Broadcasting of the GDR (regional programs)

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The radio in the Soviet occupation zone and in the GDR , but also after German reunification in the five new states and in East Berlin existed as a legal entity from May 1945 to December 1991. Despite its centralized structure, this radio maintained a tight network of regional networks Broadcasting houses and studios outside East Berlin. These broadcasting houses and studios realized productions of regional and central programs and broadcasts.

Broadcasting in the Soviet occupation zone / GDR from 1945 to 1952

After the Second World War and the collapse of National Socialist radio, German anti-fascists under the leadership of KPD functionaries began to set up a radio system for the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) on the orders of the Soviet occupying power .

Broadcasting structure in the Soviet Zone / GDR from 1945 to 1952

The broadcasting system in the Soviet Zone / GDR had the following structure from 1945 to 1952:

Berliner Rundfunk (as a control station for all transmitters in the Soviet occupation zone and as a control station for Berlin , Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ; broadcasting start: May 13, 1945 - as of May 22, 1945 as Berliner Rundfunk)

  • State transmitter Schwerin (for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; start of broadcast: December 24, 1945)
- Rostock studio
  • State transmitter Potsdam (for Brandenburg; start of broadcast: June 22, 1946)
  • Studio Cottbus (for the Cottbus region ; start of broadcast: around 1948/49)

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (for Saxony , Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt ; seat: Leipzig ; start of broadcasting: September 15, 1945, operating as Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk from November 1945 and broadcasting from the Berlin radio house until a building that was converted into a radio house on June 4, 1946)

  • State transmitter Dresden (for Saxony; start of broadcast: December 7, 1945)
- Studio Chemnitz
  • Landessender Weimar (for Thuringia; start of broadcast: January 1, 1946 after trial broadcasts from November 1945)
- Studio Erfurt
  • State transmitter Halle (for Saxony-Anhalt, broadcast start: December 24, 1946)
- Studio Magdeburg

Deutschlandsender (for all of Germany; seat: Berlin; broadcast start: May 1, 1949)

The Berliner Rundfunk and the Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk worked in their respective broadcasting area as a broadcasting chain, with the state broadcasters creating regional window programs - embedded in the program structure of the respective leading broadcaster (Berliner Rundfunk or Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk). In the course of the further development of broadcasting structures, the broadcasting officers and the corresponding offices in the federal states gradually installed the above-mentioned regional studios, each with a supplier function for the broadcasting houses in Berlin and Leipzig or the regional broadcasters. From around 1948/49 onwards, the Cottbus studio was the only studio to broadcast its own regional broadcasts via wired radio, also embedded in the Berliner Rundfunk program.

The Deutschlandsender was subordinate to the directorship of the Berliner Rundfunk, but had its own editor-in-chief. In any case, the Berliner Rundfunk functioned as a control station for all broadcasting houses and studios in the Soviet Zone / GDR until 1952.

Production profile and volume of the national broadcasters

The daily program volume of a national broadcaster was usually around three to four regional windows, spread over the day for a total of around three to four hours. The production profile included business, cultural and sports programs, music and entertainment, programs for resettlers and returnees as well as dialect programs . The productions of classical or folk music and radio plays took up a large space.

In addition to the regional broadcasts in German, the state broadcaster Dresden of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk broadcast a 15-minute, later 20-minute broadcast in Upper Sorbian every 14 days from Sunday, December 14, 1948 . In 1950, the state broadcaster Potsdam of the Berliner Rundfunk followed with broadcasts in Lower Sorbian from the Cottbus studio.

Directorship

The highest authority was the general director for democratic broadcasting , responsible for all broadcasting stations and their respective broadcasting chains with the associated national broadcasters and the regional studios. Thus, in spite of the considerable production volume of the broadcasting houses and studios in the federal states and the influence of the KPD / SED in the state administrations, radio in the Soviet occupation zone and in the early GDR did not have a federal structure until 1952, but was - as after 1952 - a central one Broadcasting system with a general manager in Berlin. Neither of these broadcasting houses or studios operated under public law and neither of the two broadcasting chains was a separate legal entity .

