hr-info

hr-iNFO
Radio station ( public service )
Program type	News channel
reception	analogue terrestrial , cable , satellite , DAB & web radio
Reception area	Hesse
Start of transmission	August 30, 2004
Broadcaster	Hessian radio
Intendant	Manfred Krupp
Program director	Eberhard Nembach, Anke Knafla, Dirk Emig and Ulli Janovsky
List of radio stations
Website

hr-iNFO is the radio information program of the Hessischer Rundfunk . It broadcasts under the slogan “Whoever hears it has more to say” (formerly: “hr iNFO - radio in plain text” or “Knowing what is important”).

hr-iNFO has a wide range of content. The word-only program offers news, background information and opinion pieces from the fields of politics, business, education and culture. Exclusively researched program content is also prepared for other information offered by the Hessischer Rundfunk. In relation to the hr broadcasting area, hr-iNFO has had the largest daily range of all information radio programs on ARD since 2017 (Monday to Sunday, 5 a.m. to midnight, listeners aged 14 and over).

history

The program emerged from the business radio hr-skyline . After hr-skyline had moved from the studios in Frankfurt's Main Tower to the Funkhaus am Dornbusch , in 2004 the expansion into the “full-fledged” information radio hr-iNFO , which went into operation on August 30, 2004, began. Since then it has continuously increased the number of listeners and expanded its range of programs to include science, education and culture.

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  Logo 2004 to 2009

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  Logo from 2009 to 2015

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  Logo from 2015

program

hr-iNFO Studio

The basic idea is to produce a pure word program without music. Instead of broadcasts, hr-iNFO therefore had a so-called "hour clock" from the start, a scheme for dividing up the hour that ensures that topics can be found within one broadcast hour. Advertising is also broadcast at fixed program positions.

Hour clock for the current program

Monday to Friday between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.:

• xx: 00h News, weather, traffic
• 

  hr-iNFO Studio
  

  hr-iNFO editorial team
  xx: 05h Current reports / interviews
• xx: 3 p.m. Stock market news (6 a.m. - 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.)
• xx: 20h News, weather, traffic
• xx: 25h Current reports / interviews
• xx: 40h News, weather, traffic
• xx: 45h Current reports / interviews

• The station has been using the 30-minute scheme (previously: 20-minute scheme) since the beginning of the 2020 Corona pendency, because it is assumed that after about 30 minutes the audience has completely changed - especially in the morning in which most important time for radio makers. The reverse conclusion for information radio is that the listener should find out everything important in 20 to 30 minutes. This inevitably leads to the fact that hr-iNFO often repeats many contributions, like other information radio stations. However, the program does not see itself as a pure news radio - listeners who want to should be able to listen for longer, especially since the experience of other info radios has shown that many listeners listen for much longer than 30 minutes. hr-iNFO is intended to provide comprehensive and quick information about current events. Major events and sporting events in particular are therefore taken into account in the program planning. In addition, from Monday to Friday during the high-reach morning and afternoon rush hour, hr-info sets its own focus ("The Topic"), some of which are planned long-term in advance, in which a socially relevant topic is examined from different perspectives in four contributions.

• The evening program from 8 p.m. has started since the program reform in July 2009 with the takeover of the ARD Tagesschau . This is followed on weekdays by a fifteen-minute review of the day's political events in Hesse (a report on Saturdays and Sundays) and then a 30-minute program schedule with news every full and half hour. At 9:05 p.m., current news will be broadcast as a review of the day, followed by pre-produced magazine broadcasts focusing on the areas of politics, culture, education and science. Between May 22nd and 11pm the background program “ Der Tag ” will be repeated in full by hr2-kultur .

• At the weekend, too, the program consists of a 30-minute program schedule with news on the full and half-hour and 25-minute, pre-produced magazine programs with a focus on topics and the like. a. from the fields of politics, economy, labor and social affairs, culture, education and science, media and information technology. The majority of these magazines are also available as podcasts . From 9:05, 12:05, 15:05, 18:05 and 21:05, there will be live broadcasts on current topics from politics and sport.

