From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The WDR building in Cologne

The Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR, official "Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln") 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 national television channel Das Erste, WDR produces the regional television service WDR Fernsehen (formerly known as WDF and West3) and six regional radio channels.

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

WDR was created in 1955, when Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) was split into Norddeutscher Rundfunk – covering Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Hamburg – and Westdeutscher Rundfunk, responsible for North Rhine-Westphalia. WDR began broadcasting on two radio channels on 1 January 1956.

WDR began its regional television service, Westdeutsches Fernsehen (WDF), on 17 December 1965. 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 Köln headquarters, they also have a number of regional studios performing a regular broadcast called Lokalzeit with "Regio Aachen" (Aachen), "OWL aktuell" (Bielefeld), "aus Dortmund" (Dortmund), "aus Düsseldorf" (Düsseldorf), "Ruhr" (Essen), "Köln" (Köln and Bonn), "Münsterland" (Münster), "Südwestfalen" (Siegen) and "Bergisches Land" (Wuppertal) added for the respective region. Arrangements are being made to install studios in Bonn and Duisburg.

Apart from the WDR Fernsehen channel, WDR also contributes broadcasts to the ARD network.

• 1LIVE (previously: L1VE - Radio Eins Live; prior to 1995: WDR 1) - popular music aimed at a young audience modelled after BBC Radio 1. Special non-mainstream nighttime programmes such as "Heimatkult" with pop music from Germany or "Lauschangriff", a series of audio-books.

• WDR 2 - claim: Der Sender (The Station) - adult-oriented popular music, strong emphasis on national and regional news and current affairs.

• WDR 3 - mostly classical, jazz and world music, some spoken-word features on culture and drama.

• WDR 4 - claim: Schönes bleibt (The beautiful endures) - mostly oriented toward senior citizens, mainly melodic German language music.

• WDR 5 (previously: WDR Radio 5) - spoken-word programme with a focus on culture and society.

• Funkhaus Europa 103,3 (previously: WDR 5 Funkhaus Europa) - originally an offshoot of WDR 5, now a joint programme with Radio Bremen targeted at foreigners and immigrants and promoting integration efforts, with a more general world music selection. Not available over-the-air in all parts of WDR's licensed area.

All WDR radio stations are available on FM, cable, satellite and digital. WDR 2 is broadcast on two AM stations, 720 and 774 kHz, with even longer traffic announcements and the possibility to opt out for coverage from Parliament.

Despite the fact that WDR is a public broadcaster that receives a lot of its funds through licence fees, 1LIVE, WDR 2 and WDR 4 carry commercials during the day Mondays through Saturdays.

WDR also produces several experimental digital radio channels, which are mostly variations on 1LIVE and WDR2.

See also: German television

• Official link

• 1Live, 128 kBit/s
• 1Live diggi, 128 kBit/s
• 1Live Kunst, 128 kBit/s
• WDR2
• WDR3
• WDR4
• WDR5