 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | National and international |
| Programming | |
| Language | German |
| Format | News,speech |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Deutschlandradio |
| Deutschlandfunk Kultur,Deutschlandfunk Nova | |
| History | |
First air date | 1 January 1962; 64 years ago (1962-01-01) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
Deutschlandfunk (DLF,German:[ˈdɔʏtʃlantˌfʊŋk]ⓘBroadcast Germany) is apublic-broadcasting radio station inGermany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced byDeutschlandradio.
_01.jpg)
Broadcasting in theFederal Republic of Germany is reserved under theBasic Law (constitution) to thestates. This means that allpublic broadcasting is regionalised. National broadcasts must be aired through the national consortium of regional public broadcasters (ARD) or authorized by a treaty negotiated between the states.
In the 1950s, theGerman Democratic Republic (GDR) began broadcasting itsDeutschlandsender station onlongwave.[1] In response to this, the then-Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk applied for a licence to operate a similar longwave service on behalf of the ARD. This was granted in 1956 and operated asDeutscher Langwellensender ("German Longwave Station").[2]
On 29 November 1960, the federal government underKonrad Adenauer createdDeutschlandfunk as a national broadcasting corporation based inCologne.[3][4] At the same time, the government's attempted creation of a national television channel under its direct control (later to becomeZDF) prompted a complaint from several states to theFederal Constitutional Court regarding broadcasting powers. In the "First Broadcasting Judgement", handed down on 28 February 1961, the court held while that broadcastingto Germany was not a power granted to the federal government and therefore delegated to the states, broadcastingfrom Germany to other countries fell under the federal government's responsibility to conduct foreign affairs.
WhenNorddeutscher Rundfunk's licence to broadcast on longwave expired, the federal government acquired the frequencies for Deutschlandfunk and began transmissions on 1 January 1962,[2] joining the ARD on 7 June.
Deutschlandfunk broadcast primarily in German, targeting the GDR andGerman-speaking minorities in Eastern Europe. However, its European Department was responsible for foreign-language transmissions to neighbouring countries in Europe, primarily from theEhndorf transmitter. From 7 June 1963 it began foreign language transmissions inCzech,Croatian,Polish andSerbian. Later it focused on the Federal Republic's neighbours in northern Europe, including English programming forIreland and theUK. Inter-continental broadcasts were the responsibility ofDeutsche Welle. Back in 1989, also news on the half-hour were placed next to the hourly news.
Afterreunification, negotiations between the states and the Federal Government led to a reorganization of Germany's national and international public broadcasters in which DLF lost its independence and ARD membership.
On 1 July 1993, DLF's European Department was transferred toDeutsche Welle. DLF English programmes were phased out over several years and replaced by DW's intercontinental programmes.
The rest of DLF was merged intoDeutschlandradio ("Germany Radio"), a public broadcasting institution created to oversee national services, from 1 January 1994.[5] DLF was given a new remit as a news and current affairs service, while retaining its staff and studio facilities in Cologne. The service remains free of advertising. In the years immediately after the merger it was sometimes referred to asDeutschlandRadio Köln ("Germany Radio Cologne").
Deutschlandradio developed its service and beside of Deutschlandfunk (mainly news and information) andDeutschlandfunk Kultur (culture in a broader sense) they startedDeutschlandfunk Nova, which is also based on production from Deutschlandfunk and targets young adults, mainly with spoken-word. TheDokumente und Debatten is an opt-out channel, often for special events and significant parliamentary debates.
Deutschlandfunk's schedules are largely made up of news and documentaries, covering politics, economics and science. Music is also aired, especially during nighttime and weekend hours, it can account for half of the airtime.
Deutschlandfunk broadcasts a news bulletin every half hour weekdays between 04:00 and 18:00, and every hour at all other times (except Saturday at 21:00). In even-numbered hours between 06:00 and 20:00; every day at 13:00 and weekdays at 23:00, the bulletins can last up to 10 minutes; and 5 minutes at all other times.
On weekdays, the morning news magazineInformationen am Morgen is broadcast between 05:00 and 09:00, with frequent news bulletins. News magazines are also broadcast between 12:00 and 13:30 (Informationen am Mittag), and between 18:00 and 18:40 (Informationen am Abend). The main evening bulletin (Das war der Tag ("That was the Day")) is from 23:10 to 23:57. Selections from German and international newspaper commentaries are interspersed in the morning, noon, and midnight news magazines.
On Sundays, a discussion programme calledEssay und Diskurs is broadcast between 09:30 and 10:00,[6] covering subjects as varied as Islam in Germany, neurophysiology and the history of art. These discussions are archived on the internet.[7]
Deutschlandfunk provides programming for the German-language Belgian radio station BRF-DLF inBrussels.[8] It also cooperates with the mainBelgischer Rundfunk (BRF) domestic radio service for theEast Cantons of Walonia, BRF1.
Deutschlandfunk broadcasts onFM,DAB+, and broadcast digitally via theAstra satellite system and used in the German and some Europeancable television systems.
Until theGeneva Frequency Plan of 1975 came into effect on 23 November 1978, Deutschlandfunk was transmitted on longwave fromSender Donebach and on mediumwave fromBad Dürrheim,Cremlingen,Ravensburg,Ehndorf, andMainflingen. With implementation of the planBad Dürrheim was shut down. In 1979 new transmitters came into service: inErching for daytime longwave transmission and in 1980/81 inNordkirchen andThurnau for mediumwave transmission.
