Campus radio

The university radio (also called Uniradio or Campusradio) belongs to the non-commercial broadcasting and is operated at a university by students. In Germany, it is only available in some federal states as a separate licence class. In the federal states where university radio is not permitted on its own frequency, university groups only broadcast by the hour, in some cases only pre-produced on frequencies of other providers, or must limit themselves to broadcasting via the Internet.

The first active university radio station Hochschulfunk (today: radio hsf) was established in 1950 in the GDR at the Ilmenau School of Engineering, now the Ilmenau University of Technology. In West Germany, several student associations were simultaneously attempting to establish a student radio station. The first broadcasts on amateur radio frequencies were broadcast by the ags at the TU Braunschweig as early as 1953. Due to the legislation in West Germany (broadcasting state treaties), it was not legally possible for any student association to operate a radio station until their liberalization in the 1980s.

The following is an overview of the situation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Germany

Baden-Württemberg

In Baden-Württemberg, there are independent university radio stations within the license class of non-commercial local radio stations, all of which share their frequency with a free radio station:

• Radioactive (Mannheim, Heidelberg)
• Radio KIT (Karlsruhe)
• Uniradio Konstanz (Constance)

As internet-only radio there is:

• Welle20 (Friedrichshafen)
• FuFunk (Furtwangen)
• Künzelsound (Künzelsau)

However, there is also student radio in Baden-Württemberg within the framework of the so-called Lernradios:

• LernRadio (Karlsruhe)
• HoRadS (Stuttgart)
• Uniradio Freiburg/echo-fm 88,4 (Freiburg im Breisgau)

Bavaria

In Bavaria, university radio mainly takes place within the framework of window broadcasts created by students on local radio stations:

• Channel C (Augsburg) on Radio Fantasy
• Radio Pegasus (Eichstätt) on Radio Galaxy Ingolstadt
• Radio Leporello (Rosenheim) on (Radio Regenbogen (Bavaria))

Furthermore, there are two "education and training channels" in Bavaria, in which Uniradio is an essential part, but other groups and institutions also broadcast:

• afk max (Nuremberg)
• afk M94.5 (Munich)

The following seven self-financed internet radio stations are operated by students of the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, University of Bayreuth, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, University of Applied Sciences Munich, University of Passau, University of Regensburg, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg and the Technical University of Deggendorf:

• Uni-Vox.de (Bamberg)
• schalltwerk.org (Bayreuth)
• Funklust (Erlangen)
• Radio Microwave (Munich)
• Campuscrew (Passau)
• Regensburg Student Radio (Regensburg)
• UR Würzburg (Würzburg)
• Radio WebWelle (Deggendorf)

As part of the tests for the new digital radio standard DRM, three independent university stations went on the air via shortwave. Some of the projects have since been discontinued.

• bit eXpress (Erlangen, meanwhile parallel digital on medium wave, test also on VHF and DAB+ in Erlangen in cooperation with and under flag Funklust)
• Campus Radio Nürnberg (Nuremberg)/(Georg-Simon-Ohm-Hochschule, project finished)
• radio fine tune (Munich)/(TUM)

Berlin/Brandenburg

uniRadio Berlin-Brandenburg was founded in 1995 and broadcast as an independent provider in Berlin every evening for two hours on VHF on the frequency of Star FM until February 2005. However, the station was no longer allocated its own broadcasting time and broadcast one hour of programming daily from 5 to 6 p.m. on Alex Offener Kanal Berlin at 97.2 MHz and via livestream on the Internet. In the meantime, however, this station no longer exists.

In the summer semester of 2005, a campus radio was founded at the TU Berlin. Participants are students of the Berlin universities and the University of Potsdam, who broadcast their programs via internet radio. The studio is located in the broadcast studio of the TU Berlin and is equipped with digital radio technology. In January 2006, the program went on the air for the first time, but is not operated regularly.

The campus radio funkUP has been running in Potsdam since the summer semester of 2009. The program consists of a podcast that comes out twice a week and includes various broadcast formats - from music, theme and magazine shows to radio plays and features. In addition, since May 2011, the student team can also be heard every two weeks in Berlin and Potsdam for one hour on 88vier. (as of January 2012)

In the winter semester 2010/11, the concept for couchFM, the Berlin campus radio station, was developed at Humboldt University Berlin as part of a course at the Institute for Media Studies under the direction of Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus. couchFM is designed as an educational radio station and is open to students at all Berlin universities. Since October 2012, couchFM has been broadcasting, initially once a week, and since 2013 twice a week on Mondays and Fridays from 5 to 6 pm on 88vier. On Mondays, the music show Klangkompott and the science talk Studentenfutter are on air, on Fridays the magazine show with music as well as student and Berlin-related topics is on air.