Broadcasting in the GDR from 1952 to 1964

With the dissolution of the states and the establishment of fifteen districts - including East Berlin - as administrative units in 1952, broadcasting in the GDR was restructured.

Formation of the State Broadcasting Committee in 1952

The newly formed State Broadcasting Committee (SRK), to which the special directorate of the Berlin Television Center belonged, was officially subordinate to the GDR Council of Ministers , but was primarily guided and controlled by the SED Central Committee. This State Broadcasting Committee (SRK) concentrated the largest part of the production potential in Berlin from 1952, produced and broadcast three central programs (Berlin I, II and III) there from September 1, 1952, mainly from the new radio house in Nalepastrasse in Berlin-Oberschöneweide , but also from the Funkhaus in Berlin-Grünau . Only in the Funkhaus Leipzig did part of the central editorial, production and administration potential remain.

The broadcasting houses and studios in the previous countries were now district studios, only with a supplier function for the central programs produced in Berlin or partly in Leipzig. In district towns in which there were no radio studios yet, the broadcasting committee set up such studios, for example in Suhl , Gera , Frankfurt (Oder) and Neubrandenburg .

The Funkhaus Weimar served as a radio school from 1952 to 1955. The Erfurt studio was responsible for production and broadcasting operations during this time.

With the restructuring of the GDR radio, a Sorbian editorial office began its work in the Funkhaus Berlin in the summer of 1952 . The editor coordinated the bi-weekly Sorbian 20 minutes from Berlin, which were recorded in Lausitz, finalized in the Dresden studio, transferred to Berlin and broadcast from there.

The 1950s - a time of experimentation

The new central programs did not meet with the expected response from the audience. The reasons for this were too little entertainment and music, a lack of coordination between the programs, but also limited reception options due to frequency redistributions , which led to massive criticism that was openly articulated in the GDR press. This and certainly also the events around June 17, 1953 forced the GDR radio in the summer of 1953 to restructure the radio programs. As a result, the Berlin II program operated again as Germany's broadcaster. The two remaining programs offered the listener significantly more music and entertainment, and their district studios again created regional windows .

This means that three studios each shared half a regional hour of broadcasting time on frequencies from Berlin I, II (Germany's broadcaster) and III and broadcast on these alternately. One studio acted as the lead studio. The affiliated studios transferred their programs to the master studio, which broadcast the programs.

  • Schwerin = Rostock - Neubrandenburg
  • Potsdam = Cottbus - Frankfurt
  • Dresden = Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) - Görlitz ( Sorbian )
  • Erfurt = Gera - Suhl
  • Leipzig = Halle - Magdeburg

The following years were a time of experimentation, both for the central and even more so for the regional programs - with regard to the frequencies, the transmission times and the respective broadcasting network of the regional programs. In 1955/56, for example, the GDR radio returned to the system of radio stations existing side by side with their own names and directors ( Berliner Rundfunk , Radio DDR and Deutschlandsender ). The larger district studios were again broadcast houses, which in turn were affiliated with smaller studios and formed a broadcast network. From the beginning of 1956, radio houses and studios were subordinate to Radio GDR and were integrated into its program structure. Potsdam and Frankfurt were assigned to the Berlin radio from 1958 to 1970.

The production profile of the broadcasting houses and studios included regional programs on business, culture, education, agriculture and sport, classical and folk music, service and entertainment. The production and broadcast volume rose steadily in the 1950s.

From March 1953, the Sorbian editorial team was producing in the Görlitz studio and broadcasting its programs from there via the Dresden master studio. At that time the program was 70 minutes a week. At the end of 1954, the weekly production volume was three programs with a total of 90 minutes of first airing.

In January 1957, the Sorbian editorial team moved from Görlitz to Cottbus and took up their work in the local radio house as the Sorbian editorial staff of the radio station Cottbus of Radio DDR.

