Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) (North German Broadcasting) is a
public radio and television broadcasterPublic broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets that receive some or all of their funding from the public. Public broadcasters may receive their funding from individuals through voluntary donations, a specific tax such as a television licence fee, or as direct...
, based in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and
Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the two historical duchies of Schleswig and Holstein...
. NDR is a member of the
ARDARD , is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
consortium.
NDR studios
Studios in Hamburg are split into two locations: Television studios are located in the suburb of Lokstedt as the radio studios are located in the suburb of
RotherbaumRotherbaum is a quarter of Eimsbüttel, a borough of Hamburg, Germany. In 2006 the population was 16,853.In German, "roter Baum" means red tree. The "th", which in general was abolished in the spelling reform of 1900, was preserved in names...
, close to the city centre. In addition to these, there are further regional studios, also comprising both television and radio studios. They are located in the state capitals
HanoverHanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
,
KielKiel is the capital and most populous city of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of over 236,000 .Kiel is approximately to the north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore...
and
SchwerinSchwerin is a city in northern Germany and the capital of the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern . The population, as of end of 2007, was 95,855.-History:...
as well as at the
ARDARD , is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
's national studios in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The NDR also maintains other regional offices within its four state territories.
Stations
The NDR currently provides a number of services on its own or in co-operation with other broadcasters:
Television
- ARD Das Erste
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany. It is a joint production of Germany's regional public broadcasters acting through, and coordinated by the ARD consortium....
— joint national channel
- NDR Fernsehen (formerly N3 and Norddeutsches Fernsehen) — third public service channel for the NDR area and Bremen, in co-operation with Radio Bremen
Radio Bremen , Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state of Bremen...
.
- Phoenix — events channel produced by ARD and ZDF
- KI.KA
KI.KA is a public commercial-free television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is a joint venture of national public television channels ARD and ZDF, and is targeted at children and youth. KI.KA is broadcast on analog cable and satellite as well as digital services, DVB-T, cable and via Astra...
— children's channel produced by ARD and ZDF
- Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It describes itself as a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
— Franco-German culture channel
- 3sat
3sat is the name of a public, advertising-free, television network in Central Europe. The programming is in German, and is broadcast primarily within Germany, Austria and Switzerland....
— cultural channel, co-produced by the ARD, ZDF, ORF, and SRG
Radio
- NDR 90.3 — Local station for Hamburg, playing music for older listeners.
- NDR 1 Niedersachsen — Local station for Lower Saxony, run from Hanover with some regional opt-outs. Plays music for older listeners.
- NDR 1 Welle Nord — Local station for Schleswig-Holstein, run from Kiel with some regional opt-outs. Plays music for older listeners.
- NDR 1 Radio MV — Local station for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, run from Schwerin with some regional opt-outs. Plays music for older listeners.
- NDR 2 — Popular music station for middle-aged listeners. This is a commercial public service station.
- NDR Kultur — Arts and culture station.
- NDR Info — News and information station.
- N-Joy — youth station.
- Nordwestradio — Cultural station for northwest Lower Saxony and Bremen, produced by Radio Bremen.
Musical organizations
The NDR has four musical organizations, including two orchestras, a chorus and a "big band":
- Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg
The North German Radio Symphony Orchestra is a German orchestra based in Hamburg....
— the NDR Hamburg Symphony Orchestra; created in 1945 as the Symphony Orchestra of the NWDR and continued by the NDR under its current name sine 1955. Principal conductors have included Günter WandGünter Wand was a German orchestra conductor and composer....
and John Eliot GardinerSir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir , the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...
.
- NDR Radiophilharmonie — the NDR Radio Philharmonic; created in 1950 as the Hanover Radio Orchestra of the NWDR and continued by the NDR under its current name since 1955. Principal conductors have included Willy Steiner and Bernhard Klee. The orchestra plays light classical or "concert hall" music.
- Chor des Norddeutschen Rundfunks — the NDR Chorus; created in 1946 by the NWDR and continued under its current name by the NDR since 1955. The choir sings "old time music" and occasional contemporary songs.
- NDR Bigband; created by the NWDR and continued by the NDR in 1955 as the NDR Studioband. Renamed NDR Bigband in 1971.
FM, MW and TV
- Hamburg Billwerder
The Transmitter Hamburg-Billstedt is a broadcasting facility in Hamburg-Billstedt, established in 1934. It is owned and operated by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk public broadcasting service, but open to competitors, too....
- Hemmingen (for Hannover)
- Flensburg
Flensburg-Engelsby transmitter is a facility of NDR for mediumwave, FM- and TV-broadcasting at Flensburg, Germany. It uses as antenna mast a 214.5 metre tall grounded guyed mast, built of lattice steel, on which a cage antenna is mounted for mediumwave broadcasting.Flensburg-Engelsby transmitter is...
