NPR Berlin was the first international affiliate of the American public radio network,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. The station started broadcasting in April 2006. It replaced a radio station from

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

that previously broadcast on the 104.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

frequency. The affiliate was operated by NPR Media Berlin gGmbH, a German nonprofit organization of which NPR is the sole shareholder. NPR Berlin was in the unique position of being the only NPR affiliate with a broadcast area outside the United States. Although stations in the

Armed Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which in ...

also carry some NPR programming, they are not NPR affiliates. The station was at the time the only NPR station directly operated by NPR itself. A web stream launched on 2 August 2010 and ended on 2 October 2017.

Financing

Much like NPR stations in the States, the station depended on

tax-deductible Tax deduction is a reduction of income that is able to be taxed and is commonly a result of expenses, particularly those incurred to produce additional income. Tax deductions are a form of tax incentives, along with exemptions and tax credits. T ...

donation A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as ...

s from its listeners to operate.

Pledge drive A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term "pledge" originates from the promise that a contributor makes to send in funding at regular interval ...

s took place twice a year. If the station fell short on listener funding, the difference was made up by NPR headquarters. In 2010, the station's pledge drive resulted in 92 listeners donating around €8000. NPR spent $181,443 on the station in fiscal year 2015. NPR's financial statements published in December 2016 included the following statement about their operations in Berlin:

Management is pursuing options that will reduce the financial subsidy provided by NPR Inc. to NPR Media Berlin, including relinquishing the FM radio station license and closing NPR Media Berlin."

Programming

Most of NPR Berlin's schedule consisted of syndicated NPR programming and some live shows. Its original content was limited to a show called ''Berlin Journal'' (airing infrequently) and features like ''Events Calendar'', ''Life in Berlin'' and ''Berlin Stories''. The station also carried some English-language output from partners like Deutsche Welle.

Shutdown

In the first quarter of 2017, NPR returned its broadcast license to the regulator, Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB), to take effect as of 1 October 2017. NPR planned to become solely a content provider to the station. The station's broadcasting license was originally planned to last until 31 March 2020. MABB invited tenders for a new operator of the frequency on 12 April 2017. The new license was valid for a maximum of seven years. MABB awarded the frequency to KCRW Berlin on 14 September 2017. It began broadcasting on 16 October 2017 and the schedule was expected to include locally produced speech and music programming. Some NPR magazine content such as ''All Things Considered'' and ''Morning Edition'' were still part of the schedule. ''KCRW Berlin'', which closed in 2020, was a subsidiary of 89.9

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

in Santa Monica - Los Angeles.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct radio stations in Germany NPR member stations 2006 establishments in Germany Radio stations established in 2006 2017 disestablishments in Germany Radio stations disestablished in 2017