ARD (broadcaster) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
ARD

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Germany
Availability	National International
Owner	Independent
Key people	Kai Gniffke (SWR), Chairman
Launch date	5 June 1950; 75 years ago (1950-06-05)

ARD-Hauptstadtstudio (ARD Capital Studio) in Berlin

ARD is a big group of public TV and radio stations in Germany. Its full name means "Working group of public broadcasters of the Federal Republic of Germany". It was started in 1950 in West Germany. The main goal was to bring together the new local radio and TV stations after World War II. They wanted to create a shared television network.

ARD has a budget of about €6.9 billion and over 22,000 employees. It is the largest public broadcasting network in the world. Most of its money comes from a required fee that almost every household and business in Germany pays. This fee is currently €18.36 per month. People on welfare do not have to pay it. The fees are collected by a special service called the Beitragsservice. This service works for ARD, another public TV channel called ZDF, and Deutschlandradio.

ARD runs a national TV channel called Das Erste ("The First"). This name helps tell it apart from ZDF, which is "The Second". ARD's main TV channel started broadcasting in 1954 as Deutsches Fernsehen ("German Television"). It changed its name to Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen in 1984 and then to Das Erste in 1994. You can watch ARD's shows through regular TV antennas, cable, satellite, and online.

ARD also has other free TV channels like One and Tagesschau24. It helps create other channels too, such as Phoenix (for news and documentaries), KiKa (for kids), 3sat (for culture), arte (a French-German cultural channel), and Funk (for teenagers, online only).

The shows on ARD are made by its regional members. These include stations like Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). There are nine main regional members in total. They run 54 regional and local radio stations and seven regional TV networks. Deutsche Welle, which is Germany's international broadcaster, is also a member of ARD.

History of ARD

What the Name Means

The full name of ARD means "Working group of the public-law broadcasting institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany."

• "Public-law broadcasting institutions" means that these broadcasters are not owned by private companies.
• They are also not run by the government.
• ARD is not "owned" by anyone, not even the German government.
• Its member stations, like BR, are also not owned by their local state governments.
• They have a special independent position, protected by law, which is called "freedom of broadcasting."

The 1940s and 1950s

After World War II, the winning countries (the Allies) wanted to make sure German radio would not spread propaganda like before. They decided that radio and TV stations should be independent. They should not be controlled by the government or by private companies. These new stations were set up as "Institutions under Public Law." This means they were non-profit and had their own management. They were overseen by two councils: one for programs and one for management. These councils included people from different parts of German society.

The first members of ARD included stations like Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) from the British zone. Also, Südwestfunk (SWF) from the French zone, and four stations from the American zone. These were Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), and Radio Bremen (RB). The new organization was paid for by a required fee that every German household with a radio had to pay. Each station received the money collected in its own state. Larger ARD members also helped to support the smaller ones.

In 1947, an American military governor named Lucius D. Clay said that having many different opinions in the media was very important. People working with the Allies helped shape the local broadcasters. For example, Hugh Greene had a big influence on NDR in its early years.

Reception area of the West German TV channel Deutsches Fernsehen (nowadays Das Erste) (grey) within East Germany before reunification. ARD was jokingly referred to as Außer (except) Rügen und Dresden by East Germans. The main transmitters appear in red. Areas with no reception (black) were jokingly referred to as "Valley of the Clueless" (Tal der Ahnungslosen).

Later, laws and court decisions made sure that ARD members stayed free from government influence. They get most of their money from the licence fees. Only a small part comes from advertising. The main goal of ARD is not just to inform and entertain. It also aims to bring different parts of society together. It gives a voice to minority groups in its programs.

In the 1950s, ARD's radio stations became very important in West Germany. By 1952, ten million people were listening to ARD radio. But it was the start of a countrywide TV service that made ARD truly national. ARD became a full member of the European Broadcasting Union in 1952. The "German sound archive" (now German Broadcasting Archive) was also created as a shared facility.

In 1955, the founding member NWDR split into today's NDR and WDR. The first daily news show, the Tagesschau, started in Hamburg in 1952. The famous 8:00 pm chime and announcement, "This is the first German television channel with the Tagesschau," is still a well-known part of ARD today. This broadcast gets about 8 million viewers on average.

The 1960s to 1980s

Television became very popular in Germany in the 1960s. Color TV broadcasts started in 1967. At first, there was no competition from private TV channels. This allowed ARD stations to become modern and respected broadcasters. ZDF, another public TV channel, started in 1963. But ARD did not face private competition in Germany until 1984. ARD stations also played a big role in German politics. News shows like Monitor and Panorama still reach millions of viewers every week. The environmental movement grew in the 1980s partly because of what ARD revealed.

When private TV channels were allowed in Germany in the mid-1980s, ARD made some changes. They started making more popular shows for their main channels. Many cultural and news programs moved to the regional channels or new special interest channels.

ARD's news programs and the radio station "Deutschlandfunk" were important for the eventual fall of East Germany (GDR). ARD had an office in East Berlin since 1974. This made ARD TV the most important source of information for people in East Germany. Eighty percent of them could watch what they called "West TV." Even though East German authorities tried to stop them, ARD's Tagesschau and Deutschlandfunk reported on the protests in Leipzig in September 1989.