Since 2016 couchFM broadcasts daily 5 to 6 pm on the new frequency of the open channel ALEX Berlin. This moved from 88vier to 91.0 MHz in 2016. In the same year, on 13 October, couchFM celebrated its 5th anniversary with a 5-hour live broadcast.

Bremen

There is no university radio frequency of its own in the state of Bremen. In the 1990s, Radio Bremen 2 broadcast a programme called "Campusradio" in cooperation with the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg. This was discontinued. Now, since the winter semester 2004/2005, there is a project Campus Radio Bremen organized by students. The regular magazine broadcasts can be heard in Bremen, Bremerhaven and the surrounding area via Bürgerrundfunk Bremen. Contributions can also be accessed at any time via the Internet. Since 2012, the Campus Radio project is no longer offered by the university.

Hamburg

In Hamburg, the university radio does not function as an independent station. For some years, the student university radio broadcast on the frequency of TIDE 96.0, the Hamburg education and citizens' channel.

There, "UNIversal - das Campusjournal" ran live from 2 to 3 p.m. every second, fourth and fifth Saturday of the month. The programme included comedy, news, interviews and studio guests on university topics. The Resoullouser DJ team provided the music for the programme with a live set, classic and straight from the turntable. The show was usually hosted by Fabian Pickel, Kristin Kolodzei and Julia Holzapfel.

Hesse

University radio in Hesse only exists within the framework of broadcasts on non-commercial local radio stations:

• AudioMax (Darmstadt) on Radio Darmstadt
• "Running Radio" (Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences), irregularly on Radio Darmstadt, as part of event radio and occasionally on SWR2. The radio project, which is based at the Department of Media at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, pursues in particular the idea of a "young" cultural radio programme
• Campusradio Mainz on Radio RheinWelle 92.5 (Wiesbaden)
• Unihört (Marburg) on Radio Unerhört Marburg 90,1 or as Podcast
• Radio DauerWelle (Frankfurt am Main)

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

• RadioHIRN - The student radio of the University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg

Lower Saxony

University radio in Lower Saxony takes place, among other things, in the form of editorial departments and broadcasts in the citizens' radio stations.

• 141.41.19.7 - experimental radio of the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts
• RadioXYZ - Radio project at the TU-Braunschweig
• OHR - Ostfalia University Radio (Salzgitter)
• CAMPUSlife - The university radio for Wilhelmshaven on Radio Jade (Wilhelmshaven)
• Hangover breakfast - The university radio for Lüneburg on Radio ZuSa (Lüneburg)
• UFO - The Magazine. Unifunk Osnabrück on osradio (Osnabrück)
• GöHört - The campus radio of the University of Göttingen on Stadtradio Göttingen 107,1
• Campus News International - The radio project of the Centre for Foreign Languages at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts on Radio Leinehertz 106.5 (Hannover)
• Ernst.FM - The campus radio for Hanover
• Campusradio of the AStA of the University of Hildesheim on Radio Tonkuhle (Hildesheim)
• Campus Radio Lingen on the Ems-Vechte wave (Lingen)

North Rhine-Westphalia

The State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia awards 24-hour licences to university radio stations in a simplified award procedure. This has created a prerequisite for perceptible and viable stations with their own identity and strong identification potential. This gives university radio stations the opportunity to revitalize the radio landscape with new formats and music programs and to reach significant listener shares in the local markets alongside the public stations and private radio.

In 1996, when an amendment to the state media law in North Rhine-Westphalia made university radio stations possible, "Radio c.t.", now CT das radio, was the first campus radio station in North Rhine-Westphalia to receive a broadcast license for an unlimited live program and its own frequency in Bochum. Five more followed in Dortmund, Münster, Düsseldorf, Bielefeld and Cologne. In the meantime, East Westphalia and Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, Duisburg/Essen, Aachen and Siegen were also added. In the former German capital, several groups shared the broadcast frequency until 2013.

The organization of these stations is based on registered associations, the employees are volunteers. The university radio stations are financed by funds from the universities, contributions from the association members and sponsoring. Advertising is not permitted. They broadcast live between two and ten hours a day. During the rest of the time, other stations are sometimes taken over or an automated music programme is broadcast.