Frequent changing of the broadcasting slots and frequency shifts, however, prevented continuity in broadcasting and a satisfactory reception of the Sorbian-language broadcasts.

In addition to the transmission technology, the studio technology also belonged to Deutsche Post from 1956, without any real benefit being recognized - on the contrary, because the administrative effort increased considerably.

As a result of the experimental years, the GDR radio showed the following structure at the end of the 1950s:

Berlin radio
  • Berliner Rundfunk (entertainment and politics from and for East Berlin and the rest of the GDR)
  • Berliner Welle (entertainment and politics for West Berlin)
  • Regional programs and contributions from the Funkhaus Potsdam and the Studio Frankfurt (Oder) in both programs
Radio DDR
  • Regional programs from the district broadcasting houses and studios (from 1958 to 1970 except Potsdam and Frankfurt)

Deutschlandsender (program for all of Germany)

Radio Berlin International (broadcasts for foreign countries in various languages)

This created a radio structure in the GDR that was to last essentially until the end of the GDR.

The television center Berlin had begun its trial shipments to one-year test program on 21 December 1952, declared the period with effect from 3 January 1956 for completed and sent under the name of German television broadcasting .

Regional programs in the late 1950s and early 1960s

Since Radio DDR II only used its VHF network from 7:00 p.m. and later from 6:00 p.m. for its own broadcasts, Radio DDR I broadcast its programs over this network during the day. The broadcasting houses and studios in the districts - some of which were combined in a broadcasting network - integrated their regional windows into the program structure of Radio DDR I. They broadcast at different times over the day on frequencies of Radio DDR II - until they were fully expanded of the VHF network also on radio DDR-I frequencies. On the program day, Monday, December 28, 1959, the Funkhaus Leipzig broadcast three regional windows with a total broadcast time of 4 hours and 55 minutes, while the Studio Suhl only broadcast one window of 5 minutes within the Weimar regional program. Karl-Marx-Stadt, Gera and Halle did not broadcast at all that day.

The Potsdam broadcaster - with the Frankfurt / Oder studio assigned to the Berliner Rundfunk from 1958 to 1970 - broadcast a program of 1 hour and 10 minutes in the central morning program of the Berliner Rundfunk and 2 hours a regional window on Monday, December 28, 1959 for the Potsdam district in the afternoon program of Berliner Welle . Frankfurt (Oder) did not broadcast at all.

Regular or sporadic broadcasts in the central morning and evening programs were added to the broadcasting houses and studios. In addition, from 1959 to 1961, the district radio houses alternately designed the central GDR radio night program from 1:00 a.m. to 3:45 a.m.

The Rostock studio was an independent broadcasting company from February 1959, which was no longer under the control of the Schwerin broadcasting company, and began broadcasting in May of the same year. Schwerin and Neubrandenburg now alone formed a broadcast network.

Frequent frequency changes were unfavorable for the accessibility of the listeners and their consumption of the regional programs. In some parts, a broadcasting network broadcast its regional windows alternately over two different frequencies. In addition, it was not possible for many listeners to receive the programs broadcast via VHF because the GDR retailers did not yet offer radio sets with an FM receiver in sufficient quantities or these receivers were relatively expensive and therefore still unaffordable for many.

From January 1963, all radio houses and studios subordinate to Radio DDR broadcast their daily regional programs uniformly on Radio DDR II frequencies: Mondays to Saturdays from 6:00 p.m. to 6:55 p.m. and Sundays from 7:10 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. - except Rostock and Cottbus all in one broadcast network.

In March 1963, the GDR radio in Bautzen opened a radio studio with transfer options to the Cottbus radio station. The studio was primarily used to produce programs in Upper Sorbian.

In terms of technical equipment, the district broadcasting houses lagged far behind the Berlin broadcasting house - the district studios even more. The Funkhaus Leipzig was an exception, later also the Funkhaus Rostock.

