On this page, you can find a concise guide to the colourful world of German television and radio. There are direct links to the most important programs and magazines. But first of all two hints:

• If you have the possibility to listen Radio on the Internet the webpage of Don Kalischer ( home.comcast.net/~dkalischer/WebRadio/GermanRadio.htm ) would be most helpful for you.
• German radio stations streaming live on the internet
• If you are looking for regional emissions then we recommend using a search engine and the appropriate keywords (e.g. "Radio Bamberg", "Rundfunk München", "TV Berlin"). You usually get good results from the German Meta-engine MetaGer, a service of the university of Hannover.

1. Here are our direct links to public television and radio. What the traditional media has to offer:
• ARD or Das Erste online and its regional transmitters: BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk), DW (Deutsche Welle), HR ( Hessischer Rundfunk), MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk), NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), RB (Radio Bremen), SDR (Süddeutscher Rundfunk), SR (Saarländischer Rundfunk), SWR (Südwestfunk), SFB (Sender Freies Berlin), SWF (Südwestfunk) and WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk)
  For a look at the radio program, we recommend using www.dino-online.de. By taking a look at the Bavarian radio (Bayerischen Rundfunk), you get an idea of the most common program structure of the public radios in Germany:
  • Bayern 1 (B1) - traditional chat, show and information station; emphasis of music program: German "Schlager"
  • Bayern 2 (B2) - station with good quality in information, culture, educational and music
  • Bayern 3 (B3) - street & travel news, service information and pop music
  • Bayern 4 (B4) - around the clock classical music
  • Bayern 5 (B5) - news station: brief, concise, up to date, but often repeated.
• Joint productions from: ARTE, 3SAT and 1. and 2. "deutsche Fernsehen" with their homepage: www.ardzdf.de and educational programs such as Phönix and Alpha
• Studio Franken - part time program of "Bayerischer Rundfunk" with selected information focused on northern bavaria (Franconia)
• ZDF - Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
2. The mayor private tv and radio stations
   • RTL
   • RTL2
   • SAT1
   • VOX
   • Kabel Kanal
   • Kabel 1
   • n-tv: main activities: political & economical news
   • Volksmusik Hit Radio - 24 hours Live Radio - traditional German folk music
3. program magazines
   • EuroTV - supplies you free with complete program details of over 150 European TV stations. It has been made easy for you: search by date, program, date or keyword. All entries are in the appropriate language of the county.
   • Gong Online - TV-sevice, entertainment, user tips, stars, advice, computer games, radio and radio service
   • rtv-online - The latest information around TV in internet. The complete program of all network and cable channels in Germany. Daily prices.
   • TV Movie online is the internet version of the TV and cinema magazine "TV Movie". Using the "TV-Butler" you can put together your personal tv program, cinema, video, CD, multimedia news, fun & action.
   • TV Spielfilm - current TV program with the top films of the day
   • TV Today - another popular German TV magazine
   • Tele-Online - from Switzerland

For those learning German, we recommend especially the radio station Deutsche Welle, which can be got nearly all over the world and regularly puts together emissions especially for foreigners.
There is the "Die Deutschstunde" - a program from Deutsche Welle in co-operation with Goethe-Institute.

Tip: Ralf Vogelsang has put together an explanation of the world-wide radio programs on his page of the newsgroup soc.culture.german (in English).

Do you know other search engines which we can add to our list? Please write to: info@learn-german-online.net

Important: We are very concerned about the current internet links. We would be very grateful if you could report dead links to us. Send an e-mail to info@learn-german-online.net.