Europa (styled as EUROPA) is a German record label, originally owned by Miller International Records Company (Germany). It has since belonged to the MCA Inc. and

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music com ...

, and is now owned by Sony Corporation of America. It was once well known for its very successful radio plays for children and young people. The founder of Europa, American ex-pat

David L. Miller David Leonard Miller (July 4, 1925May 24, 1985) was an American record producer and the founder of many budget album record companies. Miller is more familiar to some record buyers and collectors as the notorious Leo Muller who produced many Ex ...

, is best known outside of Germany for creating

101 Strings 101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding 150 albums and a creative lifetime of around 30 years beginning in 1957. 101 Strings had a trademark sound, focusin ...

History of the Europa label

* 1956: The Miller International Record Company is formed by

Wilhelm Wille Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mou ...

and

Andreas Erich Beurmann Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...

in Quickborn near Hamburg. They will create the label ''Europa''. Their aim is to produce low-cost language courses,

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and Background music. They also produce an LP of

fairy tales A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

of the Brothers Grimm, narrated by Hans Paetsch. This would become the foundation-stone of Europa's success as a record label. * 1958: Miller International inaugurates a stereo label, called Stereo-Fidelity. * 1966: ''Europa-Kinderserie'' is born and the first radio plays are produced, featuring fairy tales and adventure stories. Such radio plays are rare at the time, and the label only has moderate success. * 1980s: Europa produce

H. G. Francis Hans Gerhard Franciskowsky (14 January 1936 – 3 November 2011) was a German author of popular fiction, notably science fiction, and radio dramas. He wrote pseudonymously, most often as H. G. Francis, or as Hans G. Francis, H. G. Francisco, Gunthe ...

's films. Douglas Welbat is responsible for the film scripts of the series '' Macabros'' and ''

Larry Brent Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone, ...

''.

Directors

There have been four directors of the label: # 1966-1968 - the era of Sieglinde Dziallas. Dziallas, was the friend of Berumann, the joint founder. He used the alias ''Claudius Brac'' during the first years. During Dziallas' tenure, Beurmann attracted many more Hamburg stage actors to record the radio plays, including Hans Paetsch, Benno Gellenbeck, Peter Folken,

Horst Fleck Horst may refer to: Science * Horst (geology), a raised fault block bounded by normal faults or graben People * Horst (given name) * Horst (surname) * ter Horst, Dutch surname * van der Horst, Dutch surname Places Settlements Germany * Horst, ...

and

Marga Massberg Marga may refer to: People *Marga (Batak), a family name in Batak society *Marga Barbu (1929–2009), Romanian actress *Marga Boodts (1895–1976), woman claimed to be Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia *Marga Gomez (born 1960), Puerto Rican ...

. # 1968-1972 - the era of

Konrad Halver Konrad is a German (with variants ''Kunz'' and ''Kunze'') given name and surname that means "bold counselor" and may refer to: People Given name Surname *Alexander Konrad (1890–1940), Russian explorer *Antoine Konrad (born 1975), birth name o ...

. In 1968, Dziallas suddenly died, and Beurmann withdrew from active production of the radio plays. Halver wrote and directed

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and produced radio plays of Karl May's Winnetou novels. Altogether Halver produced about 75 radio plays. # 1972-1973 - the era of Dagmar von Kurmin. In 1972, Halver left ''Europa'', and for a short time von Kurmin oversaw the production of some 15 radio plays, including some by Karl May and '' Moby-Dick'' by Herman Melville. # 1973–present - the era of Heikedine Körting. Under Körting's direction many series have been produced, including '' Edgar Wallace'', '' The three investigators'', '' TKKG'', ''

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

'', ''

Commander Perkins ''Commander Perkins'' is a German science fiction series by H. G. Francis, published partly as audio plays and partly as a series of novels. Background The series is set approximately 50 to 100 years in the future. Mankind has settled the Moon, w ...

'', '' Perry Rhodan'', ''

Die Funk-Füchse Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicond ...

'' and ''

Die Gruselserie Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicond ...

''. Since end of the 1990s,

André Minninger André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...

has also produced the radio plays. Minninger is also the author of some of the German '' Three investigators'' Novels. Some of the radio plays produced during Körting's tenure have received gold and platinum discs.

Carsten Bohn controversy

A further success guarantor was the music of Carsten Bohn. Bohn felt that he was not sufficiently paid for his compositions and a legal dispute ensued. As a consequence, the Europa label has been unable to use his compositions since the mid-1980s.

Decline and renaissance

At the end of the 1980s, bad sales figures caused radio play production to slow down. The main reason cited for the declining sales was that children and young people were no longer interested in radio plays, preferring instead to play

computer games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...

. At the beginning of the 1990s, the two series '' The three investigators'' and ''TKKG'' were essentially all that Europa produced. However, from end of the 1990s, radio plays have experienced a renaissance. With the rise of the Internet, there has been new interest in the old radio plays, and demand for new productions has also risen strongly. Increased sales of tapes and LPs provided a revenue stream which made a renewed radio play boom possible. Beginning in 2000, ''Europa'' presented the old radio plays under the slogan "Rückkehr der Klassiker" ("Return of the classics"). In addition there was a renewed interest in ''The three investigators'', considered the label's flagship product. New series were produced, aimed at young listeners. In 2006, the series ''Teufelskicker'' was produced: an official licensed product of the Football World Cup.

References

External links