Norddeutscher Rundfunk

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Current logo of Norddeutscher Rundfunk.

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) [North German Broadcasting] is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German Länder (states) of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. NDR is a member of the ARD consortium.

[edit] NDR Studios

Map of the nine regional broadcasting members of Germany's ARD radio/TV network.

Studios in Hamburg are divided between two locations. Television studios are located in the Lokstedt part of Hamburg, and the radio studios are located at the "Rothenbaum." In addition to these, there are also regional studios, also comprising television and radio studios, in the state capitals of Hanover, Kiel and Schwerin. NDR also maintains other bureaus within its four state territory.

[edit] Stations

The NDR currently provides a number of services on its own or in co-operation with other broadcasters:

[edit] Television

ARD Das Erste - 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.
Phoenix - events channel produced by ARD and ZDF
KI.KA - children's channel produced by ARD and ZDF
Arte - Franco-German culture channel
3sat- cultural channel, co-produced by the ARD, ZDF, ORF, and SRG

[edit] 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-Western Pomerania, 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 - Young persons station.
Nordwestradio - Cultural station for northwest Lower Saxony and Bremen, produced by Radio Bremen.

[edit] Musical organizations

The NDR has four musical organizations, including two orchestras, a chorus and a "big band":

Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks 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 Wand and John Eliot Gardiner.
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.

[edit] Transmitters

[edit] FM, MW and TV

Hamburg Billwerder
Hemmingen (for Hannover)
Flensburg
Kronshagen (for Kiel)
Lingen

[edit] FM and TV

Steinkimmen
Torfhaus
Zernien
Osnabrück
Aurich-Popens
Göttingen
Lauenburg
Bungsberg
Welmbüttel/Heide (Holstein)
Sylt
Visselhövede
Cuxhaven

[edit] Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the former East Germany, NDR programmes are broadcast from facilities owned by Deutsche Telekom AG.

[edit] History

For 1924-1955 in detail, see Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk.

[edit] Pre-war

Broadcasting in the NDR's region began in 1924 in Hamburg, when Norddeutsche Rundfunk AG (NORAG) was created. In 1934 it was incorporated into Großdeutschen Rundfunk, the national broadcaster controlled by Joseph Goebbels's Propagandaministerium, as Reichssender Hamburg.

[edit] 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 British Control Commission appointed Hugh Greene 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.

[edit] Länder control

In 1948, the Control Commission transferred the NWDR to the control of the constituent Länder. 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 of ARD. The NWDR also played a founding role in launching 625-line television in Germany, starting broadcasts on 25 December 1952.

[edit] 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.

[edit] NDR3 and Norddeutsches Fernsehen

On 1 December 1956 the NDR started its third radio channel, NDR3 (from 1962 to 1973, this was a joint operation with Sender Freies Berlin).

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. SFB started a separate tv channel for Berlin in 1992, called B1, later SFB1, now RBB Fernsehen.

[edit] Regionalisation

In 1977, Gerhard Stoltenberg, the Ministerpräsident (Prime Minister) of Schleswig-Holstein walked out of the NDR-Staatsvertrag, the governing body of the NDR, causing discussion of new ways of organising broadcasting in the NDR's 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.

[edit] Teletext

On 30 September 1988 the NDR introduced a teletext 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.

[edit] NDR4

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.

[edit] NDR 1 Radio MV

On 1 January 1992, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the former East Germany joined the NDR as the fourth Land 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.

[edit] N-Joy

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.

[edit] NDR3

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.

[edit] Nordwestradio

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.