''Hallo Ü-Wagen'' (''Hello Radio Van'') was a German travelling

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

show of the WDR. It was presented and directed weekly by

Carmen Thomas Carmen Thomas (born 7 May 1946) is a German journalist, radio and television presenter, author and lecturer. On television, she was the first woman to present the ZDF's ''das aktuelle Sportstudio''. She worked for public radio, running '' Hallo ...

from 1974 to 1994. In 1990, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' named her one of the 100 most influential women in Germany for running it. The series continued until 2010.

History

Carmen Thomas began directing and presenting ''Hallo Ü-Wagen'' in 1974. The radio van travelled weekly as a "show on wheels" to different locations, where topics suggested by listeners were discussed with experts in live interviews, with the audience at the location and with listeners via telephone. Hallo Uewagen 2

First broadcast on 5 December 1974, the show was aired regularly each Thursday from 9:20 a.m. to noon on

WDR 2 WDR 2 is a radio station owned and operated by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) public broadcasting organization in Germany. It focuses on contemporary pop and rock music for an adult audience and on information. It is also WDR's broadcast sport ev ...

. From January 1995, it was aired by WDR 5, first at the same time, then on Saturday from 11:05 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Thomas was followed by Jan Seemann from 1995, and by Julitta Münch from September 1997. The series continued until 18 December 2010. Afterwards, only individual presentations of the format were aired for specific occasions.

Format

For each broadcast, a radio van (''Übertragungswagen'', abbreviated ''Ü-Wagen'') of the public broadcaster

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) 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 conso ...

(WDR) travelled to a place in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

, often a town, for a live broadcast. The van was nicknamed ''Violetta'' because of its colour. A presenter moderated the airing, dedicated to a topic which was normally chosen by the listeners, but sometimes was changed due to political events. Depending on the theme, experts and involved people were invited, sometimes well-known personalities in society, politics and sports. Each airing began with the reading of feedback to previous broadcasts. After the presenter introduced the new topic in dialogue with people who came to the van's location, the invited experts and guests were introduced and asked to comment on the topic, leading to a discussion among the experts, the live audience and the radio listeners by telephone. Occasionally, live music became part of the airing. The broadcast was interrupted for news.

Legacy

'' magazine named Thomas one of the 100 most influential women in Germany in 1990 for ''Hallo Ü-Wagen''. , a WDR moderator, called her journalistic work in ''Hallo Ü-Wagen'' a model for his live interview series '.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallo U-Wagen German talk radio programs 1974 radio programme debuts Westdeutscher Rundfunk 2010 radio programme endings