• In January 2014, the hr education program, which had previously been anchored in hr2-kultur for decades - the series knowledgeable (from the 1950s to the 1980s: "Schulfunk") and Funkkolleg (since 1966) - was added to the weekend and evening program of hr -inFO integrated.

• From midnight to 6 a.m. until the end of 2009, hr-iNFO took over the night program from MDR Info . The ARD night concert was broadcast from January 2010 to March 2011 . Since April 2, 2011, hr-iNFO has joined the ARD info night , again produced by MDR Info, at 11 p.m .; Due to the changed production conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic , hr-info has been taking over the ARD information night from 9 p.m. since March 2020.

RDS

Like all Hessischer Rundfunk stations , hr-iNFO also uses the RDS function of the dynamic RDS-PS and usually sends the station name and telephone numbers (e.g. traffic jam hotline) or information.

reception

Since the shutdown of the HR's medium wave transmitter, hr-iNFO can mainly be received via VHF , although there are gaps in coverage for historical reasons; reception is largely limited to the metropolitan areas. In February 2013, some frequencies of the cultural program hr2-kultur were transmitted to the information wave hr-iNFO and YOU FM without prior notice . The private broadcaster Hit Radio FFH spoke of "sleight of hand with the HR to get a technical advantage" and demanded a legal examination of the surprising frequency change.

In addition, the program can also be heard via DVB-S , and in large parts of Germany also via DVB-C .

The program is also broadcast digitally across Hesse using the DAB + standard.

Since January 1, 2005 there has also been an internet live stream. In addition, the program is fed into the cable networks.

Range

The initially comparatively poor frequency configuration was one of the reasons why hr-iNFO had a relatively small audience compared to the other information radio stations of the ARD. In autumn 2010 the media analysis showed that hr-iNFO was tuned into an average of 27,000 listeners per hour - Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. - and two years later the figure was 44,000. With the allocation of frequencies on which the hr2-kultur program had previously been received for a very long time, the technical range of hr-iNFO was increased in February 2013. The media analysis from autumn 2014 showed an increase in the number of users to 54,000 listeners per hour.

After a change in the measurement methodology, which restricts a direct comparison with previous surveys, 46,000 listeners per hour were named in July 2015, 54,000 listeners in March 2017, an increase to 59,000 listeners in July 2017 and the largest reach so far in March 2018 measured with 65,000 listeners per hour (Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

hr-info plus (discontinued)

Hr-info plus (also: hr-info + ) was broadcast on the medium wave frequency of 594 kHz and via individual cable and satellite channels ( DVB-S ) ; That meant above all: from Monday to Saturday from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. instead of the normal hr-iNFO program, the foreign-language broadcasts of the ARD could be heard. In addition, the Plus program occasionally switched itself on to debates in the Bundestag and Landtag as well as special programs on events in contemporary history.

The Plus program arose from the hr-chronos program , in which the foreigner programs and debates could also be heard until it was discontinued. hr-info plus was discontinued on December 31, 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ARD radio statistics 2017
2. ↑ Tom Sprenger: hr dedicates hr2 frequencies for YOU FM and hr-iNFO ( Memento from December 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) . In: radiowoche.de. February 11, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
3. ↑ hr-iNFO now throughout Hesse . HR press release of February 14, 2013. Last accessed on May 15, 2018.
4. ↑ Controversial change: Hessischer Rundfunk is now broadcasting You FM on hr2 frequencies . In: Journal Frankfurt. February 12, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
5. ↑ Media Analysis Hessen, 2010–2014. On: radioberatung.de
6. ^ Media Analysis Hessen, 2010–2015. On: radioberatung.de
7. ↑ ma 2016 Radio II update
8. ↑ Media analysis 2017 Radio II: HR programs with high relevance. ( Memento from August 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) On: hr-werbung.de from July 11, 2017
9. ↑ New media analysis published today. As of March 28, 2018
10. ↑ "HR will switch off medium wave at the end of the year" , HR press release of December 28, 2009.