Current hour (TV broadcast)
| Television broadcast | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Current hour |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| Year (s) | since 1983 |
| length | Mon – Sat: 45 minutes Sun: 20 minutes Extended Sunday version: 45 minutes |
| Broadcasting cycle |
Every day |
| genre | regional infotainment magazine |
| First broadcast | January 3, 1983 on WDF |
The current hour is a regional infotainment magazine founded by Claus Hinrich Casdorff at the end of 1982 on WDR television . It has been broadcast daily on early evening programs since January 3, 1983. The program focuses on current events that affect people from North Rhine-Westphalia and consumer information .
production
The current hour has been produced since 1991 at the WDR radio station in Düsseldorf . However, since November 24, 2019, the production of the program has been relocated together with WDR aktuell and WDR extra in the newly established newsroom in Cologne , where the station concentrates its news formats.
History and development of the program
The aim of the WDR when the program was launched in 1982 was to create a contrast to the news programs that were perceived as "dry" at the time - such as the Tagesschau - and to inform viewers in a casual way. The current hour was led by a couple of moderators in a relaxed tone and with a casual dress code.
The choice of name caused complaints from politicians. The former Prime Minister Heinz Kühn expressed concern that the program could be confused with the current hour of the state parliament and unsuccessfully demanded a renaming.
Initially, the format was designed according to the name for an hour between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. With the creation of local times (initially "window programs"), in which eleven individual regions in North Rhine-Westphalia have been provided with a program tailored to the respective region since 1984 between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., the current hour was shortened . It now runs on weekdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. On Sundays there is a shortened version with only one moderator (7:10 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.).
Frank Plasberg and Christine Westermann , among others, became known through the show , who ran the format together from 1987 to 2002. The future program director of Deutsche Welle Christian Gramsch also moderated the current hour . Today this has a market share of up to 20 percent in North Rhine-Westphalia .
The current hour has been broadcast in native HD since July 20, 2015 .
On September 4, 2016, the current hour broadcast the first issue from a newly designed studio. The backdrop in the old studio was dismantled on September 1, 2016. During this time, broadcasts were temporarily broadcast from the WDR Funkhausfoyer in Düsseldorf. In the current studio, large LED walls and the materials wood, metal and concrete now dominate. The studio, which also broadcasts the regional political magazine Westpol , WDR aktuell , WDR extra , and one-to-one , is much more spacious than the former.
On July 28, 2017, the broadcast had to be canceled for the first time in its 30-year history due to a power failure.
In order to provide sufficient information on Sundays during the Corona crisis , the length of the Sunday edition in mid-March was adjusted to that of the weekly editions. Since then, the program has also lasted 45 minutes on Sundays (instead of the usual 20 minutes) and starts at 6:45 p.m. (instead of 7:10 p.m.), and there is now two moderators (instead of just one, see above). This extension should continue until at least the end of 2020.
Moderators
- Thomas Bug (since 2008)
- Michael Dietz (since 2015)
- Martin von Mauschwitz (since 2001)
- Dilek Üşük (since April 2020)
- Catherine Vogel (since February 2010)
- Susanne Wieseler (since 1999)
- Thomas Heyer (substitute since 2015; previously since 1996 main moderator)
- Anne Gesthuysen (substitute since 2015; previously from 1997–1999 and 2001–2004 main moderator)
Former moderators (selection)
- Rolf Bringmann
- Tom Buhrow (1986-1992)
- Christel Cohn-Vossen
- Randi Crott
- Andreas Ernst
- Martina Eßer (1996-2008)
- Petra Gerster (1987–1989)
- Christian Gramsch
- Sigi Harreis
- Klaus Klenke
- Monika Kluth
- Christine Lemmen
- Reinhard Munchenhagen
- Jens Olesen
- Rüdiger Oppers
- Anna Planken (2008-2010)
- Frank Plasberg (1987-2002, 2019)
- Anke Plättner (1991–1997)
- Hans-Peter Riel
- Sabine Scholt
- Margarethe Schreinemakers (1983–1987)
- Birgit Schrowange (1984–1985)
- Evi Seibert
- Werner Sonne
- Marie-Louise Steinbauer
- Bettina Tietjen
- Christine Westermann (1983-2002, 2019)
- Franz Wördemann
- Ranga Yogeshwar
- Barbara Westmark-Böckenholt
- Aslı Sevindim (2006-2019)
swell
- ↑ About us - Current Hour - Television - WDR. Retrieved March 13, 2020 .
- ↑ The reason for the move of the current hour from Düsseldorf to Cologne. WDR, November 23, 2019, accessed on November 23, 2019 .
- ↑ WDR: Behind the moon by Wanne-Eickel . In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 1981 ( online ).
- ^ A b Marcel Pohlig: First insights: WDR refreshes news optically. DWDL.de, September 3, 2016, accessed on September 6, 2016 .
- ↑ Relaunch on WDR television - new look for news formats. wdr.de, September 1, 2016, accessed on September 6, 2016 .
- ↑ For the first time in history: Why the “Current Hour” at WDR had to be canceled. derwesten.de, July 28, 2017, accessed on July 28, 2017 .
- ↑ DWDL de GmbH: "Current Hour" will have more airtime until the end of the year. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
- ↑ “Current Hour” is surprisingly losing its familiar face. In: Express . DuMont Media Group , May 22, 2019, accessed July 21, 2019 .