The GDR propaganda transmitter Deutscher Freiheitsender 904 and the German soldierenderender 935 were not officially part of the GDR radio.

Regional programs from 1964 to 1983

The 1960s and 1970s were years in which GDR broadcasting achieved continuity in regional broadcasting, which was accompanied by a gradual increase in regional offers.

Uniform regional offers from 1964

After twelve years of experimentation, in June 1964 the regional programs were again restructured, which should ultimately lead to continuity in terms of frequencies, broadcast times and broadcast networks. Listener research had shown that the audience ratings were highest in the early hours of the morning and in the morning. On average, most GDR residents listened to the radio for around 40 minutes in the morning. This prompted the GDR broadcasting officers to broadcast six regional programs from 6:05 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on the frequencies of Radio DDR II - all except Rostock and Cottbus in a broadcasting network in which one or more studios were assigned to a broadcasting house Studio Neubrandenburg was the first studio to broadcast its own regional window from 6:05 a.m. to 7:57 a.m. within a broadcast network.

Radio DDR broadcast the following regional programs:

Neubrandenburg
  • Cottbus (with Studio Bautzen )
  • Dresden - Karl-Marx-Stadt
  • Weimar (with office in Erfurt) - Gera - Suhl
  • Leipzig - Halle - Magdeburg

In its regional program, the Cottbus broadcaster broadcast Sorbian-language programs - on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. In addition, there were regular two-hour programs on Sunday afternoons outside of the regular regional program on local frequencies.

The transmitter Potsdam and the Studio Frankfurt (Oder) belonged to the Berliner Rundfunk until 1970 and broadcast on its frequencies - Potsdam on weekdays from 6:05 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. and from 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. , Frankfurt from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. - later at other times, but as the only district station not in the early hours of the morning.

With the incorporation of the Potsdam radio house and the Frankfurt (Oder) studio into the directorship of Radio DDR in 1970, however, both stations did not form a broadcast network, as the Potsdam transmitter broadcast on medium-wave frequencies and was integrated into the program structure of Radio DDR I. Studio Frankfurt broadcast its programs via ultra-short waves - embedded in the program structure of Radio DDR II.

Increase in regional offers

In the 1960s, the GDR broadcasting began with a gradual increase in regional offers. Many studios broadcast a one-hour regional window within the respective broadcasting network. The transmission time of these regional windows was to increase to three hours each by 1978.

From the end of the 1960s, regional programs began to broadcast one hour earlier at 5:05 a.m.

Production profile of the broadcasting houses and studios

Over the years, the regional programs of the broadcasting houses and studios consisted of a two-hour, later three-hour morning magazine. This was usually followed by greetings and wishes, as well as a music program or a service magazine, reports or programs on local history and the like. Ä. The broadcasting houses and studios usually broadcast the last-mentioned programs between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. in a broadcast network.

In addition, there were music and radio play productions as well as book readings in many broadcasting houses and studios.

Central news came from the main news department in the Berliner Funkhaus, regional news from the broadcasters and the studios.

For the central programs, the broadcasting houses and studios realized regular deliveries in the form of transfers or live broadcasts.

From the 1960s, the broadcasters Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar and Schwerin organized a five-hour evening with a lot of classical music and reports from the cultural and intellectual life of the respective district on Tuesdays in the evening program of Radio DDR II.

Other regularly centrally broadcast programs from the broadcasting houses and studios were at the evening hour with folk music in the previous evening and today from the transmitter / studio ... in the night program of Radio DDR I.

The Rostock broadcaster broadcast a sailors' greeting and wish program fortnightly in the night from Saturday to Sunday from 0:05 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. , which was also delayed over short and long wave frequencies from Radio Berlin International or the German broadcaster ( trading as the voice of the GDR from 1971 ) came on the air, so that this broadcast could be received in many parts of the world.

The Funkhaus Leipzig broadcast the Pedagogical Consultation Hours on Saturdays from 11:20 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. , the broadcasting time of which was gradually extended and from December 1987 was broadcast every fortnight from 10:07 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.