- Kronshagen (for Kiel, no AM broadcasts currently)
- Lingen
Lingen transmitter is a facility of Norddeutscher Rundfunk for FM-, mediumwave and TV broadcasting. It uses as antenna tower a 227 metre tall grounded guyed mast of tubular steel, at which a cage antenna for mediumwave broadcasting is mounted....
FM and TV
- Steinkimmen
- Torfhaus
- Zernien
- Osnabrück
- Aurich-Popens
- Göttingen
- Lauenburg
- Bungsberg
- Welmbüttel/Heide (Holstein)
- Sylt
- Visselhövede
- Cuxhaven
- Kronshagen (near Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of over 236,000 .Kiel is approximately to the north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore...
)
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the former East Germany, NDR programmes are broadcast from facilities owned by Deutsche Telekom AG.
Pre-war
In 1924 broadcasting began in Hamburg, when
Norddeutsche Rundfunk AG (NORAG) was created. In 1934 it was incorporated into
Großdeutschen Rundfunk, the national broadcaster controlled by
Joseph GoebbelsPaul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reichsminister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945...
's Propagandaministerium, as
Reichssender Hamburg.
In 1930, the Welte-Funk-Orgel, a
theatre organA theatre organ is a pipe organ originally designed specifically for imitation of an orchestra, but in latter years new designs have tended to be around some of the sounds and blends unique to the instrument itself....
, was custom built for the NORAG to accommodate the specific accustic needs of radio broadcasts. It is still maintained by volunteers in the studio Rothenbaumchaussee 132, the oldest radio studio still in use.
Post-war
In the British Zone of occupied Germany, the military authorities quickly established
Radio Hamburg to provide information to the population of the area.
The
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Control Commission appointed
Hugh GreeneSir Hugh Carleton Greene KCMG, OBE was a British journalist and television executive. He was the director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969, and is generally credited with modernising an organisation that had fallen behind in the wake of the launch of ITV in 1955.-Early life and work:Hugh was...
to manage the creation of public service broadcasting in their Zone. On 22 September 1945,
Radio Hamburg became
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, the single broadcasting organisation of the British Zone.
Länder control
In 1948, the Control Commission transferred the
Nordwestdeutscher RundfunkNordwestdeutscher Rundfunk was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 until 31 December 1955. Until 1954, it was also responsible for broadcasting in West Berlin...
(NWDR) to the control of the constituent Länder. At first, NWDR had just one
radio stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
, later known as NWDR1. In 1950, it introduced a regional station for the north,
NWDR Nord (later to become NDR2), and a regional station for the west,
NWDR West (later WDR2).
That same year, NWDR became a founding member of ARD. The NWDR also played a founding role in launching
625-lineStandard-definition television is a television system that has a resolution that meets standards but not considered either Enhanced-definition television or High-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same ...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
in Germany, starting broadcasts on 25 December 1952.
NWDR split
In February 1955, North Rhine-Westphalia decided to establish its own broadcaster, whilst Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein continued with the existing system. To this end, the NWDR was split into two broadcasters, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in the north and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in North Rhine-Westphalia.
NDR continued to operate out of Hamburg. The split was effective from 1 January 1956, although the station NWDR1 remained a joint operation with regional opt-outs.
The NWDR television service also remained a joint operation, from 1 April 1956 under the name
Nord- und Westdeutsche Rundfunkverband (North and West German Broadcasting Federation — NWRV). The NDR and the WDR launched separate television services for their area in 1961.
NDR history
On 1 December 1956 the NDR started its third radio channel, NDR3 (from 1962 to 1973, this was a joint operation with
Sender Freies BerlinSender Freies Berlin was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003...
).
In 1958 Han Koller became the musical director of Hamburg's NDR Jazz Workshop, which became a popular radio broadcast. Numerous names in
JazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
performed on these broadcasts including;
Kenny ClarkeKenny Clarke was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming...
,
Lucky ThompsonEli "Lucky" Thompson was a United States jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. While John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 60s, Lucky Thompson, along with Steve Lacy, played it in a more advanced bebop format...
,
Wes MontgomeryJohn Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is generally considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, and Pat Metheny.-...
,
Johnny GriffinJohn Arnold Griffin III was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.- Early life and career :Griffin studied music at DuSable High School under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax...
,
Oscar PetersonOscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, O.Ont. was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends, and was a member of jazz royalty. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards...
,
Ben WebsterBenjamin Francis Webster , aka "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
,
Sahib ShihabSahib Shihab was a jazz saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:...
,
Carmell JonesCarmell Jones was an American jazz trumpet player.Jones was born in Kansas City. He is best known for his work with Horace Silver, appearing in the album Song for My Father....
