Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...
's
public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations,
ARD.
Studios
Dornbusch Broadcasting House, in Bertramstraße, Frankfurt am Main, is home to HR's principal radio and television studios. There are additional radio and television studios in
Kassel and
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
, as well as further radio studios in
Darmstadt,
Fulda, and
Gießen. HR also maintains offices in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
,
Eltville,
Erbach Erbach may refer to:
Places
*Erbach im Odenwald, a town in Hesse, Germany
*Erbach an der Donau, a town on the Danube River in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
* Erbach, Rheingau, a district of Eltville, Hesse, Germany
* Erbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, a m ...
,
Limburg an der Lahn, and
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...
.
In 2000, HR opened studios on the 53rd floor of the
Main Tower in Frankfurt city centre. The corporation is also responsible for the management of ARD's studios in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
.
Finance
Licensing fees are currently €17.50 per month. Since 2013, every household has been liable for this fee, whether or not there are radio or TV receivers present. The fee is collected by ''
Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio''.
Programming
Television
HR contributes to the programming of the main German public-service broadcasting channel
Das Erste, and also to that of the associated
3sat,
ARTE,
KI.KA
KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...
, and
Phoenix (German TV station), Phoenix.
Like other regional public broadcasting corporations in Germany, HR has its own, regional "channel three" (i.e. in addition to the national ARD and
ZDF channels). From 1964 until 1983 this was known as ''Das Hessisches Fernsehprogramm'' ("The Hesse Television Programme"). It was then rebaptized as ''Hessen Drei'' ("Hesse Three"), before it was rebaptized ''hessen fernsehen'' ("Hesse Television") in 1997. Most recently, in October 2004 the channel became ''
hr-fernsehen
hr-fernsehen is the regional television channel of Hessischer Rundfunk for the state of Hesse, Germany.
Overview
The channel focuses on regional reporting. In addition to the afternoon programme ''hallo hessen'' and the weeknightly tabloid mag ...
''. Since December 2013 the channel has also been available in
HDTV
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
.
Radio
hr1
hr1 plays almost exclusively
middle of the road and
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...
music, chiefly from the 1965 to 1985 era, and is aimed at a 40- to 60-year-old demographic. Until 2004 hr1 had been HR's main information channel.
hr2-kultur
hr2-kultur is HR's cultural and classical-music radio channel.
hr3
hr3
hr3 is a German, public radio station owned and operated by the Hessischer Rundfunk
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of ...
is an adult-oriented popular music programme. Relaunched in the early 80s as a service targeted principally at young people, the station has aged together with its audience.
hr4
hr4
hr4 is a German, public radio station owned and operated by the Hessischer Rundfunk
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of ...
is aimed at an older listenership. It broadcasts regional news and German popular music (''
schlagers
Schlager music (, " hit(s)") is a style of European popular music that is generally a catchy instrumental accompaniment to vocal pieces of pop music with simple, happy-go-lucky, and often sentimental lyrics.
Typical Schlager tracks are eith ...
'') and "evergreens", as well as instrumental music, folk, and light classical music.
hr-iNFO
hr-info is a 24-hour
news radio. On weekday daytime, it provides rolling news, with bulletins every 20 minutes. At all other times (except overnight), it broadcasts special in-depth-reports on a range of topics, alongside a quick news summary every half-hour.
YOU FM
YOU FM is HR's music programme for young people. It has also become famous outside of Hesse and Germany for its Saturday night techno music transmissions.
Former radio channels
*
hr-klassik
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...
– classical music programme (closed September 2005)
*
hr XXL
hr XXL was a German, public radio station owned and operated by the Hessischer Rundfunk
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member ...
– independent music programme for young people (1998–2003, now replaced by
YOU FM)
*
hr-chronos – information programme (closed 2003)
*
hr-skyline – business-oriented information programme (1998–2004), now replaced by
hr-info)
Musical organizations
Hessischer Rundfunk maintains three resident ensembles:
*
hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony) – Founded in 1929 by HR's predecessor, the Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst (1924–33), the orchestra is an internationally renowned ensemble. Its 112 musicians perform the whole spectrum of symphonic music dating from the Baroque era to the present day, initiating various new forms of presentation as well as undertaking experimental projects. Although the orchestra is based in Frankfurt, working principally in the German State of Hesse, it is a frequent guest at important international festivals and regularly tours the world. Since the 2014/2015 season
Andrés Orozco-Estrada has been the orchestra's
chief conductor. Important predecessors have included
Dean Dixon
Charles Dean Dixon (January 10, 1915November 3, 1976) was an American conductor.
Career
Dixon was born in the upper-Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in New York City to parents who had earlier migrated from the Caribbean. He studied conducting ...
,
Eliahu Inbal
Eliahu Inbal (born 16 February 1936, Jerusalem) is an Israeli conductor.
Inbal studied violin at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with Paul Ben-Haim. Upon hearing him there, Leonard Bernstein endorsed a scholarship for ...
,
Dmitri Kitayenko,
Hugh Wolff, and
Paavo Järvi.
*
hr-Bigband
The hr-Bigband is the big band of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. Founded 1946 as Tanz- und Unterhaltungsorchester des Hessischen Rundfunks it was renamed to hr Big Band in 1972. Since 2005 it is ...
(Frankfurt Radio Big Band) – The Frankfurt Radio Big Band started life in 1946 as the Radio Frankfurt Dance Orchestra. Since the 1970s it has developed into a jazz big band with the focus on concerts. The Frankfurt Radio Big Band plays approximately 50 concerts every year, performing in every possible jazz-style as well as crossing over into classic, pop, ethno-, and electronic music. After three years as the band's artist in residence,
Jim McNeely
Jim McNeely (born May 18, 1949) is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and faculty.