Another area of ​​responsibility since the late 1940s was the practical training, guidance and support of the corporate radio editors in the corporate radio studios of the larger operations in the Soviet Zone / GDR.

Special programs

The Rostock station broadcasted the "Radio DDR" holiday wave from 1967 in the summer months (May 1st to the last Sunday in September) - an entertaining service program for vacationers and residents on the Baltic coast.

Broadcasting times for the "Radio DDR" holiday wave were generally 5:05 am to 8:00 pm Monday to Friday, 6:05 am to 2:00 pm on Saturdays and 6:05 am to 4:30 pm on Sundays.

The holiday wave should develop into one of the most popular radio programs on the GDR radio.

It was similar with the "Radio DDR" fair wave of the station Leipzig. From March 1971 onwards, it broadcast a service program for trade fair guests - but only twice a year during the trade fair for around a week from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Reception of the regional programs

It turned out to be unfavorable for the reception of the regional programs that two radio programs had to share a frequency on the allocated frequencies that had nothing in common with each other in terms of the program mandate and its design. The regional programs were familiar, close to home and entertaining, while Radio DDR II was a cultural and educational channel with a lot of classical and serious music as well as a high proportion of verbal contributions, so that after switching to the central program at 10:00 there was always a style break. or the listener switched to another wave and back again the next day.

The exclusive broadcasting on VHF and the low level of equipment in GDR households with VHF radio receivers in the 1960s and in some cases still in the 1970s also had a negative effect on the reception of regional programs.

Regional programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s

Regional program station (1979)

By the end of 1978, Radio DDR had created a structure of 11 regional offers, in which four studios broadcast window programs in a network with a broadcasting company, two of which alternated between two studios. The broadcasting houses broadcast five hours a day, the studios three hours, the Rostock transmitter 15 hours from May to September, which corresponds to an average weekly broadcast time of 51 hours. On weekends, the broadcasting network's broadcasters usually broadcast the regional program from 6:05 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.:

Neubrandenburg
  • Potsdam
  • Frankfurt ("Oderwelle")
Karl Marx City
  • Weimar (with office in Erfurt) - Gera - Suhl
  • Leipzig
Halle / Magdeburg ("Elbe-Saale-Welle")

Regional radio in the 1980s

The regional structure at Radio GDR that had developed up to 1978 existed until the beginning of the 1980s. Then the GDR radio began to expand the regional programs in the long term.

Increase in regional offers

The expansion plans for the regional programs meant that from 1984 onwards some broadcasting houses and studios broadcast their regional programs as early as 4:05 a.m. and some studios also broadcast a program on Saturdays.

Little by little, the broadcasting houses began to expand their programs by three hours to 1:00 p.m. - the studios by two hours to 10:00 a.m. Leipzig stayed at the broadcast time until 10:00 a.m., but with an early program that was brought forward by one hour, it broadcast a two-hour early evening magazine from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Potsdam had already started broadcasting its regional program on ultra-short waves in 1983 - just like Cottbus with Bautzen the two-hour Sunday afternoon programs in Upper Sorbian, which had previously been broadcast every four weeks via medium wave. In addition, the broadcasting time of the Bautzen Sunday magazine increased to two and a half hours and it was now broadcast weekly.

In some cases, the extended regional programs are also broadcast over frequencies of the youth radio DT 64 , which is currently being developed and which did not begin its daily program until 1:00 p.m., so the break in style when switching to the central program on this frequency was less sharp than with Listening to a frequency from Radio DDR II, the cultural and educational program.

Regional programs from December 1987

By December 1987, the planned expansion of the regional programs was largely completed. The broadcasting houses and studios were no longer subject to Radio GDR, but had a kind of directorship in Berlin. The broadcasting houses broadcast on the frequencies of Radio DDR II, the start of which had been postponed to 1:00 p.m., and partly on frequencies of the youth radio DT 64, which was developed into a full program, from 4: 05/5: 05 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Studios - they called themselves transmitters now - from 4: 05/5: 05 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Leipzig and later Rostock in its winter program also broadcast a regional window from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. All former studios were part of a broadcasting network with a larger broadcasting house, which means that Potsdam and Frankfurt (Oder) now also formed a broadcasting network. The studios now operating as broadcasters also broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays.

