 | |
 Funkhaus Berlin building, August 2005 | |
| Type | Broadcast radio |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| History | |
| Launch date | 1946 |
| Closed | 1990 |
| Coverage | |
| Availability | National International |
Rundfunk der DDR (German:[ˈʁʊntfʊŋkdeːɐ̯ˌdeːdeːˈʔɛʁ], 'GDR Broadcasting'; from about 1948 to 1972Deutscher Demokratischer Rundfunk, 'German Democratic Broadcasting') was the collective designation forradio broadcasting organized by the State Broadcasting Committee in theGerman Democratic Republic (GDR) untilGerman reunification in 1990.
The pre-warReichssender stations, under the control ofJoseph Goebbels'Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda asGroßdeutscher Rundfunk, were either destroyed by theWehrmacht or closed by theAllied occupation forces upon Germany's surrender in May 1945. On 13 May 1945, theSoviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAG) began a radio broadcasting service to the people of Berlin calledBerliner Rundfunk, operating from what would become the British sector ofWest Berlin.
For the most part the station retained staff from the Nazi era. The first broadcast included recordings of the "State Anthem of the Soviet Union," "The Star-Spangled Banner," "God Save the King," and "La Marseillaise" followed by greetings fromJoseph Stalin,Winston Churchill, andFranklin D. Roosevelt. In the next few days the station focused on playingclassical music by German and Russian composers such asLudwig van Beethoven andPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky alongside news. The station was controlled by theUlbricht Group politicians Hans Mahle, Matthaus Klein,Wolfgang Leonhard, andMarkus Wolf. The station began to become more ideological in tone after theSocialist Unity Party of Germany performed poorly in the1946 Berlin state election.[1]
From December 1945 it was meant to cover the north-eastern part of theSoviet occupation zone (territory of former Reichssender Berlin), whileMitteldeutscher Rundfunk should transmit to the south-western part (territory of former Reichssender Leipzig).[2] Both networks were put under the control of theZentralverwaltung für Volksbildung ("Central Administration for People's Education") and aGeneralintendant (general manager) in 1946 and also provided air time for regionalLandessender in the fivestates of the Soviet occupation zone. ASorbian language broadcast was launched byLandessender Dresden in 1948, continued by Berlin in 1952 and byBezirkssenderCottbus in 1957. As a third channel the East GermanDeutschlandsender was broadcasting for the whole of Germany.[3]
TheFunkhaus Berlin building was erected in 1951. It was the largest radio station in East Germany and was noted for its excellent acoustics. It was designed by theBauhaus architectFranz Ehrlich. Because staff were working in the building 24 hours a day, it included a supermarket, an outpatients' clinic and a sauna.[4]
After formation of the GDR in 1949 and dissolution of the states in 1952, theState Broadcasting Committee subordinate to theEast German government was constituted.[5] Originally it produced three central radio programmes calledBerlin I,II andIII, but soon the first two channels were namedBerliner Rundfunk andDeutschlandsender again, while the third channel becameRadio DDR.[6] Regional outlets were reintroduced asBezirkssender for the newdistricts.
In 1955 anexternal service was launched, becomingRadio Berlin International in 1959. For Eastern GermanyRadio DDR 2 started in October 1958.[7]
In February 1958 a second channel ofBerliner Rundfunk was introduced especially for West Berlin to tackleRIAS (aUnited States Information Agency outlet) andSender Freies Berlin (SFB, the local outlet of the West German broadcasting consortiumARD). It was renamedBerliner Welle in 1959.
The GDR also instituted a programme ofjamming foreign signals, bothshortwave broadcasts from international broadcasters such as theBBC World Service and local broadcasts such as RIAS. A network of jamming stations was built covering the entire country.[8] However, jamming RIAS broadcasts was discontinued in 1978 due to theGeneva Frequency Plan of 1975 signed also by East Germany. The diplomatic prestige gained through recognition by the Western signatories was more important to the GDR leadership than continuing jamming, which furthermore had already been proven inefficient.[9]
Listening to or watching Western broadcasts in itself was legally tolerated, but communicating received content to others[10] or inviting others to common reception[11] could lead to penal sanctions for an offense called "incitement endangering the state" (staatsgefährdende Hetze). After theconstruction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, theFreie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth), the official youth movement in the GDR, started the campaign"Blitz kontra NATO-Sender" ("Lightning againstNATO's transmitters") to encourage young people to remove or turn awayaerials pointing atOchsenkopf Transmitter in Bavaria, West Germany.[12]
In 1964 mostBezirkssender shared frequencies withRadio DDR 2, the districts adjacent to Berlin (Potsdam andFrankfurt/Oder) withBerliner Rundfunk. Special regional broadcasts includedFerienwelle during summer holiday season fromRostock andMessewelle twice a year duringtrade fair fromLeipzig. In 1968 the State Committee for Television was split from the State Broadcasting Committee whose name was slightly changed toState Committee for Broadcasting.[13] In 1972Deutschlandsender andBerliner Welle were merged to formStimme der DDR ("Voice of the GDR").
In 1981, a further attempt was made to draw GDR radio listeners - especially the young - from Western broadcasts by launching a youth radio station,DT64. By 1985 there were 6,646,500 licensed radios in the country, or 39.9 for every 100 persons.
After thefall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989,Stimme der DDR was renamedDeutschlandsender again, soon merged withRadio DDR 2 to becomeDeutschlandsender Kultur. TheBezirkssender were transformed to regional stations for the fivenewly developing states using the frequencies of former Radio DDR 2. Radio DDR 1 was renamedRadio aktuell.
Upon reunification in October 1990, the first station to cease broadcasting wasRadio Berlin International. All other programmes were continued under the roof of the "Institution according to Article 36 of the Unification Treaty".[14] In 1992 two new public broadcasters (ORB in the east andMDR in the south) were created, and two existing West German public broadcasters expanded their coverage areas (NDR from the north of the Federal Republic to the north of the whole country, andSFB from West Berlin to the entire city). They took over the frequencies of the regional stations,Radio aktuell andBerliner Rundfunk;Berliner Rundfunk itself became a local private broadcaster in Berlin.DT64 was continued by MDR until May 1993,Deutschlandsender Kultur byARD andZDF until merging withRIAS to constituteDeutschlandRadio Berlin in 1994.
| Year | 1965 | 1970 | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken word | 32217 | 36866 | 32479 | 35435 | 38221 | 46033 | 48428 |
| Music | 31499 | 31131 | 29706 | 31583 | 33804 | 48112 | 48953 |
| Total | 63716 | 67997 | 62185 | 67018 | 72025 | 94145 | 97381 |
| Hours per week | 1222 | 1304 | 1193 | 1282 | 1381 | 1800 | 1868 |
The Soviet Union maintained a service for its troops on GDR soil, "Radio Wolga", which broadcast on 261 kHzlongwave. The Soviet foreign service was broadcast from East Germany on 1323 kHzmediumwave.Radio Wolga was closed when the last Soviet troops left German soil.
At Soviet military barracks, Programme 1 of Soviet television was transmitted on low power for the soldiers, in a similar way to the highly localised broadcasts of AFN, SSVC, CFN and the French FFB in the west. The last Russian transmitter was closed in 1994.
Media related toRundfunk der DDR at Wikimedia Commons
