About Jam FM

Jam FM

Jam FM is a Berlin-based private radio station specialising in urban contemporary music — hip-hop, R&B, black music and dance-pop — broadcasting on FM 93.6 in the German capital and via DAB+ in several federal states. Founded in 1993 and on air since January 1994, it is one of Germany's longest-running commercial youth stations and a pioneer of black-music radio in the country. With the slogan "93,6 Jam FM – Musik die dich bewegt" (music that moves you), the station targets a young, urban audience from its studios on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Overview

Jam FM's format is classified as youth programming with an urban contemporary profile: the playlist centres on hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeats-influenced sounds and dance-pop hits, aimed squarely at listeners in their teens, twenties and thirties. The station is a private commercial broadcaster financed by advertising. Its brand owner is Skyline Medien GmbH, and day-to-day leadership has been in the hands of Stephan Schmitter since June 2014. According to the 2025 media analysis, Jam FM reaches an average of 66,000 listeners per hour from Monday to Friday, 43,000 of them in Berlin-Brandenburg. Distribution combines FM in Berlin-Brandenburg with DAB+ digital radio in Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony, plus cable and a global webstream.

History

Jam FM was founded in Berlin in 1993 and began broadcasting nationwide via cable on 15 January 1994. Its early months were turbulent: on 1 August 1994 the station was temporarily absorbed into "Hit FM" after the owner of Munich's 89 Hit FM joined the venture and sought to convert it into a hit-music format — making the Munich station audible outside Bavaria for the first time, around the clock via cable and the Kopernikus satellite. The joint venture lasted only about six weeks; by mid-September 1994 Hit FM had been withdrawn from satellite and cable, returning to twelve hours a day in Munich, while Jam FM ran a continuous loop until regular programming resumed in October 1994.

Those formative years shaped the station's identity. Long-time presenter Jörg Wachsmuth — a Jam FM moderator from 1994 to 2005, hosting the "Sunrise" morning show from 1997 to 2002 — later described a partly experimental programme guided by the lived motto "The Finest in Black Music", with New York's Kiss FM as the great role model. Jam FM essentially introduced a dedicated black-music format to German commercial radio at a time when the genre had no permanent home on the country's airwaves.

A decisive step came in September 2001, when Jam FM gained terrestrial FM transmission in Berlin and Brandenburg through a partnership with FAZ Businessradio, the holder of the 93.6 MHz frequency. For a time the station also ran a regional afternoon variant in Saarland; in 2005 the Saarbrücker Zeitung acquired Skyline Medien Saarland GmbH — the programme and the Saarland frequencies — and since 5 September 2005 those frequencies have carried bigFM Saarland instead.

Ownership and management changed repeatedly. At the end of 2004 shareholder and managing director Matthias Bimmermann departed, and fellow shareholder Frank Nordmann took over management of Skyline Medien GmbH, the brand owner. In autumn 2007 Nordmann and most of the staff left the station; Matthias Gülzow became the new managing director, followed by Carolin Häublein in February and Stephan Schmitter from June 2014. Musically, the station gradually opened beyond its black-music core toward other Afro-American-inspired styles and eventually toward current hits and dance, while retaining its urban identity.

Programming

The core programme is an urban contemporary mix: current hip-hop and R&B, dance-pop crossovers and the biggest urban hits of recent years, presented by a young moderation team with a strong focus on lifestyle, music news and listener interaction. The station's Berlin studios on the Kurfürstendamm produce a daytime schedule aimed at the capital's young audience, with regional DAB+ feeds extending the brand to northern and eastern Germany.

Beyond the main feed, Jam FM operates a family of thematic web channels that let listeners dive into specific eras and moods: decade channels for the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, a "Black Label" channel devoted to 24-hour black music, a charts channel for current hit-breakers, a chill-out channel and DJ-branded streams such as DJ Cooper's electronic show. These streams are available through jam.fm and the station's apps, complementing the broadcast programme with on-demand-style listening.

Coverage & Audience

Jam FM's home market is Berlin-Brandenburg, where it broadcasts on FM 93.6 MHz. Digital distribution extends the brand considerably: the station is on DAB+ in Berlin and Brandenburg and additionally in Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony, and it is carried on cable networks. The webstream and app make the programme available worldwide. Audience data from the 2025 media analysis credits the station with 66,000 listeners in the average hour Monday to Friday, including 43,000 in Berlin-Brandenburg — solid figures for a specialist youth format in a crowded capital market that also hosts Kiss FM, Energy Berlin and bigFM.

Ownership

The Jam FM brand is owned by Skyline Medien GmbH. The station's corporate history reflects the consolidation waves of German private radio: the 2005 sale of the Saarland operation to the Saarbrücker Zeitung group, the management changes of 2004 and 2007, and the stabilisation under Stephan Schmitter since 2014. As a Berlin-based independent youth brand, Jam FM operates alongside — and competes with — the German outposts of international groups such as NRJ's Energy and the national youth networks, maintaining a distinct urban-music profile that its larger rivals do not replicate.

Digital Presence

Digital platforms are central to a youth station, and Jam FM's online offering is correspondingly broad. The jam.fm website and apps carry the live programme alongside the full family of genre and decade channels — from the 90s and 2000s streams to Black Label, Charts and Chill — effectively operating as a small streaming service within the radio brand. Social media channels target the station's young audience with music news, artist content and interactive formats, while the slogan "Musik die dich bewegt" frames the brand's promise across all platforms. For a station that began as a cable-only experiment in 1994, the digital transformation has been existential: the web channels and app now carry the Jam FM brand far beyond its FM home in Berlin.

On Air Since January 1994

JAM FM went on air on 15 January 1994 (founded 1993) — one of Germany's first private youth brands, receivable nationwide via cable and satellite plus livestream. The early years were turbulent: in August 1994 the station was temporarily called "Hit FM" after a deal with the Munich 89 Hit FM owner, but the agreement lasted only six weeks; in September 1994 Hit FM withdrew from satellite and cable, and Jam FM returned in October 1994 playing mainly African-American music. Since September 2001 Jam FM has broadcast terrestrially in Berlin and Brandenburg via a partnership with FAZ Businessradio, which owns the 93.6 FM frequency. A Saarland regional version (afternoons, 30% owned by the Saarbrücker Zeitung) ran until 5 September 2005, when the frequency went to bigFM Saarland. After shareholder and managing director Matthias Bimmermann left at the end of 2004, Frank Nordmann took over Skyline Medien GmbH, holder of the Jam FM brand; in autumn 2007 Nordmann and most staff left, with Matthias Gülzow, then Carolin Häublein, then Stephan Schmitter (since June 2014) leading the station. Programme director Andreas Frutiger.

Deine Nummer eins für neue Musik

The slogan is "Deine Nummer eins für neue Musik" ("Your number one for new music"): urban contemporary/rhythmic CHR with current charts and new dance hits, the presenters covering music, fashion and lifestyle. The 2025 Media-Analyse shows 66,000 listeners per average hour Monday–Friday — 43,000 of them in Berlin-Brandenburg, where most of the audience listens. The station is received terrestrially in Berlin/Brandenburg (93.6 FM), nationwide via cable and satellite, and via livestream — the youth brand for new music, on air for more than three decades.