Peter Rüchel

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Peter Rüchel (born March 9, 1937 in Berlin ; † February 20, 2019 in Leverkusen ) was a German music journalist and founder of the WDR broadcast Rockpalast , which held concerts by national and international bands and solo concerts from 1977 to 1986 under the name Rockpalast Nacht 17 -Artists produced and broadcast as direct broadcast on German television.

Life

Rüchel was born in Berlin in 1937 as the son of a violinist (the father was the leader of the Rüchel Quartet before the war ) and a teacher. He grew up in West Berlin and attended a humanistic grammar school with Latin, Greek, classical music, literature and theater.

At the age of 16 he went to Minneapolis , Minnesota as an exchange student for a year .

After graduating from high school , he studied German and philosophy . In 1968 he applied to the Sender Free Berlin . Rüchel worked there on the SF Beat program until 1970 . A little later, the young editor was discovered by ZDF . In 1970 the Mainz team brought him for their first real youth program Direkt . In 1974, Peter Rüchel met Hans-Geert Falkenberg , who was then head of the WDR culture department, at a television award ceremony for Direkt . A short time later, Rüchel took over the position of the new head of the WDR youth program. In Cologne, Peter Rüchel met a student at the Munich Film School , Christian Wagner, with whom he subsequently worked and who introduced him to the world of rock music .

Wagner and Rüchel invented the Rockpalast . Already in 1975 the WDR broadcast 13 concert recordings.

At the beginning of 1976 a weekly, half-hour youth program started at WDR. Once a month there was also live music under the title Rockpalast . As part of these programs, Rüchel and Wagner became aware of later world stars at an early stage. For example U2 , who made their Rockpalast debut in Berlin's Metropol on November 4, 1981 in front of 350 listeners, Tom Petty (June 14, 1977), Meat Loaf and Mink DeVille (both in June 1978), Dire Straits (February 1979) and REM , which appeared in 1985 in the Bochum colliery in front of 280 paying spectators.

The Rockpalast quickly became an insider tip in the scene . Rüchel soon brought in Alan Bangs and Albrecht Metzger to present the Rockpalast .

On July 23, 1977, the legendary first Rockpalast Night with Roger McGuinn's Thunderbyrd , Rory Gallagher and Little Feat took place in the Grugahalle in Essen . Since then, two rock nights have taken place every year, which were broadcast synchronously on the radio in hi-fi quality. Despite their cult status, however, the concerts never earned ratings. Even spectacular rock nights like The Who in 1981 or a 1976 concert recording of the Rolling Stones in Paris achieved just five percent audience participation. The disastrous result of Rocknacht on October 19, 1985, when The Armory Show , Squeeze , Rodgau Monotones and Ruben Blades only attracted 3,000 viewers to the Grugahalle (Rüchel: “My most depressing moment!”), Sealed the end of the show - the Rockpalast was discontinued in 1986.

Only in 1995 did the Rockpalast return to the program. They were looking for ways to bridge the night hours cheaply, so concerts from the Rockpalast archive were broadcast. After overwhelming audience reactions, Rüchel cautiously began to set up his own productions again. The first Loreley Festival was still a flop in 1995, but the following year the festival was a complete success with David Bowie , Pulp and Iggy Pop, among others . Since then, the annual Loreley and Bizarre festivals have been reliable fixtures in the program. The same was true for the rock nights in the Düsseldorf Philipshalle .

Over the years, Rüchel has made friends with some of the greats of the scene, such as Pete Townshend , whom he met for the first time in 1981 in London, and Little Steven .

In 2003, Peter Rüchel adopted at the Rock am Ring Festival from the active region of the shipment, but remained the Rockpalast continue as a consultant and editor of the Rockpalast - DVD series faithful.

In recent years, the native of Berlin lived with his family in the Leverkusen district of Wiesdorf . Peter Rüchel died after a serious illness at the age of 81. and was buried on March 12, 2019 in the cemetery of St. Annen Church in Berlin-Dahlem.

Appreciation

“From the second half of the 1970s, Peter Rüchel completed with the Rockpalast what Mike Leckebusch had initiated during the Beat Club's brief heyday from 1969 to 1972 and was not allowed to continue due to commercial pressure. Together with his congenial director Christian Wagner, the editor Rüchel established a globally respected form of television at WDR in order to reconcile rock music played live with this medium. For many years it was the most successful broadcast in Europe when it came to turning rock up close, uncensored and hand-made into an unforgettable TV experience for millions. I am happy and honored to have been part of it. Peter Rüchel is one of the great educators of my generation. "

- Heinz Rudolf Kunze (September 2010)

Biographical

  • Rockpalast - Peter Rüchel's memories. With photos by Manfred Becker. Edel, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-941376-06-9 .
  • WDR history (s) - A journey through time in 14 interviews: Peter Rüchel. A film by Klaus Michael Heinz . WDR television, October 13, 2018, 60 min. WDR media library unlimited.

Varia

  • In September 2019, Leonardo Colombati's book " Bruce Springsteen - Like a Killer in the Sun" was published as a German first edition, for which Heinz Rudolf Kunze translated the 101 Springsteen lyrics into German. Kunze dedicated these broadcasts to his late friend Peter Rüchel, WDR editor and inventor and maker of the Rockpalast : "He was the first one who drew my attention to Springsteen decades ago, and one of the most important teachers of my life".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Peter Rüchel father of the WDR “Rockpalast” is dead. In: ksta.de. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , February 20, 2019, accessed on February 20, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Heinz Rudolf Kunze: Comment , accessed on February 22, 2019
  3. ↑ https://www.reclam.de/detail/978-3-15-011218-2/Colombati__Leonardo/Bruce_Springsteen_____Like_a_Killer_in_the_Sun - accessed on September 6, 2019
  4. ↑ http://d-nb.info/1184611378 , page 858
personal data
SURNAME Rüchel, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German television journalist and founder of the Rockpalast
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 20th February 2019
Place of death Leverkusen