SWR2 Archivradio, commonly referred to as Archivradio, is an

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

network by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

public broadcasting 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 ...

corporation SWR. It specialises in streaming historic original sounds, interviews, speeches in German language from German audio archives. The web radio stream is accompanied by a web portal which provides written information about the currently aired sound segment.

Content

A major principle of Archivradio is that original sounds are unedited and played back in full length. Typical topics in the past have been original recordings by the East German secret police

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

, the complete proceedings of the first literature congress in Berlin after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(Erster Deutscher Schriftstellerkongress) or sounds from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, most of them recorded on

Phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engra ...

s. Archivradio also gives a voice to the archivists. They appear in interviews about the specific topics of the program. The internet radio consists mainly of spoken word and only broadcasts music in a specific context. Archivradio has no typical presenter; there is only a speaker who briefly announces each title, the date and the source.

History

Archivradio was initiated by the German public radio journalist Maximilian Schönherr and his colleague at SWR Detlef Clas in summer 2007. Schönherr's first test streams with unedited interviews from his own archive took place in 2003. The

German Broadcasting Archive The German Broadcasting Archive (''Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv''; DRA) is a non-profit foundation supported by the ARD. It was founded in 1952 as "German sound archive". The DRA covers essential aspects of the development of German broadcasting. Today ...

DRA, a non-profit foundation supported by the ARD with the largest treasures of historic original sounds in Germany, officially supports Archivradio. In 2010 the channel passed the "Drei-Stufen-Test" (three steps test), crucial for continuously staying on air. The three steps test is the certificate that Archivradio is of public and educational value and works within uncommercial limits. The funding comes from SWR2, the educational and culture FM channel of SWR. The main target audiences are historians, academics, teachers and students with historic interest. In several cases audio segments aired via Archivradio created spin-offs like

radio documentaries A radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A radio documentary, or feature, covers a topic in depth from one or ...

. Two of them received the "Deutscher Hörbuchpreis" (German audio book award) and the award for best documentary at Radio Basel, Switzerland.''Die Stammheim-Tonbänder''

References

External links

Archivradio
– programme website at German public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk {{Portal bar, Radio, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate Radio stations in Germany Südwestrundfunk