 Logo used since 2001 | |
| Type | Broadcast radio, television and online |
|---|---|
| Country | Germany |
| Availability | Regional National International |
| Headquarters | Hamburg, Germany |
Launch date | 2 May 1924 asNORAG 1 January 1956 (69 years ago) (1956-01-01) asNDR |
Former names | Nordische Rundfunk AG (1924–1933) Norddeutsche Rundfunk GmbH (1933–1934) Reichssender Hamburg (1934–1945) Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (1945–1955) |
| Webcast | NDR HD TV NDR1 Radio NDR 90.3 FM NDR 2 Radio NDR Info NDR Kultur NDR Info Spezial NDRPlus NDR Blue NDR Schlager |
Official website | www |
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (pronounced[ˈnɔʁtˌdɔʏtʃɐˈʁʊntfʊŋk]; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened toNDR (pronounced[ˌɛndeːˈʔɛʁ]ⓘ), is apublic radio and television broadcaster, based inHamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states ofLower Saxony,Mecklenburg-Vorpommern andSchleswig-Holstein. NDR is a member ofARD, the joint organisation of German public broadcasters.
In 1924 broadcasting began in Hamburg, whenNorddeutsche Rundfunk AG (NORAG) was created. In 1934 it was incorporated into theGroßdeutscher Rundfunk, the national broadcaster controlled byJoseph Goebbels'sPropagandaministerium, asReichssender Hamburg.
In 1930, NORAG commissioned the Welte-Funkorgel – a largetheatre organ custom-built by the firm ofM. Welte & Sons to meet the specific acoustic requirements of radio broadcasting – and installed it in their radio studio (today the world's oldest such facility still in use) on Rothenbaumchaussee 132, Hamburg, where it continues to be played, now maintained by volunteers.[1]
In theBritish Zone of occupied Germany, the military authorities quickly establishedRadio Hamburg to provide information to the population of the area.
TheBritish Control Commission appointedHugh Greene to manage the creation of public service broadcasting in their Zone. On 22 September 1945,Radio Hamburg becameNordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (North-Western German Broadcasting), the single broadcasting organisation of the British Zone.
The state ofBremen, while surrounded by the British Zone, was given to the United States as part of theAmerican Zone. A separate broadcaster was established for this state,Radio Bremen. However, Radio Bremen and NDR cooperate in certain programmes and stations.
In 1948, the Control Commission transferred theNordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) to the control of the constituent Länder (Hamburg,Lower Saxony,North Rhine-Westphalia andSchleswig-Holstein). At first, NWDR had just one radio station, 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 ofARD, a joint organisation of all German regional broadcasters. The NWDR also played a founding role in launching625-line television in Germany, starting broadcasts on 25 December 1952.
In February 1955,North Rhine-Westphalia decided to establish its broadcaster, whilstHamburg,Lower Saxony andSchleswig-Holstein continued with the existing joint system. To this end, the NWDR was split into two broadcasters, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in the north andWestdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in North Rhine-Westphalia.
NDR continued to operate out of Hamburg. The split was effective from 1 January 1956, although the radio 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 nameNord- und Westdeutsche Rundfunkverband (North and West German Broadcasting Federation – NWRV). NDR and WDR launched separate television services for their respective areas in 1961.
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On 1 December 1956 NDR started its third radio channel, NDR3 (from 1962 to 1973, it was operated jointly withSender Freies Berlin).
In 1958Han Koller became the musical director of Hamburg'sNDR Jazz Workshop, which became a popular radio broadcast. Numerous names inJazz performed on these broadcasts including;Dave Brubeck,Kenny Clarke,Lucky Thompson,Wes Montgomery,Johnny Griffin,Oscar Peterson,Ben Webster,Sahib Shihab,Carmell Jones,Lee Konitz,Cecil Payne,Slide Hampton,Phil Woods,Jazz Composers Orchestra,Howard Riley,Barry Guy,John Surman, theKuhn Brothers andBarney Wilen. Some of these have been released since 1987, while the older ones only exist as rarebootlegs, sought after by manyJazz aficionados.
On 4 January 1965 NDR, Radio Bremen and Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) began a joint "third channel" television service,Norddeutsches Fernsehen, laterNord 3 andN3. Since December 2001, this service is calledNDR Fernsehen.SFB started a separate TV channel for Berlin in 1992, called B1, later SFB1, nowRBB Fernsehen.
In 1977,Gerhard Stoltenberg, theminister-president ofSchleswig-Holstein unilaterally cancelled theNDR-Staatsvertrag, the governing contract of NDR. This caused a discussion on how to organise broadcasting in the North German region.
In 1980, NDR signed a new contract 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:
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.
Roughly around 1983–1984, "Subways of Your Mind" was recorded from NDR2, with the title of the song remaining completely unknown until forty years after it was played on NDR2.
On 30 September 1988 NDR introduced aTeletext service on itsN3 television channel. Originally calledNordtext, it becameNDR Text on 2 December 2001. The Teletext service also offers information for viewers in the Radio Bremen area under the titleRadio Bremen Text.
On 1 April 1989, NDR introduced its fourth radio service, NDR4. This service was later renamedNDR4 Info and since 2 June 2002 has been known asNDR Info. The station is a news and information service for the whole NDR region.
On 1 January 1992,Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in formerEast Germany joined NDR as the fourth state in the organisation, where it replacedFernsehen der DDR andRundfunk der DDR. The area receives the main NDR radio and television stations, plus the regionalNDR 1 Radio mV, which has subregions based in Schwerin, Rostock, Neubrandenburg and Greifswald. In October of the same year, SFB in Berlin stopped relaying theNord 3 television service in favour of its ownBerlin 1 TV channel.
On 4 April 1994, NDR introducedN-Joy Radio (known simply asN-Joy since 2001), a radio station aimed at 14 to 29-year-old listeners.
On 3 October 1997, NDR3 was relaunched asRadio 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 its own classical and cultural network. NDR3 becameNDR Kultur on 1 January 2003.
On 1 November 2001, NDR and Radio Bremen launched a joint radio station,Nordwestradio, to serve Bremen and northwestern Lower Saxony. This service replacedRadio Bremen 2 and control of the service remains with Radio Bremen.
NDR is the organization responsible within ARD for overseeingGermany's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest from 1996 to 2025, with responsibilities transferring toSWR from 2026 onwards. As such, following Germany's victory in the55th annual contest, NDR organised the56th annual contest on behalf of ARD. The contest was held inDüsseldorf on 10–14 May 2011 despite the city being located outside NDR's broadcasting area.
NDR's studios in Hamburg are in two locations, both within the borough ofEimsbüttel: the television studios are in the quarter ofLokstedt while the radio studios are in the quarter ofHarvestehude (though they are called "Funkhaus am Rothenbaum"), a little closer to the city centre. There are also regional studios, having both radio and television production facilities, in the state capitalsHanover,Kiel andSchwerin. The facility in Hanover is now called theLandesfunkhaus Niedersachsen. In addition, NDR maintains facilities atARD's national studios inBerlin.
NDR is in part funded by the limited sale of on-air commercial advertising time; however, its principal source of income is the revenue derived from viewer and listenerlicence fees. As of August 2021, the monthly fee due from each household for radio and television reception was €18.36.[3] These fees are collected not directly by NDR but by ajoint agency ofARD (and its member institutions),ZDF, andDeutschlandradio.
NDR currently provides a number of services on its own or in co-operation with other broadcasters:
NDR has four musical organizations, including two orchestras, a chorus and a "big band":
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in formerEast Germany, NDR programmes are broadcast from facilities owned by Media Broadcast GmbH, a former subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG.
