German public broadcaster, founded 1955
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Koln
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/WDR_Dachmarke.svg/220px-WDR_Dachmarke.svg.png) Logo used since 2012
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Type
| Broadcast radio, television and online
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Country
| Germany
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Founded
| 1955
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Headquarters
| Cologne
,
North Rhine-Westphalia
, Germany
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Official website
| www
.wdr
.de
![Edit this at Wikidata](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) |
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Westdeutscher Rundfunk Koln
(
pronounced
[?v?st?d??t??
???ntf?ŋk
?kœln]
; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to
WDR
(
pronounced
[?veːdeː????]
ⓘ
), is a German
public-broadcasting
institution based in the
Federal State
of
North Rhine-Westphalia
with its main office in
Cologne
. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions,
ARD
. As well as contributing to the output of the national television channel
Das Erste
, WDR produces the regional television service
WDR Fernsehen
(formerly known as WDF and West3) and six regional radio networks.
History
[
edit
]
Origins
[
edit
]
The Westdeutsche Funkstunde AG (WEFAG) was established on 15 September 1924.
There was a substantial purge of left wing staff following the
Nazi seizure of power
in 1933. This included
Ernst Hardt
,
Hans Stein
and
Walter Stern
.
One of WDR's buildings in Cologne
WDR was created in 1955, when
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
(NWDR) was split into
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
(NDR) – covering
Lower Saxony
, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hamburg – and Westdeutscher Rundfunk, responsible for North Rhine-Westphalia. WDR began broadcasting on two radio networks (one produced jointly with NDR) on 1 January 1956. WDR constitutes the most prominent example of regional broadcasting in Germany.
[1]
Directors
[
edit
]
- 1926?1933:
Ernst Hardt
, director general of WERAG
- 1933?1937: Heinrich Glasmeier, director general of "Reichssender Koln"
- 1937?1941: Anton Winkelnkemper, director general of "Reichssender Koln"
- 1942?1945: closed
- 1945?1947: Max Burghardt, director general of NWDR
- 1947?1961: Hanns Hartmann, director general of NWDR and since 1956 of WDR
- 1961?1976:
Klaus von Bismarck
- 1976?1985: Friedrich-Wilhelm von Sell
- 1985?1995:
Friedrich Nowottny
- 1995?2007:
Fritz Pleitgen
- 2007?2013:
Monika Piel
[2]
- since 1 July 2013:
Tom Buhrow
[3]
Logo history
[
edit
]
-
WDR's first and original logo used from 1956 to 1970.
-
WDR's second and former logo used from 1970 to 1994.
-
WDR's third and previous logo used from 1994 to 2012.
-
WDR's fourth and current logo since 2012.
Funding
[
edit
]
WDR 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 listener
licence fees
. As of 2023 the monthly fee due from each household for radio and television reception was €18.36.
[4]
These fees are collected not directly by WDR but by a
joint agency
of
ARD
(and its member institutions),
ZDF
, and
Deutschlandradio
.
Services
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
WDR began its regional television service, Westdeutsches Fernsehen (WDF), on 17 December 1965. On 27 August 1967, when West Germany broadcast its first color TV program, WDF used a live broadcast originating from a Bosch
outside broadcast
van to start broadcasting in color. In 1988, the channel was renamed West 3; since 1994, it has been known as
WDR Fernsehen
.
While the programmes are mainly run from their
Cologne
headquarters, they also have a number of sub-regional studios contributing to a regular broadcast called
Lokalzeit
with the opt-outs "aus Aachen" (
Aachen
), "OWL" (
Bielefeld
), "aus Bonn" (
Bonn
), "aus Dortmund" (
Dortmund
), "aus Dusseldorf" (
Dusseldorf
), "aus Duisburg" (
Duisburg
), "Ruhr" (
Essen
), "aus Koln" (
Cologne
and
Bonn
), "Munsterland" (
Munster
), "Sudwestfalen" (
Siegen
) and "Bergisches Land" (
Wuppertal
) for each respective region. WDR has its current affairs and regional politics studios in Dusseldorf.
