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Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Germany
Headquarters	Leipzig, Germany
Key people	Karola Wille, Intendant
Launch date	1 March 1924 (MIRAG) 1 January 1992 (MDR)
Official website	mdr.de

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (pronounced [ˈmɪtl̩ˌdɔʏtʃɐ ˈʁʊntfʊŋk]; "Central German Broadcasting"), shortened to MDR (pronounced [ˌɛmdeːˈʔɛʁ] ; stylized as mdr), is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studios in Dresden, Erfurt and Magdeburg. MDR is a member of the ARD consortium of public broadcasters in Germany.

MDR broadcasts its own television channel to the three states it serves and also contributes programming to the first German TV channel (Das Erste), and broadcasts a number of radio channels.

History

Origins

The Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk AG (MIRAG) was founded on 22 January 1924 in Leipzig. It aired its first program on 1 March 1924 at 14:30 CET.

During the Gleichschaltung in the Nazi era, the MIRAG was transferred to the "Reichssender Leipzig" in 1934.

After the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany temporarily licensed "Radio Leipzig" in 1945, which only existed for a few months until the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk was founded again. In 1946 the new program "Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Sender Leipzig" started in the Springerstrasse broadcasting house.

In September 1952, the "Sender Leipzig" program was converted to the "Berlin III" entertainment program. In 1956 the regional program of Radio DDR (English: Radio GDR), "Sender Leipzig", was introduced.

On 31 May 1991, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) was founded as public broadcaster serving Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, and became a member of ARD.

In August 2022 Ines Hoge-Lorenz, the managing director of the regional state branch of Saxony-Anhalt of the MDR was sacked because of her family ties to a corruption scandal ten years ago.

Studios and staff

MDR has approximately 2,000 employees. The main television studio is in Leipzig, and the main radio studio is in Halle. There are also radio and TV studios in each of the three state capitals for the territory that MDR represents: Dresden (Saxony), Erfurt (Thuringia), and Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt).

Finances

In 2012 87% of MDR's total annual income of €684,529,979 was derived from the licence fees payable by all households at the rate of €17,50 (per month). These fees are not collected directly by MDR but by the Beitragsservice ("fee collection service") owned jointly by ARD (and its members), the second television network ZDF, and the national radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio.

TV and radio channels

MDR produces programming independently and in collaboration with other broadcasters, for transmission by a number of television and radio networks.

Television channels

• MDR Fernsehen – third TV channel for central Germany, with regional programming for Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia

MDR also contributes programming to the following:

• Das Erste – Germany's main public TV network
• Phoenix – a station mainly broadcasting documentaries, special events and discussions, jointly run by ARD and ZDF
• KiKa – children's network jointly run by ARD and ZDF
• arte – a Franco-German cultural channel
• 3sat – cultural network from ARD, ZDF, ORF (Austrian Broadcasting), and SRG (Swiss Broadcasting)

Radio channels

• MDR Sachsen [de] (MDR Saxony) – Variety music and regional programming for Saxony
• MDR Sachsen-Anhalt [de] (MDR Saxony-Anhalt) – regional programming for Saxony-Anhalt
• MDR Thüringen – Das Radio [de] (MDR Thuringia) – regional programming for Thuringia
• MDR Jump – pop music (Hot AC)
• MDR Kultur – culture & spoken word programming and regional classical music
• MDR Aktuell – 24-hour news and information (AM broadcasts ceased on 30 April 2013)
• MDR Sputnik – youth oriented music station. Formerly DT64 cultural youth channel of East German broadcasting organisation. (FM in Saxony-Anhalt only, internet, DAB+ elsewhere)
• MDR Klassik (DAB+ and internet streaming only) – classical music
• MDR Schlagerwelt (DAB+ and internet streaming only) – schlager music and easy listening
• MDR Tweens [de] (DAB+ and internet streaming only) – children's programming

Musical organizations

The MDR operates two musical organizations and a ballet corps.

The MDR Symphony Orchestra (German: MDR Sinfonieorchester) was founded in 1915 as "Orchester des Konzertvereins" ("Orchestra of the Concert Society"). It became the "Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig" ("Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig") in 1924. Principal conductors have included Herbert Kegel, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, Daniel Nazareth and Fabio Luisi. Since September 2007, Jun Märkl is the orchestra's principal conductor.

The later MDR Rundfunkchor (MDR radio choir) was founded in 1946 as the Rundfunkchor Leipzig ("Leipzig Radio Choir").

The MDR managed MDR TV Ballet (German: MDR Fernsehballett), the only TV ballet company in Europe. It was founded in 1962 as DFF-Fernsehballet, reorganized in 1992, and has 30 members. MDR sold the Ballet in 2012. It's now known as Deutsches Fernsehballett.

Transmitters

MDR does not own its own transmission towers. They are owned and operated by Deutsche Telekom.

Podcasts

Several podcasts produced by MDR are available through the iTunes Music Store and via RSS. They are essentially repeats of regular radio programmes, including: "Figaro," "MDR Info," "Programming Highlights," "Riverboat," "Sputnik" and "Unter uns."