On 1 January 1989 theAholming transmitter replacedErching and allowed 24-hour service on the second longwave frequency. On 1 October 1994Heusweiler transmitter, which had previously transmitted "Europawelle Saar", began transmitting Deutschlandfunk. On 31 December 1994Mainflingen transmitter was shut down. On 31 December 2014 longwave transmissions from Donebach on 153 kHz and Aholming on 207 kHz ceased, although Donebach 153 kHz continued into the early hours of 1 January 2015 before being shut down.On 31 December 2015 all remaining medium wave transmissions ceased at 2350 CET.[9]
FM transmitters broadcast Deutschlandfunk signal throughout Germany but there are gaps in coverage, especially — but not only — in the southern states ofBavaria andBaden-Württemberg. As the state authorities have the power to allocate frequencies to broadcasters, they give preference to the regional public and commercial broadcasters under their jurisdiction.
Several streams of Deutschlandfunk are available inMP3,AAC andOpus formats.[10]
The radio station is available on the apps for Android and iOS. There are two options:1. Live stream2. Catchup of the latest news summary.
The Mainflingen mediumwave transmitter (Mainflingen B) is amediumwave transmission facility south of theA3 motorway nearMainflingen,Hesse,Germany. Mainflingen was the first mediumwavetransmitter for the radio station Deutschlandfunk. It went into service in 1962 with a transmission power of 50kW, on a frequency of 1538kHz, at the upper end of the mediumwave band. This frequency has a badgroundwavepropagation and therefore a low range at daytime, but an excellentskywave propagation with a long range at night.
In December 1962 the transmission power of Mainflingen was increased to 300 kW. Until 1967 its antenna was on the same site as theMainflingen longwave transmitters. This resulted in interference problems, which made the desired further increase of transmission power impossible. A new transmitter, with a directional and an omnidirecionalantenna, was built in the mid-1960s on a site south of the A3, at a distance great enough from the longwave transmitters that even when using a power of 1000 kW, no greater interference problems would occur. This facility went into service on 1 January 1967.
The directional and the omnidirectional antennas were somewhat unusual for mediumwave broadcasting antennas. The omnidirectional antenna consisted of a ground-fed 142-metre-tall guyed mast, carrying a double conical cage antenna with a diameter of 64 metres. This construction allowed its usage for all mediumwave frequencies, and therefore also as backup antenna for Deutschlandfunk's mediumwave transmitters at other sites. The directional antenna consisted of two horizontaldipoles which were mounted on 4.85-metre-tall guyed masts at a height of 75 metres, with a radiation maximum showing in northeast and southwest direction. As the omnidirectional antenna could not be used for the full available transmission power of 700 kW, in 1974 a 95-metre-tall guyed ground-fed mast radiator was built. A transmission power of 1050 kW was also possible by switching the third backup transmitter in parallel, but for economical reasons was never used. The transmitter was now run during the day with 700 kW and omnidirectional radiation, and at night with 350 kW and directional radiation, and was also used in the evenings for transmitting English-language programmes.
The introduction of thewave plan of Geneva resulted in an increase of the transmission frequency from 1538 kHz to 1539 kHz. Mainflingen's daily operation mode was not affected. However, according to the wave plan, it was no longer allowed to use the double conical antenna as backup antenna for Deutschlandfunk's other mediumwave transmitters. The regulations of the wave plan of Geneva do not normally allow operation of backup transmitters more than 50 kilometres away from the standard site without special coordinative measures. This antenna was therefore dismantled in 1982.
After 1 March 1983 Deutschlandfunk was also broadcast at night using omnidirectional radiation, and the four masts of the directional antenna was dismantled afterwards. From 1 April 1988 the transmission power was reduced to 350 kW. Beside the bad groundwave propagation of the used frequency, broadcasts from the transmitter were only sufficiently well-received during daytime, despite the high power output. This resulted in a shut-down of the transmitter on 31 December 1994, some years after the cancellation of foreign language transmissions.
As a replacement,Saarländischer Rundfunk's Heusweiler transmitter was leased. It was first planned to demolish the Mainflingen facility, but on 1 April 1996 Evangeliums-Rundfunk (ERF), a religious broadcaster, which already hired transmission time at Trans World Radio restarted its operation.
Several disputes betweenDeutsche Telekom and theMainhausen municipality occurred, as after the relaunch, problems with electromagnetic influence of electric devices were reported. Local residents were therefore opposed to continued use of the transmitter. In 1998 it was decided that the site could be used for mediumwave transmission and modernization of the facility started. First the old transmitter was replaced by a new, fullytransistorized transmitter, which would be also able to operate inDRM mode.
In order to allow a good night-time transmission without causing too many problems with electromagnetic influence, a cross-dipole antenna with a radiation maximum pointing vertically into the sky was built in early 2006. This antenna, which is one of the few applications ofcircular polarisation for broadcasting, is mounted on 5 guyed masts. The central mast of this antenna is grounded. It carries the feeder cables running to the dipole, while the masts at the edge are standing on insulators and grounded viainductances in such way that they radiate as low a frequency as possible. In this way, undesired parasitic radiations, which are the cause of electromagnetic influence, are suppressed. The radiated wave must be right-hand polarized, otherwise the signal reflected on theionosphere would be 20dB less strong. In spring 2006 this new antenna went into service. It is used only for night-time transmissions, as the desired ionospheric reflection occurs only at night. During the day the old mast is used.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
50°54′10″N6°57′34″E / 50.90278°N 6.95944°E /50.90278; 6.95944
