ERF Medien (Germany)

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ERF media
Evangeliums-Rundfunk logo.svg
purpose Christian media production, especially on radio and the Internet
Chair: Jörg Dechert
Establishment date: 1959
Number of members: 150
Number of employees: 230
Seat : Wetzlar
Website: erf.de
Anniversary logo (2009)

The ERF Medien e. V., based in Wetzlar , is a non-profit association that produces radio and television programs as well as Internet offers with Christian evangelical content. It was founded in 1959 as Evangeliums-Rundfunk (ERF). Theologically he is close to the Evangelical Alliance .

Sponsorship and objectives

The ERF is a media company that - according to its own self-image - would like to help people through its radio, television and internet content to discover faith in Jesus Christ and to live in community and society (guiding principle of the ERF since 2009). He runs his programs to “help people become Christians and Christians remain Christians” (ERF website) through radio and television broadcasts. The Christian InterNet working group (CINA, today ERF Online) and a foundation (2001) were added in 2002 , which, according to their own admission, “promote spiritual and cultural life as well as social and diaconal concerns through media work” and “proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through word and image ”.

Board and organization

The economist Jürgen von Hagen was elected by the association's members as chairman of the supervisory board on May 2, 2011.

There are currently around 230 employees at ERF Medien e. V. employed; there are also groups of around 800 voluntary authors and pastors and life advisors as well as contacts for public relations work.

ERF media e. V. is affiliated with the Missionary Services Working Group of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and is the official media partner of the EKD and of the mass evangelization organizer ProChrist .

In addition to the ERF Medien e. V. in Germany there is also ERF Medien (Switzerland) in Switzerland, ERF Medien Austria and ERF Südtirol as independent associations.

The ERF has maintained a partnership with the international Christian radio mission Trans World Radio (TWR) since it was founded . It appears as a German-speaking branch of TWR, although it is organized differently. ERF is a program provider, while TWR mainly operates channels and sublet them to Christian organizations.

history

Logo of the ERF South Tyrol
ERF logo for children

On October 19, 1959, the Evangeliums-Rundfunk e. V. in Wetzlar. The motivation for most of the founding members was that too little Christian programming was broadcast on the public broadcasters. Above all, devotions, biblical topics, but also music with spiritual content were missed. Since there was still no licensed private radio in Germany, the decision was made to work with Trans World Radio, an American association that operates broadcasters around the world and willingly offered broadcasting systems for German-language broadcasts for rent by the hour. The first programs were broadcast on February 5, 1961 via shortwave from Monte Carlo . Other transmitters followed in Bonaire , Swaziland (German and foreign broadcasts for South Africa ). Instrumental in building were Walter Quiring and Horst Marquardt , who by the end of 1993 Head of the Gospel broadcasting and then to 1997, one of the directors of the International Radio mission was Trans World Radio (TWR).

From 1966 there were broadcasts on medium wave (Monte Carlo). From April 1, 1996 to 2011, Evangeliums-Rundfunk also used a medium-wave transmitter in Mainflingen , which was previously used by Deutschlandfunk to supply the GDR area . The radio program has been broadcast on DAB + since 2011 .

Since 1971 there has been a separate media company with various studios and offices in Wetzlar-Dalheim . Subsidiaries were later founded in Switzerland (today ERF Medien), in Austria (ERF Medien Austria), in South Tyrol (ERF Südtirol) and in Pretoria (South Africa), as well as several other branches in Germany. Since 1974 there have been programs for foreign citizens, in addition to programs in foreign languages ​​for Christians in Eastern Europe, which had to be broadcast from Monte Carlo until the end of the Iron Curtain . After that, until 1996, a medium-wave transmitter was available in Russia for broadcasting German and foreign language programs for a few years.

In 1977 Evangeliums-Rundfunk founded ERF-Verlag , which for several decades mainly published audio productions in the form of lectures, concept projects such as life pictures, children's radio plays and audio books . He was also responsible for the synchronization of the first Christian films for the German-speaking market. After the publishing house first joined the Christian Media Foundation in 2001 , it was merged with other foundation companies in the SCM-Verlag in 2007. Here the name continued to exist for several years in the form of the SCM ERF-Verlag brand .

Since 1985 there have been broadcasts in private radio stations (participation in the cable pilot project in Ludwigshafen am Rhein and later in the whole of German-speaking Europe), later also on private television, e.g. B. has its own broadcasting channel from 2006 to 2008 (“UnsER Feierabend”) on Bibel TV . This was also followed by video offers on the Internet (life-tv.net). With CrossChannel.de, the ERF operated a Christian Internet radio for young people, which emerged in 2004 from the ERF youth program “Junge Welle”. This web radio was discontinued in 2014.

With the takeover of the Christian InterNet working group, the Internet became the third mainstay of the ERF. In 2008 the CINA became ERF online. All radio and television offers can be heard or viewed on the ERF website (www.erf.de). ERF online also provides other websites.

