Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft
Encyclopedia
The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), which can be loosely translated as the State Broadcasting Company, was a national network of German
regional public broadcasting
companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts of the country and were used extensively for Nazi propaganda after 1933.
An official broadcast receiving licence was required for the reception of radio broadcasts at a monthly fee of 2 Reichsmark.
RRG engineers were responsible for important advances in sound-recording technology.
-Charlottenburg
, was inaugurated as the official seat of the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft. Designed in 1929 by the architect Hans Poelzig
(1869-1936), it was the world's first self-contained broadcasting centre and included a large concert hall.
The triangular-shaped building also housed the broadcaster Deutsche Welle GmbH
and, from 1935 until its relocation in 1937, the Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow
television station.
An additional nationwide programme known as the Deutschlandsender
was broadcast on longwave
from the Königs Wusterhausen radio transmitter of Deutsche Welle GmbH
(a separate company which was, however, 70% owned by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft).
Regular television
programmes were transmitted from Berlin by the Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow
.
Historical recordings of RRG broadcasts are today held by the German Broadcasting Archive
.
made several attempts to gain control over the broadcasting companies and enforced the regular reading of official statements. The management board had to admit a representative delegated by the Minister of the Interior, Wilhelm von Gayl
.
In the course of the Gleichschaltung
process after the Machtergreifung
in 1933 the RRG was nationalized by the Nazi
government and was used extensively by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
under Joseph Goebbels
. On 30 January 1933, while the new Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick
enforced the live broadcast of the torchlight parades, the RRG chairman Hans Bredow resigned and was replaced by Eugen Hadamovsky
. Several former managers were arrested and imprisoned. With effect from 1 April 1934 the regional broadcasting companies were incorporated as Reichssender.
Upon the affiliation of the Saar
territory in 1935, the regional broadcaster was incorporated as Reichssender Saarbrücken
(see Saarländischer Rundfunk
). Likewise, after the Austrian Anschluss
in 1938, the former Radio Verkehrs AG at Vienna
became the Reichssender Wien.
On 1 January 1939 the RRG was renamed Großdeutscher
Rundfunk.
After the Invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the former RRG became a vital instrument of wartime propaganda, especially by the daily Wehrmachtsbericht and the popular request show Wunschkonzert für die Wehrmacht (see Wunschkonzert
). From 9 July 1940 onwards all Reichssender aired the same uniform nationwide program, which ended with the occupation of the Haus des Rundfunks by the Red Army
during the Battle of Berlin
on 2 May 1945.
. The most widely significant was the discovery of high frequency bias
. This provided a major improvement in the fidelity of recordings. Ironically, others made the same discovery of HF bias before and after, but it was Weber's work that became widely used.
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...
regional public broadcasting
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes 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 and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts of the country and were used extensively for Nazi propaganda after 1933.
An official broadcast receiving licence was required for the reception of radio broadcasts at a monthly fee of 2 Reichsmark.
RRG engineers were responsible for important advances in sound-recording technology.
Headquarters
On 22 January 1931 the Haus des Rundfunks ("House of Broadcasting"), on the Masurenallee in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
-Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
, was inaugurated as the official seat of the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft. Designed in 1929 by the architect Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig
Hans Poelzig was a German architect, painter and set designer.-Life:Poelzig was born in Berlin in 1869 to the countess Clara Henrietta Maria Poelzig while she was married to George Acland Ames, an Englishman...
(1869-1936), it was the world's first self-contained broadcasting centre and included a large concert hall.
The triangular-shaped building also housed the broadcaster Deutsche Welle GmbH
Deutsche Welle GmbH
Deutsche Welle GmbH was a publicly licensed, though privately financed, German broadcasting company founded in August 1924 in Berlin.On 7 January 1926 the company opened a long-wave transmitter at Königs Wusterhausen near Berlin...
and, from 1935 until its relocation in 1937, the Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow
Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow
The Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow" Berlin was a television station in Germany. It was on the air from March 22, 1935 until it was shut down in 1944. Its headquarters were in Berlin, Germany. It was named after Paul Nipkow, the inventor of the Nipkow disk...
television station.
Original structure
Programming was originally provided by the following nine regional broadcasting companies:- Funk-Stunde AG, Berlin: the first regular broadcaster in Germany (on the air from 29 October 1923)
- Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk AG (MIRAG), LeipzigLeipzigLeipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
(from 2 March 1924) - Deutsche Stunde in Bayern GmbH, MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
(from 30 March 1924; renamed Bayerischer Rundfunk GmbH on 1 January 1931; joined the RRG on 1 April 1931) - Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst AG (SÜWRAG), Frankfurt am Main (from 31 March 1924)
- Nordische Rundfunk AG (NORAG), HamburgHamburg-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...
(from 2 May 1924; became Norddeutsche Rundfunk GmbH in November 1932) - Süddeutsche Rundfunk AG (SÜRAG), StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
(from 11 May 1924) - Schlesische Funkstunde AG (SFAG), Breslau (from 26 May 1924)
- Ostmarken Rundfunk AG (ORAG), KönigsbergKönigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
(from 14 June 1924) (see also Radio KönigsbergRadio KönigsbergRadio Königsberg was a radio program broadcasted by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft, which transmitted news related to Nazi Germany during World War II...
