Norddeutscher Rundfunk

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-VorpommernandSchleswig-Holstein.NDR is a member ofARD,the joint organisation of German public broadcasters.

Norddeutscher Rundfunk

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(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.ndr.de

History

See also:Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk

Pre-war

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 organcustom-built by the firm ofM. Welte & Sonsto 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.

Post-war

In theBritish Zoneof occupied Germany, the military authorities quickly establishedRadio Hamburgto provide information to the population of the area.

TheBritish Control CommissionappointedHugh Greeneto manage the creation of public service broadcasting in their Zone. On 22 September 1945,Radio HamburgbecameNordwestdeutscher 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.

Länder control

In 1948, the Control Commission transferred theNordwestdeutscher Rundfunk(NWDR) to the control of the constituent Länder (Hamburg,Lower Saxony,North Rhine-WestphaliaandSchleswig-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-linetelevision in Germany, starting broadcasts on 25 December 1952.

NWDR split

In February 1955,North Rhine-Westphaliadecided to establish its broadcaster, whilstHamburg,Lower SaxonyandSchleswig-Holsteincontinued 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.

NDR history

NDR's first logo, used from 1956 to 1980

NDR's previous corporate logo, was used from 1980 to 2001. Its old corporate logo featuredAntje the Walrus,the mascot of the broadcaster for the north.

On 1 December 1956 NDR started its third radio channel, NDR3 (from 1962 to 1973, it was operated jointly withSender Freies Berlin).

In 1958Han Kollerbecame the musical director of Hamburg'sNDR Jazz Workshop,which became a popular radio broadcast. Numerous names inJazzperformed 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 BrothersandBarney Wilen.Some of these have been released since 1987, while the older ones only exist as rarebootlegs,sought after by manyJazzaficionados.

On 4 January 1965 NDR, Radio Bremen and Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) began a joint "third channel" television service,Norddeutsches Fernsehen,laterNord 3andN3.Since December 2001, this service is calledNDR Fernsehen.SFBstarted a separate TV channel for Berlin in 1992, called B1, later SFB1, nowRBB Fernsehen.

In 1977,Gerhard Stoltenberg,theminister-presidentofSchleswig-Holsteinunilaterally 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:

• NDR 1 Radio Niedersachsen(from 2002,NDR 1 Niedersachsen) forLower Saxony
• NDR 1 Welle NordforSchleswig-Holstein
• NDR Hamburg-Welle 90.3(from 2 December 2001,NDR 90.3) forHamburg

NDR2 and NDR3 (now NDR Kultur) continued as regional stations.

These regional services were further subdivided with opt-outs for specific areas.NDR 1 Niedersachsenestablished regions based around Oldenburg-Ostfriesland-Bremen-Cuxhaven, Osnabrück-Emsland, greater Hanover, Braunschweig-southern Lower Saxony and northern Lower Saxony.NDR 1 Welle Nordwas 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 aTeletextservice on itsN3television channel. Originally calledNordtext,it becameNDR Texton 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 Infoand 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-Vorpommernin formerEast Germanyjoined NDR as the fourth state in the organisation, where it replacedFernsehen der DDRandRundfunk 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 3television service in favour of its ownBerlin 1TV channel.

On 4 April 1994, NDR introducedN-Joy Radio(known simply asN-Joysince 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 Kulturon 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 2and control of the service remains with Radio Bremen.

NDR is the organization responsible within ARD for overseeingGermany's participation in the Eurovision Song Contestfrom 1996 to 2025, with responsibilities transferring toSWRfrom 2026 onwards. As such, following Germany's victory in the55th annual contest,NDR organised the56th annual conteston behalf of ARD. The contest was held inDüsseldorfon 10–14 May 2011 despite the city being located outside NDR's broadcasting area.

Studios

NDR television buildings in Hamburg (2023)

NDR's studios in Hamburg are in two locations, both within the borough ofEimsbüttel:the television studios are in the quarter ofLokstedtwhile 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,KielandSchwerin.The facility in Hanover is now called theLandesfunkhaus Niedersachsen.In addition, NDR maintains facilities atARD's national studios inBerlin.

Organization and finances

Chairmen of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk

• 1955–1961: Walter Hilpert
• 1961–1974:Gerhard Schröder
• 1974–1980: Martin Neuffer
• 1980–1987: Friedrich-Wilhelm Räuker
• 1987–1991: Peter Schiwy
• 1991–2008: Jobst Plog
• 2008–2020: Lutz Marmor
• 2020–present: Joachim Knuth

Funding

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.These fees are collected not directly by NDR but by ajoint agencyofARD(and its member institutions),ZDF,andDeutschlandradio.

Services

Map of the ARD broadcasting regions in Germany

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

Television

• Das Erste– joint national channel
• NDR Fernsehen(formerlyN3andNorddeutsches Fernsehen) – third public service channel for the NDR area andBremen,in co-operation withRadio 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 ARD, ZDF, ORF, and SRG
• tagesschau24– news channel

Radio

• NDR 1network consists of four independent radio stations:
  • 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 (formerly NDR 3). Plays classical music.
• NDR Info– News and information station (formerly NDR 4 or NDR 4 Info).
• NDR Info Spezial- Same programming as NDR Info with opt-outs for sports, parliament sittings, maritime forecast, multicultural broadcasts and the ARD Infonacht.
• N-Joy– youth station.
• NDR Blue– Music "away from the charts".
• NDR Schlager– a music station with the programming formatschlagermusic and easy listening

Broadcasts

• Berichte von heutenews program

Musical organizations

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

• NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester– theNorth German Radio Elbphilharmonie Orchestra;created in 1945 as the Symphony Orchestra of the NWDR and continued by NDR under the nameNDR Sinfonieorchesterbetween 1955 – 2016. It was renamed in 2016 to its current name. Principal conductors have includedGünter WandandJohn Eliot Gardiner.Currently it isAlan Gilbert.
• NDR Radiophilharmonie– theNDR Radio Philharmonic;created in 1950 as the Hanover Radio Orchestra of the NWDR and continued by NDR under its current name since 1955. Principal conductors have included Willy Steiner, Bernhard Klee, andEiji Oue.The orchestra plays light classical or "concert hall" music.
• NDR ChororChor des Norddeutschen Rundfunks—created in 1946 by the NWDR and continued under that name until 2022 when it became NDR Vocal Ensemble.It consists of 21 professional singers on fixed contracts. The director of the NDR Vocal Emsemble is Klaas Stok. The choir specializes in "Alte Musik", but a broad repertory also includes contemporary music.
• NDR Bigband;created by the NWDR and continued by NDR in 1955 as theNDR Studioband.RenamedNDR Bigbandin 1971.

Transmitters

FM, MW and TV

• Hamburg Billwerder
• Hemmingen(for Hannover)
• Flensburg
• Kronshagen (for Kiel, no AM broadcasts currently)
• Lingen

FM and TV

• Steinkimmen
• Torfhaus(Sender Harz-West)
• Zernien
• Osnabrück
• Aurich-Popens
• Göttingen
• Lauenburg
• Bungsberg
• Welmbüttel/Heide (Holstein)
• Sylt
• Visselhövede
• Cuxhaven
• Kronshagen(nearKiel)

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in formerEast Germany,NDR programmes are broadcast from facilities owned by Media Broadcast GmbH, a former subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG.

Other facilities

• Wittmoor Measurement and Reception Station

See also

• Hamburg portal

External links

• Official website(in German)