Deutscher Fernsehfunk
Encyclopedia
Deutscher Fernsehfunk known from 1972 to 1990 as Fernsehen der DDR (DDR-FS), was the state television
broadcaster in East Germany.
, with television being considered low on the priority list when compiling Five-Year Plans during the industrialisation
of the 1950s. In Germany
, the situation was different as East and West Germany were in competition over available frequencies for broadcasts and for viewers across the Iron Curtain
. The West German Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
(NWDR) had made early plans to begin television broadcasts in its area, which originally included West Berlin. The first western test broadcasts were made in 1950.
The GDR authorities therefore also made an early start with television and began construction of a television centre in Adlershof
on 11 June 1950. The GDR television service began experimental test broadcasts on 20 December 1951. The NWDR announced plans to begin a regular television service from Hamburg
starting with Christmas 1952. This spurred the East German authorities into further action.
A relay transmitter in the centre of East Berlin
was built in February 1952 and connected to Adlershof on 3 June. On 16 November, the first television sets were made available to the public at 3500 East German mark
s each.
Regular public programming, although still described as testing, began on 21 December 1952 - Joseph Stalin
's birthday - with two hours a day of programmes. Continuity announcer Margit Schaumäker welcomed viewers at 20:00 and introduced the station's logo - the Brandenburg Gate
. Speeches by senior figures in the television organisation followed, then the first edition of the East German national news programme, Aktuelle Kamera
, presented by Herbert Köfer.
Party
policy in East Germany was to censor the "mass media
". As television had a limited audience, it was not classed as a mass medium and therefore Aktuelle Kamera was, at first, uncensored and even critical. This situation changed after the television service reported accurately on the uprising
in East Germany on 17 June 1953. The director was removed and news was then sourced from official outlets.
Technology and TV studios also extended quickly. In the summer of 1953, Studio I was opened at Adlershof. In 1955 the first mobile transmission unit and a third broadcasting studio were added to the system.
On 2 January 1956 the "official test program" of the television centre in Berlin ended, and on 3 January the national Deutsche Fernsehfunk (German Television Broadcasting - DFF) began transmitting.
The new television service was deliberately not called "GDR Television", as the intention was to provide an all-German service, as was the case with the west. However, the geography of Germany prevented this - despite placing high-power transmitters in border areas, the GDR could not penetrate the whole of West Germany. West German broadcasts (particularly ARD
) easily reached most of East Germany except for the extreme south-east (most notably Dresden
, the area being in a deep valley, leading to its old East German nickname of "Tal der Ahnungslosen", or "Valley of the Clueless") and the extreme north-east (around Rügen
, Greifswald
, Neubrandenburg
and beyond).
By the end of 1958, there were over 300,000 television sets in the GDR.
News and political programming on DFF was usually scheduled not to clash with similar programming on Western channels (as most viewers would probably have preferred the western programmes). For example, the main news program, Aktuelle Kamera
, was scheduled at 19:30, between ZDF
's heute
at 19:00 and ARD's Tagesschau
at 20:00. Popular entertainment programming (such as Ein Kessel Buntes
) was scheduled to clash with Western news or current affairs programmes in the hope of discouraging viewers from watching the Western programmes. Other popular items (such as films) were scheduled before or after propaganda programmes like Der schwarze Kanal
in the hope that viewers tuning in early to catch the film would see the programme.
From 7 October 1958, DFF introduced morning programmes - repeats of the previous night's programming for shift workers, broadcast under the title "Wir wiederholen für Spätarbeiter" ("We repeat for late workers").
DFF/DDR-FS produced a number of educational programmes for use in schools, including programmes on chemistry, history, local history and geography, literature, physics, civics and Russian. Also produced was "ESP": Einführung in die sozialistische Produktion ("An introduction to Socialist production") and an English-learners course, English for You. Many of these programmes are archived and are available from the DRA in Babelsberg.
The Monday evening feature film (usually an entertainment movie from the 1930s/40s) was one of the more popular items on DFF.
(the little Sandman) from radio. Both East and West television ran versions of this idea: an animated film that told a children's story and then and sent them to bed before the programmes for adults began at 19:00. With several generations of children growing up with the Sandman, it has remained a popular childhood memory.
The West version was discontinued by the ARD upon reunification; however, stations in the former GDR continued to play clips from the East's Sandman every night, and RBB still continues the practice as does KIKA
. The character plays an important background role in the popular 2003 tragicomedy
film Good Bye Lenin!
, symbolising the feelings of loss of the main character played by Daniel Brühl
.
