Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, shortened to 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, and broadcasts a number of radio channels.

WWW mdr.de 𝕏 mdrde FB mdr

History

Origins

The Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk AG 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, "Sender Leipzig", was introduced.
On 31 May 1991, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk was founded as public broadcaster serving Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, and became a member of ARD. MDR began their first television transmission immediately after DFF's final closedown on midnight of New Year's Day 1992.
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, Erfurt, and Magdeburg.

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 €18.36.
These fees are not collected directly by MDR but by the [Beitragsservice von ARD (broadcaster)|ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio|Beitragsservice] owned jointly by ARD, 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, and SRG

Radio channels

– Variety music and regional programming for Saxony
– regional programming for Saxony-Anhalt
– regional programming for Thuringia
MDR Jump – pop music
MDR Kultur – culture & spoken word programming and regional classical music
MDR Aktuell – 24-hour news and information
MDR Sputnik – youth oriented music station. Formerly DT64 cultural youth channel of East German broadcasting organisation.
MDR Klassik – classical music
MDR Schlagerwelt – schlager music and easy listening
– children's programming

Musical organizations

The MDR operates two musical organizations and a ballet corps.
The MDR Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1915 as "Orchester des Konzertvereins". It became the "Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester 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 was founded in 1946 as the Rundfunkchor Leipzig.
The MDR managed MDR TV Ballet, 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, 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 and Polizeiruf 110. MDR also produces the successful hospital series In aller Freundschaft and the animal series Abenteuer Zoo, Deutschlands wilde Tiere and Europas wilder Osten. MDR also has the primary responsibility for the childrens' TV channel KiKa headquartered in Erfurt, which has amassed a cult following in Germany and internationally due to their mascot Bernd das Brot, a chronically depressed loaf of bread which appears in the KiKa late-night loop.