Biography
Jim McNeely was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City in 1975. ...
assumed the position of chief conductor in 2011.
* hr-Jazzensemble – In 1958 the German All-Stars led by
Albert Mangelsdorff
Albert Mangelsdorff (September 5, 1928 – July 25, 2005) was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics.
Early life
Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt on September 5, 1928, as the son of the book ...
became the ''Jazztett des Hessischen Rundfunks'' or alternatively the ''Albert Mangelsdorff Jazztett'', then finally the ''Jazzensemble des Hessischen Rundfunks'', today called the hr-Jazzensemble. The initial idea for a steadily working studio jazz band came from
Horst Lippmann
Horst Lippmann (17 March 1927 in Eisenach, Germany – 18 May 1997 in Frankfurt am Main) was a German jazz musician, concert promoter, writer and television director, best known as promoter of the influential American Folk Blues Festival tours of ...
. With regular studio recording dates but only seldom live appearances and album releases they initially played arrangements by
Joki Freund but increasingly original compositions by
Heinz Sauer
Heinz Sauer (born December 25, 1932, Merseburg) is a German jazz saxophonist.
Sauer was an autodidact on tenor saxophone and began his career playing locally around Frankfurt in the 1950s. He played for many years in Albert Mangelsdorff's ensemb ...
,
Günter Lenz
Günter Lenz (born 25 July 1938) is a German jazz bassist and composer.
Activities
Lenz was born in Frankfurt am Main. He first taught himself guitar and studied with Carlo Bohländer, playing jazz in the clubs of the U.S. Army from 1954 on ...
, and
Ralf Hübner who all joined in 1961 and in the 1970s also experimented with electronic and computerized sounds and later with sampling techniques. Albert Mangelsdorff, who led the ensemble until his death in 2005, his brother
Emil
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
, Freund and
Peter Trunk were part of the initial line-up,
Bob Degen
Bob Degen Jr (born January 24, 1944 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American jazz pianist. Much of his work has been in the trio format.
Life and Career
Degen was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1944. Both of his parents wer ...
and
Christof Lauer
Christof Lauer (born 25 May 1953) is a German jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist, born in Melsungen, Germany, perhaps most well known in Europe where he has done projects with various musicians, such as Palle Danielsson, Carla Bley, came during the 1970s, all staying over decades. The ensemble could also invite guest musicians especially from the United States like
Sonny Rollins,
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre ...
,
Jimmy Giuffre,
Joe Henderson,
Terri Lyne Carrington and
Bill Frisell; European guests were among others
Alan Skidmore
Alan Richard James Skidmore (born 21 April 1942) is an English jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore.
Career
He was born in London, England. Skidmore began his professional career in his teens, and early in his caree ...
,
Tomasz Stańko,
Eberhard Weber,
Joachim Kühn,
Marc Ducret,
Simon Nabatov
Simon Nabatov (born 11 January 1959) is a Russian-American jazz pianist.
Early life
Nabatov was born in Moscow on 11 January 1959. His parents were Leon, a professional pianist and choir conductor who was a native of Belarus, and Regina. Nabatov ...
, and
Theodosii Spassov. A retrospective double album that documented their work from 1967 to 1993 was awarded with the
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1995.
Notable programmes
* Abendstudio (1948–2003)
*
Die Hesselbachs (1949–1967)
*
Chippie
''Chippie'' (''hr2-Computermagazin'') was a German radio program. It was one of the first programs on computer topics, produced by the Hessischer Rundfunk (Hessian Broadcasting).
History
''Chippie'' started in 1990. At first it was broadcast t ...
(1990–1995)
Notable programme hosts
*
Peter Frankenfeld
Peter Frankenfeld (born ''Willi Julius August Frankenfeldt'' on 31 May 1913 in Berlin – 4 January 1979 in Hamburg) was a German comedian, radio and television personality.
After World War II he became an interpreter with the U.S. military gov ...
*
Bernhard Grzimek
Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek (; 24 April 1909 – 13 March 1987) was a German zoo director, zoologist, book author, editor, and animal conservationist in postwar West Germany.
Biography
Early years and education
Grzimek was born in Neisse (N ...
*
Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff
Transmitters
*
Biedenkopf: FM
* Darmstadt Weiterstadt/Darmbach: FM
* Frankfurt (Funkhaus Bertramstraße): FM
* Frankfurt-Main-Tower: FM
* Großer Feldberg: DAB, DVB-T, FM
* Hardberg am Odenwald: FM
*
Hoher Meißner
The Hoher Meißner is a mountain massif with a height of 753.6 m and is located in the '' Meißner-Kaufunger Wald'' nature park in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
The Hoher Meißner is densely forested and covers an area of 10 km by 5 km. ...
: FM
* Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe: FM
* Marburg: FM
*
Rimberg: DAB, DVB-T, FM
* Schlüchtern: FM
* Würzberg: DVB-T, FM
Internet streaming
Each of HR's six radio channels is streamed online.
References
External links
*
{{coord, 50, 08, 08, N, 8, 40, 32, E, region:DE-HE_type:landmark, display=title
ARD (broadcaster)
German-language television networks
Television networks in Germany
Mass media companies of Germany
Mass media in Frankfurt
Mass media in Hesse
Radio stations in Germany
Television stations in Germany
1948 establishments in Germany