About RPR1

RPR1

RPR1 is Rhineland-Palatinate's private radio — launched on 30 April 1986 as Germany's first statewide private broadcaster (Radio 4 in Ludwigshafen), it targets a 14–49 adult-contemporary audience with pop-rock, general and traffic news, comedy and advertising. In an average broadcast hour it reaches 221,000 listeners, making it the market leader among private stations in Rhineland-Palatinate. The operator is the Rheinland-Pfälzische Rundfunk GmbH & Co. KG; since 2021 production has been centralised in the Audiotainment Südwest GmbH & Co. KG, a joint production company founded with Radio Regenbogen, BigFM and Rock FM.

Overview

RPR1 is a private regional broadcaster from Ludwigshafen. At the 1986 liberalisation of the airwaves, four stations shared one frequency: PRO Radio 4, Radio 85, RPR and the Linksrheinische Rundfunk (LR) — PRO Radio 4 and RPR as purely commercial radios, LR with an alternative programme. The three merged to become RPR1 (later Radio RPR integrated the other three). From 1991 to 2003 RPR1 broadcast the "RPR Zwei" schlager programme on a second statewide chain; after its discontinuation the chain was used by BigFM Rheinland-Pfalz. RPR2 reappeared on the internet in 2005. Since January 2007 RPR1 has offered specialist music programmes on its website.

History

The legal basis for private broadcasting in Rhineland-Palatinate was the state broadband-cable experiment law with its amendment of 20 December 1984. On 30 April 1986 RPR1 started with other providers in a frequency-splitting model; in 1990 RPR alone received the licence for a statewide frequency chain. From 1991 to 2003 the "RPR Zwei" schlager format aired on a second statewide chain. At the end of 2020 RPR1, Radio Regenbogen, BigFM and Rock FM founded the Audiotainment Südwest GmbH & Co. KG, a production company responsible since 1 January 2021 for the central programme production and strategic development of their stations; RPR1 remains as a brand and independent programme. Shareholders of the Rheinland-Pfälzische Rundfunk GmbH & Co. KG are predominantly Rhineland-Palatinate newspaper publishers: 24.5% Moira Rundfunk (Medien Union Ludwigshafen), 23.4% VRM Rundfunk Holding, 20.5% Mittelrhein-Verlag, 9.2% Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft (the SPD's media holding) — as of June 2026.

Programming

RPR1 targets a 14–49 adult-contemporary audience with hourly pop-rock, general and traffic news, comedy and advertising.

Coverage & Audience

RPR1 broadcasts on FM across Rhineland-Palatinate, on DAB+, cable, satellite and worldwide livestream. In an average broadcast hour it reaches 221,000 listeners, the private market leader in the state.

Ownership

The operator is the Rheinland-Pfälzische Rundfunk GmbH & Co. KG, majority-held by Rhineland-Palatinate newspaper publishers (Moira Rundfunk/Medien Union, VRM, Mittelrhein-Verlag, the SPD's Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft). Since 2021 production is centralised in Audiotainment Südwest with Radio Regenbogen, BigFM and Rock FM.

Digital Presence

The station operates rpr1.de with a livestream and specialist music web programmes since January 2007 alongside apps and social media channels, extending its Rhineland-Palatinate programme beyond the terrestrial footprint. The digital offering carries the station's pop-rock, news and comedy on demand.

Radio 4: The First Statewide Private Station

RPR1.'s roots go back to 30 April 1986, when it started as part of the Veranstaltergemeinschaft "Radio 4" — a consortium of Radio RPR, Pro Radio 4, Linksrheinischer Rundfunk and Radio '85 — in a frequency-splitting model under Rhineland-Palatinate's private broadcasting law. It was the first statewide private radio in Germany; Radio Schleswig-Holstein followed on 1 July 1986 as the second. Radio RPR later integrated the other three organisers and the station became simply Radio RPR. In 1990 RPR alone received the licence for a statewide frequency chain. From 1991 to 2003 RPR1. broadcast the schlager format "RPR Zwei" on a second statewide chain; after its discontinuation the chain was used for bigFM Rheinland-Pfalz. With 221,000 listeners in an average hour, RPR1. is the market leader among private radio stations in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Audiotainment Südwest