After the construction of the Berlin Wall
in August 1961, the GDR began a programme to attempt to prevent its citizens from watching broadcasts from the western ARD. The GDR had its diplomatic hands tied: jamming
the broadcasts with any degree of effectiveness would also interfere with reception within West Germany (breaching treaties and inviting retaliation). Instead, the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth
), the official youth movement in the GDR, started the campaign "Blitz contra Natosender" - "Lightning against NATO's transmitters" - to encourage young people to remove or turn away aerials
pointing at the west
. The term Republikfluchtigen (defection by television) was sometimes used to describe the widespread practice of viewing Westfernsehen (Western TV). Nevertheless, people continued to watch ARD broadcasts, leading to Der schwarze Kanal
.
SÉCAM
colour standard, common in the Eastern Bloc, while West Germany had settled on the PAL
standard. Mutual reception in black and white remained possible as the basic television standard was the same and remained that way. However, colour sets were not widely available in the East and when they could be obtained, many people altered television sets to be dual standard and allow reception in colour of West German programming. Later East German manufacturers made dual standard sets.
The introduction of DFF2 marked an increase in the hours of broadcasting overall.
On 11 February 1972, the DFF was renamed, dropping the pretense of being an all-German service and becoming Fernsehen der DDR - GDR Television or DDR-FS. The previous name survived in episodes of The Sandman, which were repeated quite often.
Since DFF2/DDR-F2 only broadcast in the evening for most of its lifespan, special transmissions could easily be made in the afternoon for special events.
by Moscow
was a source of pride for the Eastern Bloc. However, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
in 1979 had caused outrage in the west, leading to a boycott of the games by 64 western-aligned nations.
DDR-FS therefore wished to present colour pictures of the games to West Germany, which was part of the boycott, and a programme of experimental transmissions in PAL was instituted (while dual standard sets were the norm in the East in order to watch Western programmes, the Western population had little inclination to buy dual standard sets to watch Eastern programmes). However, little came of these experiments. By 1985 there were 6,078,500 licensed televisions, or 36.5 for every 100 persons.
satellite was launched, providing television programming to much of Europe and northern Africa, and even eastern parts of the Americas. The programmes of all the Eastern European socialist republics, including DDR-F1, were broadcast on the satellite.
However, the plan was not successful as the GDR itself began to dissolve under economic and popular political pressure brought about by the reforms
in Moscow under Mikhail Gorbachev
.
At first, DDR-FS stuck to the party line and barely reported the mass protests in the country. However, after Erich Honecker
was removed from office on 18 October 1989 and the rule of the SED began to break down, DDR-FS reformed their programmes to replace eastern propaganda by western propaganda and to report the political uproar freely. The main propaganda programme, Der schwarze Kanal
(The Black Channel) - which ran West German TV news items with an explanatory commentary informing viewers of the "real" stories and meanings behind the pictures and generally criticising Western media (Particularly ARD and ZDF) - stopped on 30 October 1989.
By the time the borders opened on 9 November, the main news programme on DDR2 was being produced without censorship or interference, and so it covered the events in full. In recognition of its reliable coverage, the programme was re-broadcast on the West German channel 3sat
. DDR-FS joined the 3sat consortium in February 1990.
DDR-FS became almost completely separate from the state apparatus, starting a number of new programme strands, including a free and open debate programme on Thursdays, complete with critical phone-in contributions from viewers. At first this had to be handled very carefully, as the Stasi
- the state secret police - were still operating and had an office in the studios.
In February 1990, the Volkskammer
passed a media resolution defining DDR-FS as a politically independent public broadcasting system. A law passed by the Volkskammer in September 1990 made this a legal requirement. On 4 March 1990, emphasising the change and reflecting the forthcoming reunification, DDR1 and DDR2 were renamed back to DFF1 and DFF2.
With reunification approaching, the former Länder
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg
, Saxony
, Saxony-Anhalt
and Thuringia
) that had been abolished in 1952 were resurrected and regional broadcasting was slowly reintroduced.
reserves broadcasting as a matter for the German states (Länder), the Federal Government was not permitted to continue to run a broadcasting service. Article 36 of the Unification Treaty (Einigungsvertrag) between the two German states (signed on 31 August 1990) required that DFF was to be dissolved by 31 December 1991 and that the former West German television broadcasting system be extended to replace it.
On 15 December 1990, the ARD's Das Erste
channel took over the frequencies of DFF1. Das Erste had regional opt-outs during the first part of the evening, but the former GDR did not have ARD broadcasters to fill these spaces. Therefore, until 31 December 1991, DFF1 continued to provide programmes in these slots:
The dissolution of DFF and its replacement by Länder-based ARD broadcasters remained controversial throughout the process.
Employees of the DFF were worried about job prospects in the new broadcasters and also had a loyalty to the DFF. Viewers, accustomed to the DFF's programming, were concerned at the loss of favourite shows and the choice most viewers had between West and East channels. The new Länder considered keeping a form of DFF running as the equivalent to the ARD members' "third programme" in other regions. However, political opinion was against centralisation and in favour of the new devolved system brought in from the west.
Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia agreed to pool their broadcasts into Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
(MDR), an ARD member broadcaster based in Leipzig. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg and Berlin considered pooling their broadcasts into Nordostdeutschen Rundfunkanstalt - Northeast German Broadcasting (NORA). Another alternative was for Brandenburg and Berlin to consolidate and for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to have its own broadcaster.
No agreement could be reached between the three Länder; Mecklenburg therefore joined the existing Norddeutscher Rundfunk
(NDR), while the existing Sender Freies Berlin
(SFB) expanded to the whole of the city and a new broadcaster, Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg
(ORB) was launched for Brandenburg. The new organisations began transmissions on 1 January 1992. On 1 May 2003, SFB and ORB merged to form Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
(RBB).
channels over its history.
DFF 1 signed off for the final time on Saturday, 15 December 1990 and became Das Erste. DFF 2 was forced to carry former DFF 1 programming under the name DFF-Länderkette. DFF finally became defunct on Tuesday, December 31, 1991.
Eventually (around 1960), the channels standard to Western Europe were adopted.
In what may have been attempt to frustrate reception (in some areas) of ARD some early TV sets manufactured in the GDR only tuned the seven channels used by DFF (rather than the full set of 11 VHF channels). Later (following the launch of the second network) UHF tuners were added but early versions only covered the lower part of the band.
system was chosen rather than the West German PAL
. The incompatibilities between the two colour systems are small, allowing for pictures to be watched in monochrome on non-compatible sets. (Most sets in the GDR were monochrome anyway.) Many East Germans had PAL modules fitted to allow colour reception of West German programmes; the official sale of dual standard sets in East Germany started in December 1977. The same applied in West Germany. There were experimental PAL broadcasts most notably during the 1980 Moscow Olympics
(Which got little coverage on West German television due to the boycott).
With reunification, it was decided to switch to the PAL colour system. The system was changed between the end of DFF programmes on 14 December 1990 and the opening of ARD programmes on 15 December. The transmission authorities
made the (correct) assumption that most East Germans had either dual standard or monochrome sets; those who did not could purchase decoders.
magnetic recording system. Betacam was later adopted by all German broadcasters and is still in use by ARD and ZDF
.
In 1983 DDR-FS also pioneered the use of Steadicam
equipment for live reporting.
. An annual fee of 10.50 Ostmarks
was charged for a joint television and radio licence. A separate radio or car radio licence cost between 0.50 and 2 Ostmarks. (At one time, there was a slightly lower rate for viewers not equipped with the UHF aerials necessary to receive the second channel, however, this arrangement was seen as impractical and abandoned)
In addition, broadcasting was heavily subsidised by the state. For example, in 1982, the GDR realized revenues of 115.4 million Ostmarks
through licence fees, while the amount budgeted in 1983 for the television service alone was 222 million Ostmarks.
, there was little or no competition between brands, so advertising was limited to a form of reminding viewers what products were available. By 1975, the advertising magazines gave up the pretence of being western-style commercial programmes and converted to being "shoppers guides", listing availability and prices of surplus goods.
With the end of the Communist system, spot advertising was introduced to DFF in order to better cover the system's cost. The French advertising agency Information et Publicité was engaged to produce and sell commercials and airtime on the DFF networks.
(Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv - DRA) at Babelsberg in Potsdam
.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcaster in East Germany.
Foundation
Radio was the dominant medium in the former Eastern blocEastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
, with television being considered low on the priority list when compiling Five-Year Plans during the industrialisation
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
of the 1950s. In Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the situation was different as East and West Germany were in competition over available frequencies for broadcasts and for viewers across the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
. The West German Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 until 31 December 1955. Until 1954, it was also responsible for broadcasting in West Berlin...
(NWDR) had made early plans to begin television broadcasts in its area, which originally included West Berlin. The first western test broadcasts were made in 1950.
The GDR authorities therefore also made an early start with television and began construction of a television centre in Adlershof
Adlershof
-External links:*...
on 11 June 1950. The GDR television service began experimental test broadcasts on 20 December 1951. The NWDR announced plans to begin a regular television service from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
starting with Christmas 1952. This spurred the East German authorities into further action.
A relay transmitter in the centre of East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
was built in February 1952 and connected to Adlershof on 3 June. On 16 November, the first television sets were made available to the public at 3500 East German mark
East German mark
The East German mark commonly called the eastern mark , in East Germany only Mark, was the currency of the German Democratic Republic . Its ISO 4217 currency code was DDM...
s each.
Regular public programming, although still described as testing, began on 21 December 1952 - Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's birthday - with two hours a day of programmes. Continuity announcer Margit Schaumäker welcomed viewers at 20:00 and introduced the station's logo - the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
. Speeches by senior figures in the television organisation followed, then the first edition of the East German national news programme, Aktuelle Kamera
Aktuelle Kamera
Aktuelle Kamera was the state television newscast of the former German Democratic Republic . On air from December 21, 1952 to December 14, 1990, Aktuelle Kamera was one of the main propaganda tools of the East German government.- Editorial line :In the very early days of East German television...
