Radio opa

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Radioropa is the name of several German-speaking private radio stations in the fields of information and culture. The broadcasting chain existed from 1990 to 2008. The last two broadcasters were Radioropa Berlin and Radioropa Eifel . The transmitter was operated by the receiver manufacturer TechniSat .

history

Radioropa info

The first private information radio started on the Day of German Unity, on October 3, 1990. The aim was to create a new genre of radio that would counteract both the entertaining music programs of the mid-1980s and the “announcer radio” of the public broadcasters . Radioropa info broadcast news every 15 minutes and special programs, mainly in the evening program. The media broadcasts in particular achieved great awareness and recognition in the industry. Initially the broadcast was from Daun an der Eifel , the location of the parent company TechniSat , which at that time also operated the StarSat music program . One tried to be receivable in as many ways as possible. At first it was only broadcast via satellite. This was followed by VHF frequencies in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony and the feed into cable supply throughout the Federal Republic of Germany. A medium wave transmitter from Berlin, long wave on 261 kHz and short wave broadcasts were added. In 1994/95 the long wave transmitter from Radioropa Info was silent because the transmitter rental was too high. Only after a new contract with the Deutsche Telekom was drafted, sent Radioropa info further on long wave. Various private broadcasters soon took over the main news; Radioropa shaped the radio world not only through its own niche existence, but also through broadcasting through other stations.

Radioropa information wave Saxony

From 1995 a twelve-person editorial team from Leipzig produced a regional version; in the rest of the time, the coat program from Daun was broadcast on the Saxon VHF frequencies. Soon after, production in Daun was given up and all activities relocated to Leipzig. The program did not change significantly. More emphasis has now been placed on European reporting, new collaborations with public services abroad established in Europe and the previous ones intensified.

Radio opa

On December 16, 1995, a major program reform was carried out in which the news broadcasts were reduced from four to two an hour. The word share sank from 70 to up to 50%. The basic pillar “information” was almost completely dissolved, and there were hardly any more contributions. Current events were only mentioned in moderation. As part of this, the company's own newsroom was merged with that of the private broadcaster Radio PSR .

Radioropa oldie.fm

In 1998 the pressure on the formatting of the program had become so strong that the PSR media group took over the frequencies and established Radioropa oldie.fm there . A music program with more or less detailed "information snacks" from Saxony. A year later, in 1999, "Radioropa" was deleted from the station name and broadcast under the name oldie.fm . Later it became R.SA .

Radioropa 261

The Radioropa team wanted to send on. The traditional long wave frequency of 261 kHz was used for this. For financial reasons, almost all of its own program parts were discontinued and mainly re-broadcasting was relocated. The programs broadcast consisted primarily of takeovers of German-speaking foreign channels . The cooperation with RFI and the BBC was particularly intensive. It was soon spread via the Internet and satellite again. The DAB digital distribution system was also used for a short time . Assuming that this would not prevail, Radioropa ended the DAB broadcast.

Temporary suspension

The State Media Authority of Saxony-Anhalt wanted to digitize the long-wave frequency 261 at the end of the 1990s. Digital operation, for which there were no receivers on the market at that time, would have meant the end for Radioropa 261. They looked for an effective and inexpensive solution and thought of a non-stop classic wave. The long-wave transmitter on 261 kHz was later switched off instead of digitized.

The broadcast continued until December 31, 2001. Since Radioropa Info could not finance itself from the listeners on longwave (and satellite radio ) alone , some FM frequencies were applied for at the end of the 1990s. After this was rejected, Radioropa Info, now under the name "Radioropa 2.6.1.", Was no longer able to hold its own and stopped broadcasting.

Radioropa Berlin

On August 1, 2005, at the start of the International Consumer Electronics Fair, a new attempt was made to establish the program. From now on, the TechniSat radio bouquet was broadcast digitally via satellite and - this was new - via DVB-T radio as part of a pilot project in Berlin and Potsdam. From August 25, 2006, it was distributed via the Internet.

