100 Years of Radio from Königs Wusterhausen

On December 22nd 1920, something remarkable happened in Königs Wusterhausen. For months, engineers have attempted to transmit speech and music using an arc converter in Senderhaus 1 of the Funkerberg (the Königs Wusterhausen radio tower). On that Wednesday, they finally succeeded – at 2pm in the afternoon, the radio transmitter went online.
“Hello, hello, this is Königs Wusterhausen on Wave 2700” – those were the first words of the first radio broadcast from Germany. That broadcast is considered the dawn of radio in Germany.

 In einer kleinen Ansprache wurde der Station die „Großjährigkeit“ erklärt und den Hörern ein „kleines, bescheidenes Weihnachtskonzert“ angekündigt. Anschließend wurde live Musik und vom Grammophon gespielt. Zum Abschluss wünschten die Sendepioniere ein frohes Weihnachtsfest. Diese Sendung vom Funkerberg in Königs Wusterhausen gilt als Geburtsstunde des Rundfunks in Deutschland.

In 2016 the christmas concert of December 22th, 1920 received international appreciation by being declared as “IEEE milestone in electrical engineering”.

A hundred years later, remarkable events are taking place at the Funkerberg again.

100 years of broadcasting are celebrated for the duration of the year. A hundred years of broadcast can be experienced in the Sender- und Funktechnikmuseum (museum of radio and broadcasting technology). The museum‘s own radio station, welle370, demonstrates medium wave broadcasting on a monthly basis. And each month, the Funkerberg hosts a unique radio-themed event.

Much has changed in the last 100 years in radio broadcasting. But the fundamentals have remained the same: the transmission of speech and music for the listener. Everything else is left to the imagination of the audience – to this day, that is the magic of radio broadcasting.

“Radio from the birthplace of broadcasting” – with this motto, we are inviting stations from around the world to broadcast from the cradle of radio transmission. For this purpose,we will provide a small studio setup, to allow radio program production and transmission to the home studio via internet at any time. Recording can be done with a small amount of studio guests in the room showing the 250.000 watt medium wave transmitter, or with an audience of up to 120 people in the historic “Kultursaal” hall.

The history of radio broadcasting is a history of communication. The Museum für Kommunikation Berlin (Berlin museum of communication) is honoring our theme of “100 years of broadcasting” with a special exhibition:

The Museum for Communication Berlin will open the exhibition ‘100 years of radio broadcasting’ in September 2020. The exhibition looks at the receivers (and under their hood), presents creators, significant locations of radio history and the radio content that people have been listening to since 1920. It documents a democratic medium and the fractures and disruption that it experienced and survived. The visitors are asked to participate: what does radio mean for you?

In September 2021 the exhibition will be shown at the Museum for Communication Frankfurt.

 

100 Years of Radio is a project by Förderverein “Sender Königs Wusterhausen” e. V. to commemorate the birth of german radio broadcasting in “Rundfunkstadt Königs Wusterhausen” in 1920.

100 Years of Radio Events in 2020

Jan 5th – New Year‘s Concert of the Town of Königs Wusterhausen
Feb 9th – World Radio Day – “Listening to the radio like 100 years ago”
Mar 7th – “Radio” Reading in the town library of Königs Wusterhausen
Apr 4th – 35.000 m above Königs Wusterhausen – Project “Stratosphere Flight”
May 8th  -75 Years reopening of the Transmission Station Tegel, Hour of Commemoration at the Senderhaus 2
Jun 7th  -The Sound of Königs Wusterhausen – Premiere
Jul 6th – 10th – #radioferien – Event Week for Children on Holiday in the Region
Aug 7th – 8th – Bergfunk Openair – Radio from the festival in Königs Wusterhausen
Sep 5th – Town Festival Königs Wusterhausen
Sep 13th – Open monument day – 100 Jahre history of the Funkerberg.
Oct 10th – Live Radio Play in the Senderhaus
Nov – Is there a Future for Radio? Discussion at the Museum for Communication Berlin
Dec 22th – Commemorative Event “100 Years of Radio Broadcasting from Königs Wusterhausen”