, presented by Herbert Köfer.
Party
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
policy in East Germany was to censor the "mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
". As television had a limited audience, it was not classed as a mass medium and therefore Aktuelle Kamera was, at first, uncensored and even critical. This situation changed after the television service reported accurately on the uprising
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany started with a strike by East Berlin construction workers on June 16. It turned into a widespread anti-Stalinist uprising against the German Democratic Republic government the next day....
in East Germany on 17 June 1953. The director was removed and news was then sourced from official outlets.
Growth
Once television was established, the transmitter network grew quickly.- 1953 Berlin-Grünau
- 1954 Berlin-MüggelbergBerlin-Müggelberge TV TowerThe Berlin-Müggelberge TV tower is the 31 metre tall base of a tower, never completed, in the Müggel hills of southeast Berlin, Germany. The tower base is currently used as radio relay link station.The tower was originally planned as the TV tower for Berlin...
(not completed); DresdenDresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. - 1955 Berlin-Mitte, BrockenSender BrockenThe Brocken Transmitter is a facility for FM- and TV-transmitters on the Brocken, the highest mountain in northern Germany.The facility includes two transmission towers. The old tower was built between 1936 and 1937....
, InselsbergSender InselsbergThe Sender Inselsberg is a FM and television-transmission facility on the Big Inselsberg in Thuringia, Germany. It has two aerial towers, which were built in 1939 and 1974....
(Brocken and Inselsberg had a large footprint in West Germany), Helpterberg, Marlow, ChemnitzChemnitzChemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle... - 1956 Berlin-KöpenickKöpenickKöpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...
Technology and TV studios also extended quickly. In the summer of 1953, Studio I was opened at Adlershof. In 1955 the first mobile transmission unit and a third broadcasting studio were added to the system.
The new television service was deliberately not called "GDR Television", as the intention was to provide an all-German service, as was the case with the west. However, the geography of Germany prevented this - despite placing high-power transmitters in border areas, the GDR could not penetrate the whole of West Germany. West German broadcasts (particularly ARD
Das Erste
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen , marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany...
) easily reached most of East Germany except for the extreme south-east (most notably Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, the area being in a deep valley, leading to its old East German nickname of "Tal der Ahnungslosen", or "Valley of the Clueless") and the extreme north-east (around Rügen
Rügen
Rügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
, Greifswald
Greifswald
Greifswald , officially, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is a town in northeastern Germany. It is situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at an equal distance of about from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg. The town borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed...
, Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....
and beyond).
By the end of 1958, there were over 300,000 television sets in the GDR.
News and political programming on DFF was usually scheduled not to clash with similar programming on Western channels (as most viewers would probably have preferred the western programmes). For example, the main news program, Aktuelle Kamera
Aktuelle Kamera
Aktuelle Kamera was the state television newscast of the former German Democratic Republic . On air from December 21, 1952 to December 14, 1990, Aktuelle Kamera was one of the main propaganda tools of the East German government.- Editorial line :In the very early days of East German television...
, was scheduled at 19:30, between ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
's heute
Heute
heute is a news show on the German television channel ZDF. The main show is broadcast at 7 PM, or 19:00, consisting of news of the day, weather forecasts and sport...
at 19:00 and ARD's Tagesschau
Tagesschau
Tagesschau is a German national and international television news service produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk on behalf of the German public-service television network ARD.The main edition of the programme is aired at 8 o'clock p.m. on Das Erste...
at 20:00. Popular entertainment programming (such as Ein Kessel Buntes
Ein Kessel Buntes
Ein Kessel Buntes was a television variety show in the former East Germany. It broadcast from 1972 to 1992. A total of 113 shows were made, six per year. As the name implies, it was broadcast in color, first from the Friedrichstadtpalast theater, and later from the Palast der Republik, as well as...
) was scheduled to clash with Western news or current affairs programmes in the hope of discouraging viewers from watching the Western programmes. Other popular items (such as films) were scheduled before or after propaganda programmes like Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal was a series of political propaganda programmes broadcast weekly between 1960 and 1989 by East German television. Each edition was made up of recorded extracts from recent West German television programmes re-edited to include a Communist commentary.The programme was hosted by...
in the hope that viewers tuning in early to catch the film would see the programme.
From 7 October 1958, DFF introduced morning programmes - repeats of the previous night's programming for shift workers, broadcast under the title "Wir wiederholen für Spätarbeiter" ("We repeat for late workers").