In October 2006 and March 2007, there were two program offensives in which the program was transformed from an almost pure news channel to an information program with extensive magazines. Later there were always minor changes. Cooperations with TechniTippTV began: Studio 1 was also launched as a 50-part television series. In addition, an audio book show was produced with the Radioropa audio books.

From now on the daily program consisted of four news programs: Welt um Punkt, Europe at a quarter past, Germany at half past one and Berlin at a quarter to. In addition, reports and reports were sent in the first half hour, sports news and mainly reports from Europe in the second half hour. At night (from 0:00 to 05:00) the music night was broadcast with news every quarter of an hour. There were also many 25-minute magazine programs in the program, for example on federal politics or the environment.

Since June 2008 the magazine offer has been supplemented by the program "2: 1 - The Topics of the Week". The format was produced weekly by the two journalists Hans Schmalbach and Carsten Iversen. It was part of the broadcaster's last programming offensive. The format was based on the “Straight Talk” shows popular in the USA, in which plain language with personal coloring is spoken without too much consideration for political correctness.

Radioropa audio book

On July 1, 2005, the Radioropa audio book channel was launched within the Radioropa radio bouquet . Various audio books were sent, mainly from classical literature and audio book magazines with reviews and excerpts. Since the channel met with a good response and further audio books were produced, the audio book channels Radioropa Audiobook 2 and 3 were switched on on April 1, 2006. The existing channel was renamed Radioropa Hörbuch 1 and continued its well-known program. Radioropa Hörbuch 2 broadcasts detective stories and thrillers in its program. Radioropa Audiobook 3 specializes in economic and political literature. Radioropa audio book 1 was removed from the TechniSat radio package and the 3 channels were made into the Radioropa audio book package. The 3 channels were sent "free-to-air" until May 2006 so that all listeners could test the offer. From May 8th, audiobooks had their own price system. You could book all channels either individually or as a package. On March 1, 2006, a fourth audio book channel went into operation: Radioropa audio book 4. The channel plays children's and youth literature from 6 am to 9 pm. The rest of the time, one devotes himself to foreign language productions. The station broadcasted as a promotional campaign until April 2nd, after which it was included in the encrypted audio book package.

The name “Radioropa” is now being used again for audio books.

Radioropa Eifel

On June 1st, 2008, Radioropa Daun officially started. A regional version of the coat program from Berlin is broadcast in Daun via VHF. This differs through its own regional news and its own event tips.

The renewed end

On September 30, 2008, the Technisat group stopped all media activities. Radioropa Berlin, Radioropa Eifel, the Star * Sat pay radio stations and TechniTipp TV were switched off without comment. There was no special announcement or announcement in the program beforehand, only the song " My Way " was played on Radioropa as a farewell. The broadcast of the audio book channels had already ended a few months earlier. The Radioropa web streams no longer broadcast either. Technisat named in the Tagesspiegel economic reasons and a concentration on core competencies as a reason for the termination of media activities. According to Tagesspiegel , around 30 freelance and permanent employees in Berlin are affected by the cessation of broadcasting operations by Radioropa and Star * Sat.

Curiosities

For a long time, the station was referred to as a "long-term advertising station" because of the continuous advertisements for its shareholder TechniSat .

In the frequency tables of the satellite TV specialist magazine TeleSatellit , Radioropa Info was ignored for years or only listed as a "modulation test". The background to this was the rivalry between the TeleSatellit publisher and TechniSat, as well as their “house sheet” InfoSat .

After several complaints from Radioropa, the TeleSatellit editorial team finally changed the entry about Radioropa Info as follows:

Program name: Radio Opa
Program type: Retirement program
Language: categorical.

This triggered a legal dispute between Radioropa and TeleSatellit, as a result of which a complete issue of TeleSatellit was withdrawn from trading following a court order.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the audio book network portal .
  2. ↑ "We are definitely not setting up any more radio stations" , in: Tagesspiegel , October 5, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Berliner Sender Radioropa stops operating" , in: Tagesspiegel , October 1, 2008.