It has served as the production entity for shows on Das Erste, such as
Verbotene Liebe
('Forbidden Love'), which, over the years, has introduced many young actors to the German audience, such as
Andreas Stenschke
,
Jo Weil
, Luca Zamperoni and Kay Boger. The
Sportschau
is produced for ARD in Cologne, and WDR contributes to
ARD Digital
,
3sat
and
arte
.
Radio
[
edit
]
Hallo U-Wagen
with
Carmen Thomas
in 1982
A long-running talk show on wheels was
Hallo U-Wagen
("Hello Radio Van"), which ran from 1974 to 2010 with
Carmen Thomas
as the original host.
WDR's main radio channels are available on FM and digital (DAB+), as well as via cable and satellite:
- 1LIVE
is a popular music channel modelled on
BBC Radio 1
and aimed at a young audience. Its schedules include such non-mainstream night-time programmes as
Heimatkult
, focusing on pop music from Germany, and
Lauschangriff
, a series of audio-books.
- WDR 2
, featuring adult-oriented popular music, focuses strongly on national and regional news, current affairs, and sport.
- WDR 3
, the cultural channel, offers mostly classical, jazz and world music as well as
radio drama
and spoken-word features dealing with literature and the performing arts.
- WDR 4
(motto:
Melodien fur ein gutes Gefuhl
, "Melodies for a good feeling") is a channel aimed chiefly towards an older audience. Its focus is on tuneful music ? in particular,
oldies
and
classic hits
: popular music of the 1960s to the 1980s or later ? with more specialized programming (operetta, country, folk) in the evenings. Around 30?40% of WDR 4's musical output is made up of
German-language
songs.
- WDR 5
features spoken-word programming with the focus on present-day culture and society. Between 6.05 and 9.45 each Monday to Saturday morning the channel offers news, background briefing, interviews, and correspondents' reports in a sequence entitled
Morgenecho
. The main lunchtime and early-evening news and current affairs programmes
Mittagsecho
(at 13.05?14.00 on Mondays to Fridays and 13.30?14.30 on Sundays) and
Echo des Tages
(at 18.30?19.00 daily) are both co-productions with
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
(NDR) in
Hamburg
. Additionally, WDR 2's 30-minute round-up of the day's most important news reports,
Berichte von heute
, is
simulcast
by WDR 5 on Monday to Friday evenings at 23.30. WDR 5 also carries children's radio programming from
KiRaKa
at 19.05?20.00 each evening as well as on Sundays at 7.05?8.00 and 14.05?15.00.
- COSMO
(earlier WDR 5 Funkhaus Europa ? an offshoot of WDR 5 ? and now a joint production of
Radio Bremen
,
RBB
, and WDR) is a channel principally aimed at serving immigrants and promoting integration. It features a wide selection of
world music
. It is not available over-the-air in every part of WDR's broadcasting area.
Broadcast only via DAB (Digital Radio) as well as DVB-S and partly DVB-C:
- 1LIVE diggi
? off-mainstream music and news from 1LIVE
- WDR Event
? program of events for special occasions
Former radio channels are:
- WDR 1
? Predecessor of 1 Live
- WDR 2 Klassik
? Contributions from WDR 2 with classical music, briefly replaced by the online service Mein WDR Radio after it was discontinued
- 1LIVE Kunst
? web radio with cultural themes and sophisticated pop music
- Radio Dortmund
? The first local radio station in North Rhine-Westphalia, which was started in 1985 as part of a cable pilot project. Radio Dortmund ran for nine years until WDR needed the frequency for a new WDR 2 "regional window".
- KiRaKa
? web radio for children aged 5 to 16
- WDR Info ? WDR data and news service with visual information
- WDR VERA
? full-length traffic news spoken non-stop by a computer
Musical organizations
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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Current members
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Former members
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Programmes
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Channels
| Main channels
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Current regional channels
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International channels
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Joint venture with ZDF
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Former
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Active
members
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Associate
members
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Approved
participants
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International
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National
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Other
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