The weekday transmission time for all 11 regional programs was 87 hours.

By 1989/90, the regional programs were to develop again in such a way that Halle and Magdeburg broadcast separately from January 1989 and the Studio Bautzen, located in the House of the Sorbs, from October 1989 a one-and-a-half-hour - later extended to three hours - morning magazine in Sorbian from Monday to Friday radiated.

  • Rostock
  • Schwerin
Neubrandenburg
  • Potsdam
Frankfurt (Oder)
  • cottbus
Bautzen (Sorbian)
  • Dresden
Karl Marx City
  • Weimar (with office in Erfurt) - Gera - Suhl
  • Leipzig
Hall
Magdeburg

This increased the weekly transmission time of the now 13 regional programs to 95 hours. On Saturdays, the GDR radio broadcast 12 regional programs with a broadcast time of around 68 hours and on Sundays around 64 hours from 11 district broadcasting houses and studios.

  • Broadcast times:
Rostock = October to April - Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. May to September - Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 8 p.m., Sat .: 6:05 a.m. - 2 p.m., Sun .: 6:05 a.m. - 4.30 p.m. (May - September)
Schwerin = Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Neubrandenburg = Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., Sa .: 6:05 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Potsdam = Wt .: 4:05 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Frankfurt (Oder) = Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Cottbus = Wt .: 4:05 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Bautzen (Sorbian) = Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
Dresden = Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Karl-Marx-Stadt = Wt .: 5:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., Sat / Sun: 6:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Weimar (with office in Erfurt) - Gera - Suhl = Wt .: 4:05 a.m. - 1 p.m., Sa./Sun .: 6:05 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Leipzig = Wt .: 4:05 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 7 p.m., Sa./Sun .: 6:05 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Hall = Wt .: 4:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., Sat .: 6:05 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., Sun .: 6:05 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Magdeburg = Wt: 4:05 a.m. - 9:00 a.m., Sa./Sun .: 6:05 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Response to the new regional offers

The new regional programs showed a positive effect on listener behavior. The regional stations were able to attract new listeners with their new offers. The central programs lost out in terms of audience ratings, which was certainly due, among other things, to the meanwhile increased level of FM radio receivers and partly broadcasting on the frequencies of youth radio DT 64 .

Time of political upheaval and after reunification

The time of the turnaround and peaceful revolution was characterized in all GDR districts by the endeavor to reorganize the entire editorial and technical production potential of radio and television in order to set up independent radio systems at the state level, independent of the headquarters in Berlin.

In terms of demography alone, this was not economically feasible at all. For example, unrealistic four programs were planned for the future sparsely populated state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The emergence of state programs

In view of the expected re-establishment of the state of Brandenburg, Potsdam, Frankfurt and Cottbus discontinued their regional programs in March 1990 and created a joint service wave as a full program under the name of Antenne Brandenburg in the broadcasting network .

The other broadcasting houses and studios followed this example, so that in the summer of 1990 the following regional structure existed:

  • Antenne Brandenburg (Potsdam - Frankfurt - Cottbus with temporary regional offers)
  • Radio Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Rostock - Schwerin - Neubrandenburg)
RMV 1 (with temporary regional offers from Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg)
RMV holiday wave
  • Saxony Radio (Dresden - Leipzig - Chemnitz - Bautzen with temporary regional offers)
  • Radio Saxony-Anhalt (Halle - Magdeburg)
  • Thuringian Broadcasting (Weimar - Erfurt - Gera - Suhl)

These programs were broadcast on frequencies and at the expense of the central programs. The new general management decided to give up Radio DDR II as a cultural and educational program in order to free up frequencies for decentralized programming. From then on, the German broadcaster (formerly the voice of the GDR) acted as a cultural and educational broadcaster.

