mobile reception 96% of the area of Germany or 99% of the highways respectively. For an intermediate time the two programs Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur are still transmitted in analog way via FM with an average coverage of 64% of the area. The switch over from analogue to digital started in 2015 with the switch-off of

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

and

long wave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, datin ...

. In 2018/2019 first small-power FM transmitters were switched-off two. The aim is to further improve the digital terrestrial coverage of DAB+ and to reduce the analogue transmission step by step. For stationary reception the programs are also distributed via satellite on the transponder of ZDF. Of course the programs are streamed via the internet and available on relevant platforms. Beside the linear programs extensive non-linear content is available via audio-on-demand (podcast, mediathek and various platforms). Deutschlandradio is also very active in social media networks in order to make the content available to all public.

Orchestras and choirs

Deutschlandradio has a 40% share in ''Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH'', a non-profit organisation which operates: *

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (East Berlin) The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has al ...

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families ...

Berlin Radio Choir The Rundfunkchor Berlin (Berlin Radio Choir) is a professional German classical choir founded in 1925. In the 1950s the choir was divided into the Berliner Solistenvereinigung and the Großer Chor des Berliner Rundfunks. These were united as Run ...

RIAS Kammerchor The RIAS Kammerchor (RIAS Chamber Choir) is a German choir based in Berlin, Germany. It receives support from the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin ("Berlin Radio Orchestra and Choirs"), a limited-liability company owned by the public br ...

The other shareholders are the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

(35%), the State of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(20%) and RBB (5%).

Logo history

DeutschlandRadio Logo.svg, Logo until March 2005 Deutschlandradio Logo alt.svg, Logo until May 2010 Deutschlandradio.svg, Logo from June 2010 (from 2012: alternative Logo) Deutschlandradio Icon.JPG, Former icon (2012–2017) Deutschlandradio Logo.svg, Logo until 30 April 2017 Deutschlandradio Logo 2017.svg, Logo since 1 May 2017

References

External links

Deutschlandradio website

{{Authority control Companies based in Cologne Publicly funded broadcasters Radio stations established in 1994 Radio stations in Germany Mass media in Berlin Government-owned companies of Germany 1994 establishments in Germany