DFF/DDR-FS produced a number of educational programmes for use in schools, including programmes on chemistry, history, local history and geography, literature, physics, civics and Russian. Also produced was "ESP": Einführung in die sozialistische Produktion ("An introduction to Socialist production") and an English-learners course, English for You. Many of these programmes are archived and are available from the DRA in Babelsberg.
Programmes
- Aktuelle KameraAktuelle KameraAktuelle Kamera was the state television newscast of the former German Democratic Republic . On air from December 21, 1952 to December 14, 1990, Aktuelle Kamera was one of the main propaganda tools of the East German government.- Editorial line :In the very early days of East German television...
: The main news programme. - Brummkreisel: Children's programme.
- Der schwarze KanalDer schwarze KanalDer schwarze Kanal was a series of political propaganda programmes broadcast weekly between 1960 and 1989 by East German television. Each edition was made up of recorded extracts from recent West German television programmes re-edited to include a Communist commentary.The programme was hosted by...
: Propaganda programme. This programme took West German news reports (which were widely viewed by the people) and had a journalist comment on their "real" meanings, which were, of course, in line with the views of the East German government. - Ein Kessel BuntesEin Kessel BuntesEin Kessel Buntes was a television variety show in the former East Germany. It broadcast from 1972 to 1992. A total of 113 shows were made, six per year. As the name implies, it was broadcast in color, first from the Friedrichstadtpalast theater, and later from the Palast der Republik, as well as...
: Bi-monthly popular entertainment show. - Mach mit, Machs Nach, Machs besser: Youth programme.
- Prisma: Current affairs programme hosted by Axel Kaspar
- Rumpelkammer: popular entertainment hosted by Willi Schwabe
- Das Spielhaus: children's puppet theatre programme
The Monday evening feature film (usually an entertainment movie from the 1930s/40s) was one of the more popular items on DFF.
"The Sandman"
On 8 October 1958, DFF imported SandmännchenSandmännchen
Unser Sandmännchen, Das Sandmännchen, Abendgruß, Sandmann, Sandmännchen is a German children's bedtime television programme using stop motion animation...
(the little Sandman) from radio. Both East and West television ran versions of this idea: an animated film that told a children's story and then and sent them to bed before the programmes for adults began at 19:00. With several generations of children growing up with the Sandman, it has remained a popular childhood memory.
The West version was discontinued by the ARD upon reunification; however, stations in the former GDR continued to play clips from the East's Sandman every night, and RBB still continues the practice as does KIKA
KI.KA
KI.KA is a public non-commercial free television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is a joint venture of national public television channels ARD, and ARD's constituent broadcasting institutions – BR, HR, MDR, NDR, Radio Bremen, RBB, Saarländischer Rundfunk, SWR, WDR and ZDF, and is targeted at...
. The character plays an important background role in the popular 2003 tragicomedy
Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
film Good Bye Lenin!
Good Bye Lenin!
Good Bye, Lenin! is a 2003 German tragicomedy film, released internationally in 2003. Directed by Wolfgang Becker, the cast includes Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova, and Maria Simon...
, symbolising the feelings of loss of the main character played by Daniel Brühl
Daniel Brühl
Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo is a Spanish/German actor. He is best known as Daniel Brühl.-Personal life:Brühl was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. His father was the late German stage director Hanno Brühl and his mother was a Spanish professor. He also has a brother and a sister...
.
The Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in August 1961, the GDR began a programme to attempt to prevent its citizens from watching broadcasts from the western ARD. The GDR had its diplomatic hands tied: jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
the broadcasts with any degree of effectiveness would also interfere with reception within West Germany (breaching treaties and inviting retaliation). Instead, the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth, also known as the FDJ , was the official socialist youth movement of the German Democratic Republic and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany....
), the official youth movement in the GDR, started the campaign "Blitz contra Natosender" - "Lightning against NATO's transmitters" - to encourage young people to remove or turn away aerials
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
pointing at the west
Ochsenkopf TV Tower
The Ochsenkopf Transmitter is a 163 metre tall radio and TV tower of reinforced concrete, which was built in 1958 as replacement for a 50 metre tall guyed steel tube TV mast, which collapsed in January 1958 as result of icing, on the summit of the 1024 metre high Ochsenkopf mountain, the second...
. The term Republikfluchtigen (defection by television) was sometimes used to describe the widespread practice of viewing Westfernsehen (Western TV). Nevertheless, people continued to watch ARD broadcasts, leading to Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal was a series of political propaganda programmes broadcast weekly between 1960 and 1989 by East German television. Each edition was made up of recorded extracts from recent West German television programmes re-edited to include a Communist commentary.The programme was hosted by...
.
Colour and DFF2
Colour television was introduced on 3 October 1969 on the new channel DFF2, which commenced broadcasting the same day, ready for the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the founding of the GDR on 7 October. DFF chose the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
SÉCAM
SECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
colour standard, common in the Eastern Bloc, while West Germany had settled on the PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
standard. Mutual reception in black and white remained possible as the basic television standard was the same and remained that way. However, colour sets were not widely available in the East and when they could be obtained, many people altered television sets to be dual standard and allow reception in colour of West German programming. Later East German manufacturers made dual standard sets.