Only the night tracks for the new state programs were produced and broadcast by the Funkhaus in Berlin.

With these offers, the broadcasting houses and studios outside Berlin broadcast a total of six regional or, to a limited extent, supraregional radio programs - later with Saxony 2 and 3 eight programs.

In some cases, broadcasting operations could not be managed with the existing staff and production capacities. Radio Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, for example, produced two programs with a total broadcast time of 37 hours in its sparsely populated region. This was an increase in the transmission volume by 12 hours a day. For comparison: the state broadcasting houses of the financially strong North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) broadcast around 17 ½ hours of state radio programs each week. Cutbacks were inevitable. The broadcasting houses and studios cut their music and radio play production sharply.

Formation of ARD state broadcasters in the new federal states

With German reunification, radio (radio and television) was subordinate to the radio commissioner for the new federal states, Rudolf Mühlfenzl, in accordance with Article 36 of the Unification Treaty . This had the task of transferring the former state radio and the state television into federal structures or winding up. In the new federal states, they quickly agreed to dissolve the central broadcasting structures.

Central German radio was revitalized in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. This transmitter, based in Leipzig, started broadcasting on January 1, 1992. The institution included u. a. the broadcasting houses and studios in Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz, Bautzen, Halle, Magdeburg, Weimar, Erfurt, Gera and Suhl. In each country, the broadcaster maintains a regional broadcasting company for the production of regional or central radio and television programs.

On the other hand, there was a strong tug-of-war between the states of the NDR broadcasting area ( Hamburg , Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein ) on the one hand and Berlin and Brandenburg on the other over Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's membership of a state broadcaster from 1992.

Participation in the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) or the founding of a "North-East German Broadcasting Corporation - NORA" with the states of Berlin and Brandenburg were up for grabs, as a result of which Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein made the race with the NDR. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has been part of the broadcasting area of ​​the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) since January 1, 1992. The NDR took over the radio stations in Schwerin (since then Landesfunkhaus), Rostock and Neubrandenburg as well as the newly founded radio studio in Greifswald.

Since Brandenburg and Berlin had not been able to agree on a common radio company either, Brandenburg founded an independent state radio company, which began broadcasting as Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB) based in Potsdam on January 1, 1992. The radio station in Cottbus and the studio in Frankfurt (Oder) belonged to the transmitter.