In 2009, the television offering was expanded into its own television channel ( ERF eins ), which could be received digitally via ASTRA and some cable operators. As of July 1, 2014, as part of a new TV strategy, the broadcast of the offer via ERF eins was discontinued. Since then, individual ERF TV productions have been broadcast in partnership with, among others, Bibel TV , and the digital TV media library and social media activities have been expanded. ERF programs were also broadcast via Das Vierte on weekdays.

On October 1, 2014, Jürgen Werth handed over the position of CEO to Jörg Dechert after 20 years .

financing

The financing is almost exclusively through donations from listeners, viewers, online users and friends with an annual income of 17.3 million euros (as of 2018). In addition, there has been an "ERF Foundation" since 2001 whose statutory purpose is to provide financial support to the station.

program

ERF radio

The ERF and its subsidiaries operate the following radio stations:

  • ERF Plus : see main article (with description of the web radios)
  • ERF Pop , a music-oriented internet radio for the 30 to 50 year old core target group (since April 2009)

The ERF mainly broadcasts its radio programs via the ASTRA satellites and in various federal states (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and parts of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) via cable. From the turn of the year 2012/2013, the program will no longer be fed into the analog cable radio in Hesse and in those parts of North Rhine-Westphalia where good reception via DAB + is guaranteed. The reception on the digital cable radio is also continued there. The stations are also broadcast on the Internet via live stream. There are podcast offers for selected broadcasts as well as for ERF Plus, ERF Pop and CrossChannel.de. The radio broadcasts from ERF Plus, ERF Pop and CrossChannel can also be heard over the phone.

Since August 2011, the ERF Plus radio program has also been broadcast via DAB +. The program is now broadcast both in the German federal mux and in German-speaking Switzerland. In addition, ERF Pop is broadcast via several regional state muxe.

ERF television

The ERF's television work began in the late 1970s, when internationally successful Christian children's films were dubbed and distributed. Broadcasting opportunities only arose with the first private television providers in the mid-1980s.

As a co-partner, ERF Fernsehen played a significant part of Bible TV's programming from 2006 to 2008. From 2009 to June 2014, ERF operated its own television channel via the Astra Digital satellite. Initially, on January 1st, 2009 the series UnsERFeierabend changed from Bibel TV to the new media platform ERF eins , from March 2009 a 24-hour program was available. Since July 1st, 2014 a new collaboration with Bible TV has started. In addition to the 24-hour program in the ERF livestream, the most popular programs are now broadcast via Bibel TV with a greater range.

ERF Online

The third pillar of the ERF work is ERF Online (formerly: Christian Internet Working Group, CINA) with more than 15 different offers. In addition, the radio program is available as a live stream and the entire television range is available. Databases with information on Christian communities, vacation and leisure time, job offers, etc. complete the offer. Together with other cooperation partners, including Bible societies and publishers, various Bible translations are made available on Bibleserver.com .

  • Logo of the Christian Internet Working Community, CINA (predecessor of ERF Online )

  • Logo of the ERF Online

See also

literature

  • Antenna - a bimonthly magazine of the ERF, including a program overview and other topics with a circulation of 120,000 copies (as of 2015)
  • Hanni Lützenbürger: ... but God's word is not bound. Gospel Broadcasting, Mission and Service. ERF, Wetzlar 1977

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The “media community” is growing. Jürgen Werth in an interview with Helmut Matthies. ead.de, October 22, 2009
  2. ↑ erf.de: Change of staff at ERF Medien
  3. ↑ On September 1, 2015, Thomas Woschnitzok succeeded Ulrich Rüsch as managing director on the ERF board. IdeaSpektrum 2015.33 / 34, p. 10.
  4. ↑ ERF Medien starts on August 1st via DAB +. Press release of April 22, 2011. Accessed April 23, 2011.
  5. ^ History of SCM-ERF-Verlag ( Memento from July 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 1, 2014
  6. ↑ ERF with a new TV strategy , erf.de
  7. ↑ ERF Medien with a new TV strategy. ERF press release, accessed April 1, 2014
  8. ↑ The ERF is repositioning itself , erf.de, interview from April 23, 2014.
  9. ↑ ERF Medien Deutschland draws a positive balance , Glaube.at, article from May 13, 2019.
  10. ↑ Presentation of the foundation on one page of the ERF
  11. ↑ Information from the ERF on financial donations through the ERF Foundation
  12. ↑ Distribution via digital radio is partially replacing analog cable transmission. ERF press release. December 7, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  13. ↑ https://www.erf.de/empfang/8628?reset=1#erfpop
  14. ↑ "UnsERFeierabend" from January on the new channel "ERF eins". erf.de, press release from October 20, 2008
  15. ↑ Overview of the TV programs from ERF Medien