The introduction of DFF2 marked an increase in the hours of broadcasting overall.
| Year | 1955 | 1960 | 1965 | 1970 | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1988 | 1989 |
| Hours broadcast per year | 786 | 3007 | 3774 | 6028 | 6851 | 7704 | 8265 | 9194 | 8900 |
| Hours broadcast per week | 15 | 58 | 73 | 116 | 132 | 148 | 159 | 177 | 171 |
On 11 February 1972, the DFF was renamed, dropping the pretense of being an all-German service and becoming Fernsehen der DDR - GDR Television or DDR-FS. The previous name survived in episodes of The Sandman, which were repeated quite often.
Since DFF2/DDR-F2 only broadcast in the evening for most of its lifespan, special transmissions could easily be made in the afternoon for special events.
Olympic Games
The hosting of the 1980 Summer Olympics1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
by Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
was a source of pride for the Eastern Bloc. However, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
in 1979 had caused outrage in the west, leading to a boycott of the games by 64 western-aligned nations.
DDR-FS therefore wished to present colour pictures of the games to West Germany, which was part of the boycott, and a programme of experimental transmissions in PAL was instituted (while dual standard sets were the norm in the East in order to watch Western programmes, the Western population had little inclination to buy dual standard sets to watch Eastern programmes). However, little came of these experiments. By 1985 there were 6,078,500 licensed televisions, or 36.5 for every 100 persons.
Gorizont: satellite television
In 1988, the USSR-built GorizontGorizont
Gorizont, , GRAU index 11F662, is a series of 35 Russian, previously Soviet, geosynchronous communication satellites launched between 1978 and 2000. The programme was started in order to develop a satellite system to relay coverage of the 1980 Olympic Games from Moscow. The first four satellites...
satellite was launched, providing television programming to much of Europe and northern Africa, and even eastern parts of the Americas. The programmes of all the Eastern European socialist republics, including DDR-F1, were broadcast on the satellite.
Collapse of the GDR
In 1989, the GDR made an attempt to bring its young people closer to the state and distract them from the media of the West. A new young-person's programme, Elf 99 (1199 being the postal code of the Adlershof studios) was created as part of this plan.However, the plan was not successful as the GDR itself began to dissolve under economic and popular political pressure brought about by the reforms
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
in Moscow under Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
.
At first, DDR-FS stuck to the party line and barely reported the mass protests in the country. However, after Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
was removed from office on 18 October 1989 and the rule of the SED began to break down, DDR-FS reformed their programmes to replace eastern propaganda by western propaganda and to report the political uproar freely. The main propaganda programme, Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal was a series of political propaganda programmes broadcast weekly between 1960 and 1989 by East German television. Each edition was made up of recorded extracts from recent West German television programmes re-edited to include a Communist commentary.The programme was hosted by...
(The Black Channel) - which ran West German TV news items with an explanatory commentary informing viewers of the "real" stories and meanings behind the pictures and generally criticising Western media (Particularly ARD and ZDF) - stopped on 30 October 1989.
By the time the borders opened on 9 November, the main news programme on DDR2 was being produced without censorship or interference, and so it covered the events in full. In recognition of its reliable coverage, the programme was re-broadcast on the West German channel 3sat
3sat
3sat is the name of a public, advertising-free, television network in Central Europe. The programming is in German and is broadcast primarily within Germany, Austria and Switzerland .3sat was established for cultural...
. DDR-FS joined the 3sat consortium in February 1990.
DDR-FS became almost completely separate from the state apparatus, starting a number of new programme strands, including a free and open debate programme on Thursdays, complete with critical phone-in contributions from viewers. At first this had to be handled very carefully, as the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
- the state secret police - were still operating and had an office in the studios.
In February 1990, the Volkskammer
Volkskammer
The People's Chamber was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic . From its founding in 1949 until the first free elections on 18 March 1990, all members of the Volkskammer were elected on a slate controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , called the National Front...
passed a media resolution defining DDR-FS as a politically independent public broadcasting system. A law passed by the Volkskammer in September 1990 made this a legal requirement. On 4 March 1990, emphasising the change and reflecting the forthcoming reunification, DDR1 and DDR2 were renamed back to DFF1 and DFF2.
With reunification approaching, the former Länder
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
and Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
) that had been abolished in 1952 were resurrected and regional broadcasting was slowly reintroduced.
Reunification
Upon reunification on 3 October 1990, the DFF ceased to be the state broadcaster of the former GDR. Because the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of GermanyBasic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included...
reserves broadcasting as a matter for the German states (Länder), the Federal Government was not permitted to continue to run a broadcasting service. Article 36 of the Unification Treaty (Einigungsvertrag) between the two German states (signed on 31 August 1990) required that DFF was to be dissolved by 31 December 1991 and that the former West German television broadcasting system be extended to replace it.