) - Westdeutsche Funkstunde AG (WEFAG), MünsterMünsterMünster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
(from 10 October 1924; renamed Westdeutsche Rundfunk AG (WERAG) in 1926 and headquarters moved to CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
)
An additional nationwide programme known as the Deutschlandsender
Deutschlandsender
Deutschlandsender is one of the longest-established radio station names in German. It was used between 1926 and the end of 1993 to denote a number of powerful stations designed to achieve all-Germany coverage .-1926—1945:The first Deutschlandsender, broadcasting from a powerful transmitter...
was broadcast on longwave
Longwave
In radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...
from the Königs Wusterhausen radio transmitter of Deutsche Welle GmbH
Deutsche Welle GmbH
Deutsche Welle GmbH was a publicly licensed, though privately financed, German broadcasting company founded in August 1924 in Berlin.On 7 January 1926 the company opened a long-wave transmitter at Königs Wusterhausen near Berlin...
(a separate company which was, however, 70% owned by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft).
Regular television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programmes were transmitted from Berlin by the Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow
Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow
The Fernsehsender "Paul Nipkow" Berlin was a television station in Germany. It was on the air from March 22, 1935 until it was shut down in 1944. Its headquarters were in Berlin, Germany. It was named after Paul Nipkow, the inventor of the Nipkow disk...
.
Historical recordings of RRG broadcasts are today held by the German Broadcasting Archive
German 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 ....
.
Nationalization
In 1932 the German government under Chancellor Franz von PapenFranz von Papen
Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...
made several attempts to gain control over the broadcasting companies and enforced the regular reading of official statements. The management board had to admit a representative delegated by the Minister of the Interior, Wilhelm von Gayl
Wilhelm von Gayl
Wilhelm Moritz Egon Freiherr von Gayl was a German jurist and politician of the German National People's Party .-Biography:...
.
In the course of the Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung , meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The historian Richard J...
process after the Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in 1933 the RRG was nationalized by the Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
government and was used extensively by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany and regulated its culture and society. Founded on March 13, 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr...
under Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
. On 30 January 1933, while the new Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick was a prominent German Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. After the end of World War II, he was tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and executed...
enforced the live broadcast of the torchlight parades, the RRG chairman Hans Bredow resigned and was replaced by Eugen Hadamovsky
Eugen Hadamovsky
Eugen Hadamovsky was a radio production director for Nazi Germany.Hadamovsky was born in Berlin, Brandenburg. He was an early Nazi supporter, who helped organize Nazi radio listeners and handled the technical details at many of Hitler's mass rallies...
. Several former managers were arrested and imprisoned. With effect from 1 April 1934 the regional broadcasting companies were incorporated as Reichssender.
Upon the affiliation of the Saar
Saar (League of Nations)
The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles...
territory in 1935, the regional broadcaster was incorporated as Reichssender Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
(see Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk
Saarländischer Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster for the German Bundesland of Saarland, with its headquarters in the Broadcasting House Halberg in Saarbrücken. SR is a member of the ARD.- Finances :...
). Likewise, after the Austrian Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
in 1938, the former Radio Verkehrs AG at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
became the Reichssender Wien.
On 1 January 1939 the RRG was renamed Großdeutscher
Großdeutschland
Großdeutschland is German for "Greater Germany" or "Big Germany." It can refer to:* Kleindeutschland and Großdeutschland, two competing ideas for unifying German-speaking lands in the 19th century; advocates of Großdeutschland wished for a single German state that included Austria as the answer to...
Rundfunk.
After the Invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the former RRG became a vital instrument of wartime propaganda, especially by the daily Wehrmachtsbericht and the popular request show Wunschkonzert für die Wehrmacht (see Wunschkonzert
Wunschkonzert
Wunschkonzert is a 1940 German drama propaganda film by Eduard von Borsody. After Die grosse Liebe, it was the most popular film of wartime Germany, reaching the second highest gross.-Background:...
). From 9 July 1940 onwards all Reichssender aired the same uniform nationwide program, which ended with the occupation of the Haus des Rundfunks by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
during the Battle of Berlin
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
on 2 May 1945.
Technical achievements
Walter Weber, while working for Hans Joachim von Braunmühl at the RRG, made many improvements in the field of magnetic tape sound recordingMagnetic tape sound recording
The use of magnetic tape for sound recording originated around 1930. Magnetizable tape revolutionized both the radio broadcast and music recording industries. It did this by giving artists and producers the power to record and re-record audio with minimal loss in quality as well as edit and...
. The most widely significant was the discovery of high frequency bias
Tape bias
Tape bias is the term for two phenomena, DC bias and AC bias, that improve the fidelity of analogue magnetic tape sound recordings. DC bias is the addition of a direct current to the audio signal that is being recorded. AC bias is the addition of an inaudible high-frequency signal to the audio...
. This provided a major improvement in the fidelity of recordings. Ironically, others made the same discovery of HF bias before and after, but it was Weber's work that became widely used.