Günther Schifter (23 December 1923 – 11 August 2008) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n journalist, radio presenter and record collector. Born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Schifter started collecting 78s of the

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

of the interwar years already as a boy. American popular music was banned by the authorities as '' Negermusik''; Schifter was arrested at a dance in December 1944 and interned at Oberlanzendorf until 2 April 1945. After the war, he played

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

in occupied Austria, becoming, in 1949, one of the first

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s on Austrian

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

. From 1967 to 2000 Schifter had a weekly radio programme, ''Günther Schifters Schellacks'', where he played 78s from his vast personal archives (including, for example, more than 100

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of W.C. Handy's " St. Louis Blues") while always refusing to resort to reissues of older material on

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

s, audiotape or, later, CDs. In between songs Schifter developed his style of giving enjoyable history lessons. Ousted by the Austrian state radio ( ORF) in 2000 due to a switch to the more commercial music radio format, Schifter continued broadcasting for a while from

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He died on 11 August 2008, aged 84, in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

References

External links

*Günther Schifter
"Unterhaltung in den vierziger Jahren"
("Entertainment during the 1940s") (1998) (an essay very similar to his radio show; in German).
''Howdy! Günther Schifter''
an Internet exhibition (2006) by the Austrian Mediathek. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schifter, Gunther 1923 births 2008 deaths Journalists from Vienna 20th-century Austrian journalists Austrian expatriates in Germany

See also

References

External links