In Berlin, the Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) received a broadcasting area expanded to include the eastern part of the city. The central production site of the GDR radio in Berlin-Oberschöneweide has hardly been used as a radio production facility since the late 1990s.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Minutes of the first conference of the Lektorat Rundfunkgeschichte with the pioneers of the German Democratic Broadcasting on April 25, 1966 in Contributions to the History of Broadcasting , GDR Broadcasting Series, 4th year 1970
  2. ↑ Horst Zänger, ibid
  3. ^ LIA Archive Wegner, ibid
  4. ^ Heide Riedel in radio and television in the GDR - function, structure and program of radio in the GDR , published by the Deutsches Rundfunk-Museum e. V., Berlin (West), in Literarischer Verlag Helmut Braun KG, Cologne 1977
  5. ^ Program part in Der Rundfunk , born 1949 (1-52), Deutscher Funk Verlag GmbH Berlin SO 36, 1949
  6. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wagner: A productive competition - the radio play in the SBZ 1945 - 1949 , in: The new time moves with us ... Heide Riedel (ed.), Vistas Verlag Berlin 1992
  7. ↑ Program part in Der Rundfunk , born 1953 (1–52), © Ed .: State Broadcasting Committee of the GDR via Henschelverlag Art and Society Berlin (GDR) 1953
  8. ↑ 1st workshop December 17, 1991 - beginning of broadcasting in 1945 , in: The new time moves with us ... Heide Riedel (Ed.), Vistas Verlag Berlin 1992
  9. ↑ Heinz-Florian Oertel: Highest Time , Das Neue Berlin Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 1997 (3rd edition 1998)
  10. ↑ Eberhard Fensch: So and only better - How Honecker imagined television , Das Neue Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2003
  11. ↑ Günter Rücker: Beginnings in Leipzig , in: The new time moves with us ... Heide Riedel (Ed.), Vistas Verlag Berlin 1992
  12. ^ Program part in Der Rundfunk , 1952/1953, publisher: State Broadcasting Committee of the GDR via Henschelverlag Art and Society Berlin (GDR) 1953
  13. ↑ Karl-Heinz Mosgraber: The 1,000-year-old Potsdam and radio , in: With us the new time moves ... Heide Riedel (ed.), Vistas Verlag Berlin 1992
  14. ↑ On the history of Sorbian radio / K stawiznam serbskego rozgłosa. Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg , accessed on October 13, 2019 .
  15. ^ Sorbian program. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk , accessed on October 13, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Central Administration for National Education - General National Education Department: Organizational statute in the Soviet zone of occupation of March 14, 1946 in Heide Riedel: Radio and television in the GDR - function, structure and program of radio in the GDR , published by the Deutsches Rundfunk-Museum e. V., Berlin (West) in Literarischer Verlag Helmut Braun KG, Cologne 1977
  17. ^ Gerhard Walther: Radio in the Soviet Occupation Zone , Deutscher Bundesverlag, Bonn 1961
  18. ↑ Christina Handwerck: The forgotten transmitter , in http://www.history-weimar.de/sender/pdf/FG205_Seiten%20148-151_Weimar.pdf
  19. ^ LIA Archive Wegner, ibid
  20. ^ Program part in Der Rundfunk , born 1952/1953, ibid
  21. ↑ Sorbischer Rundfunk , ibid
  22. ↑ On the history of Sorbian radio , ibid
  23. ^ LIA Archive Wegner, ibid
  24. ↑ Horst Zänger, ibid
  25. ↑ Eberhard Fensch, ibid
  26. ^ Program part in Der Rundfunk , 1952–1964, ibid
  27. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  28. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Born 1964–1978, Berliner Verlag Berlin (GDR) 1964–1978
  29. ↑ Horst Zänger, ibid
  30. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Years 1964–1978, ibid
  31. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Years 1964–1978, ibid
  32. ↑ Horst Zänger, ibid
  33. ^ LIA Archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  34. ↑ Eberhard Fensch, ibid
  35. ↑ Heide Riedel, ibid
  36. ^ The stages of development of the German Democratic Broadcasting V - Under the sign of the beginning two-year plan and the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in 1949 in Contributions to the History of Broadcasting , Series of GDR Broadcasting, Volume 5, 1971
  37. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Years 1964–1978, ibid
  38. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  39. ^ Program "Radio DDR - Sender Leipzig Messewelle". In: oldtimeradio.de. Retrieved October 13, 2019 .
  40. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  41. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Years 1964–1978, ibid
  42. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Born 1978–1987, Berliner Verlag Berlin (GDR) 1978–1987
  43. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  44. ↑ Countries of the world - Politico-Economic Manual in the 7th completely revised edition, ibid
  45. ↑ Countries of the Earth - Political-Economic Handbook in the 8th completely revised edition, ibid
  46. ↑ Countries of the world - Politico-Economic Manual in the 7th completely revised edition, ibid
  47. ↑ Countries of the Earth - Political-Economic Handbook in the 8th completely revised edition, ibid
  48. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  49. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Born 1978–1990, Berliner Verlag Berlin (GDR) 1978–1990
  50. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  51. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Years 1978–1990, ibid
  52. ^ LIA archive Wegner, LIA Hamburg
  53. ↑ Horst Zänger, ibid
  54. ↑ Part of the program and "Articles" in FF accompanying. Years 1978–1990, ibid
  55. ^ LIA Archive Wegner, ibid
  56. ↑ Horst Zänger, ibid