On 15 December 1990, the ARD's Das Erste
Das Erste
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen , marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany...
channel took over the frequencies of DFF1. Das Erste had regional opt-outs during the first part of the evening, but the former GDR did not have ARD broadcasters to fill these spaces. Therefore, until 31 December 1991, DFF1 continued to provide programmes in these slots:
- Landesschau for Brandenburg (originally LSB aktuell)
- Nordmagazin for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Tagesbilder for Saxony-Anhalt
- Bei uns in Sachsen for Saxony
- Thüringen Journal for Thuringia
The new ARD broadcasters
The dissolution of DFF and its replacement by Länder-based ARD broadcasters remained controversial throughout the process.
Employees of the DFF were worried about job prospects in the new broadcasters and also had a loyalty to the DFF. Viewers, accustomed to the DFF's programming, were concerned at the loss of favourite shows and the choice most viewers had between West and East channels. The new Länder considered keeping a form of DFF running as the equivalent to the ARD members' "third programme" in other regions. However, political opinion was against centralisation and in favour of the new devolved system brought in from the west.
Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia agreed to pool their broadcasts into Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt...
(MDR), an ARD member broadcaster based in Leipzig. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg and Berlin considered pooling their broadcasts into Nordostdeutschen Rundfunkanstalt - Northeast German Broadcasting (NORA). Another alternative was for Brandenburg and Berlin to consolidate and for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to have its own broadcaster.
No agreement could be reached between the three Länder; Mecklenburg therefore joined the existing Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
(NDR), while the existing Sender Freies Berlin
Sender Freies Berlin
Sender Freies Berlin was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003...
(SFB) expanded to the whole of the city and a new broadcaster, Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg , based in Potsdam, was the public broadcaster for the German federal state of Brandenburg from 12 October 1991 until 30 April 2003...
(ORB) was launched for Brandenburg. The new organisations began transmissions on 1 January 1992. On 1 May 2003, SFB and ORB merged to form Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg is an institution under public law for the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, situated in Berlin and Potsdam...
(RBB).
List of names
- 21 December 1952 – 11 February 1972: Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF)
- 3 October 1969 – 11 February 1972: Deutscher Fernsehfunk I (DFF1) and Deutscher Fernsehfunk II (DFF2)
- 11 February 1972 – 4 March 1990: Fernsehen der DDR (DDR-FS)
- 11 February 1972 – April 1976?: TV1 DDR (TV1) and TV2 DDR (TV2)
- April 1976? – 1989: DDR-F1 and DDR-F2
- 1989 – 4 March 1990: Fernsehen der DDR 1. (DDR-F1) and Fernsehen der DDR 2. (DDR-F2)
- 4 March 1990 – 15 December 1990: Deutscher Fernsehfunk
- 4 March 1990 – 15 December 1990: Deutscher Fernsehfunk 1 (DFF 1) and Deutscher Fernsehfunk 2 (DFF 2)
Former television stations
Deutscher Fernsehfunk had two televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
channels over its history.
- DFF 1 was formed in 1950, and began to broadcast a regular schedule on ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
1952. This was the main channel in the former East Germany and was a crucial tool for the dissemination of Socialist Unity Party of GermanySocialist Unity Party of GermanyThe Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
propaganda. Its output included general entertainment, documentaries and news. - DFF 2 was created in 1969. Its programmes was mostly cultural, educational and youth programmes.
DFF 1 signed off for the final time on Saturday, 15 December 1990 and became Das Erste. DFF 2 was forced to carry former DFF 1 programming under the name DFF-Länderkette. DFF finally became defunct on Tuesday, December 31, 1991.
Directors of DFF/DDR-FS
- 1950–1952 Hans Mahle (Director-general)
- 1952–1953 Hermann Zilles (Director)
- 1954–1989 Heinz Adameck (Director)
- 1989–1990 Hans Bentzien (Director-general)
- 1990–1991 Michael Albrecht (Director)
Broadcast system
When television broadcasting started, the GDR chose to use the Western European B/G transmission system rather than the Eastern European D/K system, in order to keep transmissions compatible with West Germany. Of course, this made East German television incompatible with the other Eastern Bloc countries, although the D/K system was used prior to 1957.Irregular channels
Although DFF decided to revert to Western Europe's standard, the first broadcasts used a set of seven VHF channels some of which were not in line with any other system at the time.| Channel | Channel Limits (MHz) | Vision Carrier (MHz) | Main Sound Carrier (MHz) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 58.00 - 65.00 | 59.25 | 64.75 | Overlapped western Channels E3 (54-61 MHz) and E4 (61-68 MHz) |
| 2 | 144.00 - 151.00 | 145.25 | 150.75 | Overlapped 2-meter band (144-148 MHz) |
| 3 | 154.00 - 161.00 | 155.25 | 160.75 | Overlapped Marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is installed on all large ships and most seagoing small craft. It is used for a wide variety of purposes, including summoning rescue services and communicating with harbours, locks, bridges and marinas, and operates in the VHF frequency range, between 156 to 174 MHz... band (156-174 MHz) |
| 5 | 174.00 - 181.00 | 175.25 | 180.75 | Identical to western Channel E5 |
| 6 | 181.00 - 188.00 | 182.25 | 187.75 | Identical to western Channel E6 |
| 8 | 195.00 - 202.00 | 196.25 | 201.75 | Identical to western Channel E8 |
| 11 | 216.00 - 223.00 | 217.25 | 222.75 | Identical to western Channel E11 |
Eventually (around 1960), the channels standard to Western Europe were adopted.