,
Lee KonitzLee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
,
Cecil PayneCecil Payne was a jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, NY. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute...
,
Slide HamptonLocksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
,
Phil WoodsPhilip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
, Jazz Composers Orchestra,
Howard RileyJohn Howard Riley is an English jazz pianist and composer.Riley began on piano at age six, and began playing jazz as early as age 13. He studied at the University of Wales , Indiana University in America under Dave Baker , and then at York University...
,
Barry GuyBarry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
,
John SurmanJohn Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player and composer of free jazz and modal jazz often using themes from folk music as a basis...
, the Kuhn Brothers and
Barney WilenBarney Wilen was a French tenor and soprano saxophonist and jazz composer.Wilen was born in Nice; his father was an American dentist turned inventor, and his mother was French. He began performing in clubs in Nice after being encouraged by Blaise Cendrars who was a friend of his mother...
. Some of these have been released since 1987, while the older ones only exist as rare bootlegs, sought after by many
JazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
aficionados.
On 4 January 1965 the NDR, Radio Bremen and SFB began a joint "third channel" television service,
Norddeutsches Fernsehen, later
Nord 3 and
N3. As of December 2001, this service is called
NDR Fernsehen.
SFBSFB may refer to:* San Francisco Bay* San Francisco Ballet* Sender Freies Berlin , a German public broadcaster now part of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg* The IATA airport code for Orlando Sanford International Airport* Slim Floor Beam...
started a separate TV channel for Berlin in 1992, called B1, later SFB1, now RBB Fernsehen.
In 1977, Gerhard Stoltenberg, the minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein cancelled the
NDR-Staatsvertrag, the governing body of the NDR onesided. This caused a discussion how to organise broadcasting in the North German region.
In 1980, the NDR signed a new convention with the three Länder, changing the pattern of broadcasting and creating new regional services. NDR1 was divided into three independent radio stations from 2 January 1981:
- NDR 1 Radio Niedersachsen (from 2002, NDR 1 Niedersachsen) for Lower Saxony
- NDR 1 Welle Nord for Schleswig-Holstein
- NDR Hamburg-Welle 90.3 (from 2 December 2001, NDR 90.3) for Hamburg
NDR2 and NDR3 (now NDR Kultur) continued as regional stations.
These regional services were further subdivided with opt-outs for specific areas.
NDR 1 Niedersachsen established regions based around Oldenburg-Ostfriesland-Bremen-Cuxhaven, Osnabrück-Emsland, greater Hanover, Braunschweig-southern Lower Saxony and northern Lower Saxony.
NDR 1 Welle Nord was subdivided with studio centres in Flensburg, Heide, Norderstedt, Lübeck and Kiel.
On 30 September 1988 the NDR introduced a
teletextTeletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
service on its
N3 television channel. Originally called
Nordtext, it became
NDR Text on 2 December 2001. The teletext service also offers information for viewers in the Radio Bremen area under the title
Radio Bremen Text.
On 1 April 1989, the NDR introduced its fourth radio service, NDR4. This service was later renamed
NDR4 Info and from 2 June 2002 is now known as
NDR Info. The station is a news and information service for the whole NDR region.
On 1 January 1992, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the former East Germany joined the NDR as the fourth state in the organisation. The area receives the main NDR radio and television stations, plus the regional
NDR 1 Radio mV, which has subregions based in Schwerin, Rostock, Neubrandenburg and Greifswald. In October of the same year, SFB in Berlin stopped relaying the
Nord 3 television service in favour of its own
Berlin 1 TV channel.
On 4 April 1994, the NDR introduced
N-Joy Radio (since 2001, just
N-Joy), a young-persons radio station aimed at 14 to 19-year-old listeners.
On 3 October 1997, NDR3 was relaunched as
Radio 3, produced in co-operation with Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg. At the end of 2000, SFB joined Radio 3. This arrangement lasted until ORB and SFB merged on 1 January 2003 and started their own classical and culture network. NDR3 became
NDR Kultur on 1 January 2003.
On 1 November 2001, the NDR and Radio Bremen launched a joint radio station,
Nordwestradio, to serve Bremen and northwestern Lower Saxony. This service replaced
Radio Bremen 2 and control of the service remains with Radio Bremen.
Directors
- 1955–1961: Walter Hilpert
- 1961–1973: Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder is a former German radio director.Schröder was born in Bad Wildungen and studied law and political economics in Marburg...
- 1974–1980: Martin Neuffer
- 1980–1987: Friedrich-Wilhelm Räuker
- 1987–1991: Peter Schiwy
- 1991–2008: Jobst Plog
- 2008–present: Lutz Marmor
External links
NDR Homepage