The following university radio stations are currently broadcasting in North Rhine-Westphalia:

• BonnFM
• CampusFM (Essen/Duisburg)
• CT das radio (Bochum)
• eldoradio (Dortmund)
• Hertz 87.9 (Bielefeld)
• University radio Aachen
• University radio düsseldorf
• Kölncampus (Cologne)
• L'UniCo (Paderborn)
• Radio Q (Münster)
• Radio Triquency (University of Applied Sciences Ostwestfalen-Lippe)
• radioFH! (University of Applied Sciences South Westphalia, Meschede)
• Radius 92.1 (Siegen)

Rhineland-Palatinate

In Rhineland-Palatinate there are currently two regular campus radios. The University of Mainz has been broadcasting since 2002 and can currently be received on Wednesdays under the frequency of Radio Rheinwelle on 92.5 MHz in Mainz and Wiesbaden. The campus radio of the University of Trier was only founded in 2009 and has been broadcasting regularly via webcast since then. At the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, there is an annual one-day radio broadcast on the frequency 87.6 MHz for the Open Campus Day, which can be received around Kaiserslautern.

Saarland

In Saarland, the weekly hour-long magazine Univox ran on the Offener Kanal between 1999 and 2002. This was discontinued in March 2002. A total of just under 200 programmes were broadcast.

At the end of January 2011 the newly founded campus radio Funkloch started, but the project is no longer offered.

Saxony

In Saxony, there are five independently broadcasting university radio stations. In Leipzig, the university radio station mephisto 97.6 broadcasts weekdays for four hours on the Leipzig frequency of R.SA; since 31 January 2018, it can also be received continuously via internet stream on the website of the university station and via DAB+.

In Chemnitz, Radio UNiCC broadcasts daily from 18:00 to 19:00 on the frequency of Apollo radio (102.7 MHz), as part of the non-commercial local station Radio T, as well as via internet stream on the website of the university station.

In Mittweida, the media department of the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences (FH) operates a student training station. 99drei Radio Mittweida broadcasts 24 hours a day on its own frequency 99.3 and can be received in almost the entire area of the former Mittweida district. The station positions itself as a citizen-oriented city station, less as a campus radio. The station can also be received via the Internet.

In Freiberg, StuNet Radio broadcasts regularly during lecture hours via an internet stream on the university radio station's website. Currently the project StuNet Radio is paused.

In 2009, Dresden started its own radio project under the name "Campusradio Dresden". The radio produces four shows a month, including the magazine "Funkstube", the music shows "Album of the Month" and "Tracks 'n' Talk", and since February 2015 "Das Filmmagazin". This fills 320 broadcast minutes of the citizens' radio station coloRadio each month, and podcasts are also produced on a large scale for the station's own website.

Saxony-Anhalt

In Saxony-Anhalt, there is currently Guericke FM, the university radio of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, on the Open Channel Magdeburg and on the Internet as a webstream. In addition, twice a month in Halle a broadcast of the Martin Luther University Unimono on Radio Corax.

Schleswig-Holstein

In Schleswig-Holstein, university radio programmes are available as multi-hour broadcasts on the open channels:

• Campusradio Kiel on Kiel FM
• Campus Radio Lübeck on the Open Channel Lübeck

Thuringia

In Thuringia there are four university radios in Ilmenau, Jena, Weimar and Erfurt. While in Ilmenau the frequency is used 24 hours a day, the campus radio Jena broadcasts up to 4 hours a day and the Weimar program only three hours on Monday evenings, while the non-commercial Radio F.R.E.I. and the Open Channel FUNKWERK broadcast the rest of the time. In Erfurt, the student editorial staff of Radio F.R.E.I. broadcasts every third Tuesday of the month from 20:00 to 21:00:

• radio hsf (Ilmenau)
• Bauhaus FM, formerly Studio B11 (Weimar)
• Campusradio Jena (Jena)
• UNIversal - Your student magazine for Erfurt (Erfurt)

Austria

The first Austrian university radio started in Salzburg in 1994 as a broadcast in the ORF programme Radio Salzburg. There are currently two independent university radio stations in Austria: Radio Radieschen in Vienna and Campus Radio 94.4 in St. Pölten.

Since 1997, however, there has also been the "Student Radio Achwelle" at the University of Applied Sciences Vorarlberg, which has a 24-hour webstream as well as two broadcast windows on ORF (Radio Vorarlberg) and "Radio Proton".

Other student broadcasts can be found on Austria's independent radios, as well as in Vienna Radio UTON and "Radio Dynamic" on ORF's multicultural programme Radio 1476. Radio X-Stream of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences has established itself as an Internet radio station.