At the end of 2020 RPR1., Radio Regenbogen, bigFM and Rock FM founded the Audiotainment Südwest GmbH & Co. KG — a production company responsible since 1 January 2021 for the central programme production and strategic development of the stations, while RPR1. remains an independent brand and programme. The operator is the Rheinland-Pfälzische Rundfunk GmbH & Co. KG, whose shares are predominantly held by newspaper publishers from Rhineland-Palatinate: the largest shareholders (as of June 2026) are Moira Rundfunk GmbH (a Medien Union Ludwigshafen subsidiary, 24.5%), VRM Rundfunk Holding (23.4%), Mittelrhein-Verlag (20.5%) and the Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft — the SPD's media holding — with 9.2%.

The Day in Rhineland-Palatinate

Programme highlights include the daily information show "Der Tag in Rheinland-Pfalz", honoured with the Deutscher Radiopreis; the high-reach online platform vereinsleben.de; and the cross-media brand "Liedergut – Music made in Germany". The station reaches its audience several times daily with regional contributions and news from five regional studios in Koblenz, Trier, Mainz, Kaiserslautern and Ludwigshafen. Core target group is 35-to-55-year-olds. RPR1. is received statewide on FM, on DAB+, via cable, satellite and as a worldwide livestream — Rhineland-Palatinate's private market leader, four decades after the Radio 4 consortium first went on air.

History: The First Private Station in Germany

RPR1. is the first private state-wide radio station in Germany — and with it began the era of the dual broadcasting system in the country. At 6:30 p.m. on 30 April 1986, Radio 4 went on air in Ludwigshafen, broadcasting its programme from provisional studios via a 5,000-watt transmitter on 103.6 MHz from the Mannheim radio tower — receivable in the Rhine-Neckar area, the Rhine plain to Karlsruhe and the Rhine-Main region. A complaint by the Linksrheinische Rundfunk before the Higher Administrative Court in Koblenz against the start had been rejected just a day earlier.

It began as frequency-splitting: four different radio stations with their own profiles went on air on the same day — PRO Radio 4, Radio85, RPR and the Linksrheinische Rundfunk (LR), sharing one frequency on different programme strands. While PRO Radio 4 and RPR were commercially oriented, Mainz-based LR broadcast an alternative programme; in the end the stations merged into Radio RPR. From provisional studios the station quickly developed into one of Germany's strongest and most-listened-to radio brands. In the early 1990s it received the second state-wide FM chain in Rhineland-Palatinate: on those frequencies a schlager programme called RPR Zwei aired until August 2003 — then replaced by big FM, the youth programme taken over from Baden-Württemberg. In 2005 RPR2. reappeared as internet radio; since 1 January 2007 the station has offered genre webchannels (RPR1. Rock, RPR1. 80'er, RPR1. New Songs, RPR1. 100% Deutsch and others). On 30 April 2026 the station celebrated its 40th birthday — congratulated, among others, by Bundestag president Julia Klöckner as "a piece of home on the radio".

Programme, Studios and Audiotainment Südwest

RPR1. is aimed at the 14–49 audience and plays pop-rock music hourly, with general and traffic information, comedy and advertising under the claim "Hier spielt die BESTE Musik" (the best music plays here). The broadcaster, the Rheinland-Pfälzische Rundfunk GmbH & Co. KG, is based in Ludwigshafen with studios in Mainz, Koblenz and Trier; it is a station of Audiotainment Südwest. From classic FM radio the house has become a digital full-service provider with an app platform of more than 60 webstreams and successful podcast productions — 40 years after the first broadcast from a provisional studio.

From Radio 4's first evening to 40 years of private radio: RPR1. remains the station that invented commercial broadcasting in Germany — still based in Ludwigshafen, still heard across Rhineland-Palatinate.