The 1990s

After Germany was reunified, two new regional broadcasters started in the East. They became ARD members in 1992. These were Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB). The existing NDR service expanded into the northeast. Later, ORB merged with Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) to become Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) in 2003.

Another merger happened in 1998. The former Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR) and Südwestfunk (SWF) became Südwestrundfunk (SWR).

ARD Programming

Radio

ARD member stations usually create their own radio programs. Some stations work together for shared radio services. An example is Nordwestradio, which focuses on culture and is made by Radio Bremen and NDR. Most ARD stations have at least a news radio station, a classical music station, a youth station, and a cultural station. At night, some stations share common programs like "Hitnacht" (light music) or "Infonacht" (all news). Most services are on FM radio, and some are also available on digital radio (DAB).

There is also a national radio network called Deutschlandradio. It is not an ARD member but is controlled by both ARD and ZDF. Deutschlandradio offers two main radio services: Deutschlandfunk (DLF) for news and Deutschlandfunk Kultur for culture. It also has an online science channel called Deutschlandfunk Nova.

ARD's most famous radio station outside Germany is Deutsche Welle. It broadcasts radio shows around the world in many languages. It mostly uses shortwave radio, online streaming, and partner FM stations. Deutsche Welle does not have FM stations in Germany.

"Archivradio" is an ARD online radio station. It plays old audio recordings from German sound archives. This includes ARD's own radio archives. The program has a website with more information about the recordings.

Television

ARD's main TV channels are the nationwide Das Erste and seven regional channels. These regional channels are run by the different ARD member stations. Das Erste and the regional channels are mainly paid for by licence fees. They have only a very small amount of advertising.

Das Erste broadcasts nationwide 24 hours a day. However, it shares some programs with ZDF each weekday. These include the news shows Morgenmagazin (5:30 AM to 9:00 AM) and Mittagsmagazin (1:00 PM to 2:00 PM). ARD and ZDF take turns producing these shows each week.

The regional ARD members all run their own regional channels. These are often called die Dritten ("the Third Programmes"). Before, many of these stations had names like West 3 or Hessen 3. These regional channels also have special local news segments at certain times.

• BR Fernsehen from Bayerischer Rundfunk (with local news for different parts of Bavaria)
• hr-fernsehen from Hessischer Rundfunk
• MDR Fernsehen from Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (with local news for Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia)
• NDR Fernsehen from Norddeutscher Rundfunk (with local news for Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and rb.tv from Radio Bremen)
• RBB Fernsehen from Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (with separate local news for Berlin and Brandenburg)
• SWR Fernsehen from Südwestrundfunk – works with SR Fernsehen (with local news for Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and SR Fernsehen from Saarländischer Rundfunk)
• WDR Fernsehen from Westdeutscher Rundfunk (with 11 local news segments within North Rhine-Westphalia)

ARD also has three extra channels as part of its digital package:

• Tagesschau24 – a TV news channel
• One – an entertainment TV channel
• ARD-alpha – for educational programs

ARD is also part of several joint channels with other broadcasters:

• 3sat with ZDF, ORF (Austria), and SRG (Switzerland): a cultural channel
• KI.KA with ZDF: a children's channel
• Arte with ZDF and France Télévisions: a French-German cultural channel
• Phoenix with ZDF: a news and documentary channel. It often shows live press conferences and political debates.

The international broadcaster Deutsche Welle also produces TV services. These are mostly available through satellite.

Podcasts

The Tagesschau news show, made by ARD every night, is available as a podcast on the ARD website. You can get it as audio only or with video. Other audio programs from ARD's members (like BR, MDR) and Deutsche Welle are also available as podcasts on their websites.

ARD Member Organizations

ARD member broadcaster map

ARD broadcasters before German reunification

ARD has 30 offices with correspondents (reporters) in 26 different countries.

ARD also runs other companies and organizations, sometimes with ZDF. These include Degeto Film, which buys and produces TV rights. There's also the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA) and the Institute for Broadcasting Technology (IRT) for research. The Fee Collection Service (Beitragsservice) is another one.

ARD supports the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) idea. This is a standard for TV boxes that can receive both regular TV and online content.

Chairs of the ARD

The "Chair" is the head of the ARD for a certain period. Here is a list of past and current Chairs:

ARD Correspondents Around the World

ARD has reporters (correspondents) stationed in many cities around the world. They send back news and stories from these places.

Europe

The radio studio in Strasbourg closed in 2010. Reporting from there is now done from Brussels and Paris. The radio studio in Zurich closed in 2021. Reporting is now done from Geneva.

Americas

The ARD radio studio in Buenos Aires closed in 2022. Reporting is now done from Rio de Janeiro.

Africa and Middle East

The studio for Turkey and Iran (radio) is in Istanbul. The ARD radio studio in Amman closed in 2013. It now has a branch office in Cairo.

Logo

• 

  ARD's first logo used from the 1950s until 1970

• 

  ARD's second logo used from 1970 until 1984

• 

  ARD's third logo used from 1984 until 2003

• 

  ARD's fourth logo used from 2003 until 2019

• 

  ARD's fifth and current logo used since December 2019

See Also

In Spanish: ARD para niños

• Television in Germany
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (Second German TV channel)
• List of German-language television channels