In what may have been attempt to frustrate reception (in some areas) of ARD some early TV sets manufactured in the GDR only tuned the seven channels used by DFF (rather than the full set of 11 VHF channels). Later (following the launch of the second network) UHF tuners were added but early versions only covered the lower part of the band.
Colour
However, when colour television was introduced, the SÉCAMSECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
system was chosen rather than the West German PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
. The incompatibilities between the two colour systems are small, allowing for pictures to be watched in monochrome on non-compatible sets. (Most sets in the GDR were monochrome anyway.) Many East Germans had PAL modules fitted to allow colour reception of West German programmes; the official sale of dual standard sets in East Germany started in December 1977. The same applied in West Germany. There were experimental PAL broadcasts most notably during the 1980 Moscow Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
(Which got little coverage on West German television due to the boycott).
With reunification, it was decided to switch to the PAL colour system. The system was changed between the end of DFF programmes on 14 December 1990 and the opening of ARD programmes on 15 December. The transmission authorities
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
made the (correct) assumption that most East Germans had either dual standard or monochrome sets; those who did not could purchase decoders.
Technical innovations
DDR-FS was the first television broadcaster in Germany to introduce the BetacamBetacam
Betacam is family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself....
magnetic recording system. Betacam was later adopted by all German broadcasters and is still in use by ARD and ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
.
In 1983 DDR-FS also pioneered the use of Steadicam
Steadicam
A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface...
equipment for live reporting.
Finance
Broadcasting in the GDR was financed by a compulsory licence feeTelevision licence
A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
. An annual fee of 10.50 Ostmarks
East German mark
The East German mark commonly called the eastern mark , in East Germany only Mark, was the currency of the German Democratic Republic . Its ISO 4217 currency code was DDM...
was charged for a joint television and radio licence. A separate radio or car radio licence cost between 0.50 and 2 Ostmarks. (At one time, there was a slightly lower rate for viewers not equipped with the UHF aerials necessary to receive the second channel, however, this arrangement was seen as impractical and abandoned)
In addition, broadcasting was heavily subsidised by the state. For example, in 1982, the GDR realized revenues of 115.4 million Ostmarks
East German mark
The East German mark commonly called the eastern mark , in East Germany only Mark, was the currency of the German Democratic Republic . Its ISO 4217 currency code was DDM...
through licence fees, while the amount budgeted in 1983 for the television service alone was 222 million Ostmarks.
Advertising
Advertising - in the form of "commercial" magazine programmes - had appeared on GDR television from 1959. However, in a command economyPlanned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
, there was little or no competition between brands, so advertising was limited to a form of reminding viewers what products were available. By 1975, the advertising magazines gave up the pretence of being western-style commercial programmes and converted to being "shoppers guides", listing availability and prices of surplus goods.
With the end of the Communist system, spot advertising was introduced to DFF in order to better cover the system's cost. The French advertising agency Information et Publicité was engaged to produce and sell commercials and airtime on the DFF networks.
Archives
The archives of the GDR radio and television stations are administered by German Broadcasting ArchiveGerman Broadcasting Archive
The German Broadcasting Archive 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 the German broadcasting. Today it has two locations: Wiesbaden and Potsdam-Babelsberg ....
(Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv - DRA) at Babelsberg in Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
.
Additional sources
These sources are in English and were used to clarify or extend the translation.- Hancock, Dafydd Fade to black Intertel from Transdiffusion, 2001; accessed 19 February 2006. , Dirk Germany (1980s) Intertel from Transdiffusion, 2003; accessed 19 February 2006.
- Paulu, Burton Broadcasting on the European Continent Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1967
External links
- Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv
- Research on the History of Television Programs of the GDR
- http://home.arcor.de/madeingdr/gdrsite/tv/index2_(2).htm Details of TV programmes
- http://www.scheida.at/scheida/Televisionen_DDR.htm Article about reception/Technical issues