Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the

public broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

for the

federal states A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, with regional studios in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

and

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

. MDR is a member of the ARD consortium of public broadcasters in Germany. MDR broadcasts its own television channel to the three states it serves and also contributes programming to the first German TV channel ( Das Erste), and broadcasts a number of radio channels.

History

Origins

The Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk AG (MIRAG) was founded on 22 January 1924 in

. It aired its first program on 1 March 1924 at 14:30 CET. During the '' Gleichschaltung'' in the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

era, the MIRAG was transferred to the "Reichssender Leipzig" in 1934. After the end of the Second World War, the

Soviet Military Administration in Germany The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (russian: Советская военная администрация в Германии, СВАГ; ''Sovyetskaya Voyennaya Administratsiya v Germanii'', SVAG; german: Sowjetische Militäradministrat ...

temporarily licensed "Radio Leipzig" in 1945, which only existed for a few months until the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk was founded again. In 1946 the new program "Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Sender Leipzig" started in the Springerstrasse broadcasting house. In September 1952, the "Sender Leipzig" program was converted to the "Berlin III" entertainment program. In 1956 the regional program of Radio DDR (English: Radio GDR), "Sender Leipzig", was introduced. On 31 May 1991, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) was founded as public broadcaster serving

and

, and became a member of ARD. In August 2022 Ines Hoge-Lorenz, the managing director of the regional state branch of

of the MDR was sacked because of her family ties to a corruption scandal ten years ago.

Studios and staff

MDR has approximately 2,000 employees. The main television studio is in

, and the main radio studio is in Halle. There are also radio and TV studios in each of the three state capitals for the territory that MDR represents:

(Saxony),

(Thuringia), and

(Saxony-Anhalt).

Finances

In 2012 87% of MDR's total annual income of €684,529,979 was derived from the licence fees payable by all households at the rate of €17,50 (per month). These fees are not collected directly by MDR but by the Beitragsservice ("fee collection service") owned jointly by ARD (and its members), the second television network

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

, and the national radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio.

TV and radio channels

MDR produces programming independently and in collaboration with other broadcasters, for transmission by a number of television and radio networks.

Television channels

MDR Fernsehen MDR Fernsehen is a regional public service television channel owned and operated by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and serving Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ) ...

- third TV channel for central Germany, with regional programming for

and

MDR also contributes programming to the following: * Das Erste - Germany's main public TV network *

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

- a station mainly broadcasting documentaries, special events and discussions, jointly run by ARD and

KiKa 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 ...

- children's network jointly run by ARD and ZDF *

arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...

- a Franco-German cultural channel * 3sat - cultural network from ARD, ZDF,

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

(Austrian Broadcasting), and SRG (Swiss Broadcasting)

Radio channels

* MDR Sachsen (MDR Saxony) - regional programming for Saxony * MDR Sachsen-Anhalt (MDR Saxony-Anhalt) - regional programming for Saxony-Anhalt * MDR Thüringen (MDR Thuringia) - regional programming for Thuringia * MDR Jump - pop music *

MDR Kultur MDR Kultur is a German public radio station owned and operated by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt i ...

- culture & spoken word programming and regional classical music * MDR Aktuell - 24h news and information (AM broadcasts ceased on 30 April 2013) * MDR Sputnik - youth oriented music station. Formerly DT64 cultural youth channel of

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

broadcasting organisation. (FM in Saxony-Anhalt only, internet, DAB+ elsewhere) *

MDR Klassik MDR Klassik is a German public radio station owned and operated by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-A ...

(DAB+ and internet streaming only) - classical music * MDR Schlagerwelt (DAB+ and internet streaming only) - schlager music and easy listening * MDR Tweens (DAB+ and internet streaming only) - children's programming

Musical organizations

The MDR operates two musical organizations and a ballet corps. The

MDR Symphony Orchestra MDR may refer to: Biology * MDR1, an ATP-dependent cellular efflux pump affording multiple drug resistance * Mammalian Diving reflex * Medical device reporting * Multiple drug resistance, when a microorganism has become resistant to multiple drug ...

(German: MDR Sinfonieorchester) was founded in 1915 as "Orchester des Konzertvereins" ("Orchestra of the Concert Society"). It became the "Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig" ("Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig") in 1924. Principal conductors have included Herbert Kegel,

Wolf-Dieter Hauschild Wolf-Dieter Hauschild (born 6 September 1937 in Greiz), is a German conductor, choirmaster, artistic director, composer, harpsichordist and university lecturer. After working for the Berliner Rundfunk from 1971, he was principal conductor of th ...

, Daniel Nazareth and

Fabio Luisi Fabio Luisi (born 17 January 1959) is an Italian conductor. He is currently principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. B ...

. Since September 2007,

Jun Märkl Jun Märkl (born 11 February 1959 in Munich) is a German conductor. Biography Born to a Japanese pianist mother and a German violinist father, Märkl studied piano and the violin as a youth. Beginning in 1978 at the Musikhochschule Hannover he co ...

is the orchestra's principal conductor. The later

MDR Rundfunkchor MDR Rundfunkchor is the radio choir of the German broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), based in Leipzig, Saxony. Dating back to 1924, the choir became the radio choir of a predecessor of the MDR in 1946, then called Kammerchor des Senders L ...

(MDR radio choir) was founded in 1946 as the Rundfunkchor Leipzig ("Leipzig Radio Choir"). The MDR managed MDR TV Ballet (German: MDR Fernsehballett), the only TV ballet company in Europe. It was founded in 1962 as ''DFF-Fernsehballet'', reorganized in 1992, and has 30 members. MDR sold the Ballet in 2012. It's now known as ''Deutsches Fernsehballett''.

Transmitters

MDR does not own its own transmission towers. They are owned and operated by

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

Podcasts

Several podcasts produced by MDR are available through the

iTunes Music Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...

and via RSS. They are essentially repeats of regular radio programmes, including: "Figaro," "MDR Info," "Programming Highlights," "Riverboat," "Sputnik" and "Unter uns."

Administration

From 1991 to 2011 the Managing Director was , followed by Karola Wille.

Popular MDR productions

MDR produces several programs for the ARD, including crime drama episodes for the series ''

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed b ...

'' ("Crime Scene") and ''

Polizeiruf 110 ''Polizeiruf 110'' ("Police call 110") is a long-running German-language detective television series likened to Poirot. The name links to the emergency telephone number of the ''Volkspolizei''. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the ...

'' ("Police Emergency 110"). MDR also produces the successful hospital series ''

In aller Freundschaft (''In all friendship'') is a German television soap opera that began airing in 1998 every Tuesday. The series follows the staff of the fictional Sachsenklinik hospital in the city of Leipzig. The series is produced by Degeto (a subsidiary of ...

'' ("In friendship") and the animal series ''Abenteuer Zoo'' ("Adventure Zoo"), ''Deutschlands wilde Tiere'' ("Germany's Wild Animals") and ''Europas wilder Osten'' ("Europe's Wild East").

References

External links

MDR Homepage
{{Authority control ARD (broadcaster) Mass media companies of Germany Television networks in Germany Television stations in Germany Radio stations in Germany German-language television networks German news websites Television channels and stations established in 1991 Mass media in Leipzig 1991 establishments in Germany