Administration

The managing directors of MDR:

• 1991 to 2011 Udo Reiter [de], founding director of MDR
• 2011 to 2023 Karola Wille
• up from November 2023 Ralf Ludwig

Popular MDR productions

MDR produces several programs for the ARD, including crime drama episodes for the series Tatort ("Crime Scene") and Polizeiruf 110 ("Police Emergency 110"). MDR also produces the successful hospital series In aller Freundschaft ("In friendship") and the animal series Abenteuer Zoo ("Adventure Zoo"), Deutschlands wilde Tiere ("Germany's Wild Animals") and Europas wilder Osten ("Europe's Wild East").

See also

• German television
• List of tallest buildings in Leipzig

References

1. "Mit der Mirag fing es an" (in German). Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. 29 May 2011. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
2. "70 Jahre Rundfunk in Leipzig" (in German). Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
3. "Wegen Skandal um Udo Foth: Sachsen-Anhalts MDR-Chefin tritt zurück".
4. "Der MDR-Geschäftsbericht 2012 | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
5. "Der Rundfunkbeitrag – Informationen zur Beitragssenkung". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
6. mdr.de. "Ralf Ludwig ist neuer MDR-Intendant | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de (in German). Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.

Further reading

• "Rede: 30 Jahre Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk". Der Bundespräsident (in German). 22 June 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.

External links

• Official website (in German)

v t e Public broadcasting in Germany
Broadcasters ARD Current BR HR MDR NDR RB RBB SR SWR WDR DW Former NWDR ORB SFB SDR SWF ZDF Deutschlandradio
Television channels National ARD Das Erste tagesschau24 ARD-alpha one DW-TV ZDF ZDF ZDFinfo ZDFneo ARD and ZDF 3sat arte KiKA phoenix Funk Regional ARD BR Fernsehen hr-fernsehen MDR Fernsehen NDR Fernsehen Radio Bremen TV RBB Fernsehen SR Fernsehen SWR Fernsehen WDR Fernsehen
Radio stations National DLR Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk Kultur Dokumente und Debatten Deutschlandfunk Nova International Deutsche Welle Regional (ARD) BR Bayern 1 Bayern 2 Bayern 3 BR-Klassik BR24 BR24live BR Heimat BR Schlager BR Verkehr Puls HR hr1 hr2-kultur hr3 hr4 hr4 Mitte hr4 Nord hr4 Rhein-Main hr-info You FM MDR MDR Sachsen [de] MDR Sachsen-Anhalt [de] MDR Thüringen – Das Radio [de] MDR Aktuell MDR Jump MDR Klassik MDR Kultur MDR Schlagerwelt MDR Sputnik MDR Tweens [de] Sorbischer Rundfunk NDR NDR 1 NDR 1 Niedersachsen [de] (Lower Saxony) NDR 1 Radio MV [de] (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) NDR 1 Welle Nord [de] (Schleswig-Holstein) NDR 1 Welle Nord [de] (Hamburg) NDR 2 [de] NDR Blue [de] NDR Info [de] NDR Info Spezial [de] NDR Kultur [de] N-JOY NDR Schlager [de] RB Bremen Eins Bremen Zwei Bremen Next Bremen Vier Bremen Fünf [de] Cosmo RBB Antenne Brandenburg COSMO Fritz [de] Inforadio [de] radio3 [de] rbb 88.8 [de] Radio Eins [de] Sorbischer Rundfunk SR Antenne Saar [de] SR 1 [de] SR kultur [de] SR 3 Saarlandwelle [de] Unserding [de] SWR DASDING SWR1 [de] SWR1 Baden-Württemberg SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz SWR Kultur [de] Archivradio SWR3 [de] SWR4 [de] SWR4 Baden-Württemberg SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz SWR Aktuell [de] WDR 1LIVE 1LIVE diggi COSMO WDR 2 WDR 3 WDR 4 WDR 5 WDR Event
Discontinued Television channels ARD 1 Plus ARD 2 [de] Deutscher Fernsehfunk EinsPlus RBB Berlin RBB Brandenburg ZDF 2 ZDF Musikkanal ZDFdokukanal ZDFkultur ZDFtheaterkanal Radio stations 1LIVE Kunst [de] Bayern 2 plus Bayern mobil Berliner Rundfunk D-Plus [de] DT64 [de] Hansawelle hr XXL hr-chronos Hr-klassik hr-info plus [de] hr-skyline hr1 plus KiRaKa MDR Life Das Modul Ferienwelle [de] NDR 2 Plus [de]  NDR Traffic [de] Nordwestradio NWDR on3-radio Radio 3 [de] Radio 4U [de] Radio DDR 1 Radio DDR 2 Radio Kultur [de] Radio Multikulti [de] Radio B Zwei Radio Bremen 2 Radio Bremen Melodie Radio Brandenburg Radio Dortmund Rockradio B [de] Radio Wolga SDR 1 [de] SDR 3 [de] SFB 3 [de] SR 4 [de] SWF 1 [de] S2 Kultur [de] SWF 3 [de] S4 Baden-Württemberg [de] SWF4 Rheinland-Pfalz [de] SWR cont.ra [de] SWRinfo [de] WDR 1 WDR 2 Klassik WDR Info WDR VERA International Berliner Welle [de] Deutschlandsender Radio Berlin International Stimme der DDR [de]

• Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
• ARD (broadcaster)
• Mass media companies of Germany
• Television networks in Germany
• Television stations in Germany
• Radio stations in Germany
• German-language television networks
• German news websites
• Television channels and stations established in 1991
• Mass media in Leipzig
• 1991 establishments in Germany