About RTL Radio

RTL Radio

RTL Radio is a German-language radio station with one of the longest histories in European commercial broadcasting, tracing its lineage to Radio Luxembourg's German service of 1957. Produced today in Berlin and owned by the RTL Group, it broadcasts to Germany and Luxembourg via FM, DAB+, cable, satellite and internet. After decades under names including Radio Luxemburg, RTL Hörfunk, RTL – Der Oldiesender and RTL – Deutschlands Hit-Radio, the station returned to the RTL Radio name in June 2026 with a feel-good music format spanning the 1980s to the present.

Overview

RTL Radio is a private, commercially funded music station whose current format is described as current-based adult contemporary under the slogan "Feel Good Music von den 80ern bis heute" (feel-good music from the 80s to today). Its reception area covers Germany and Luxembourg, with regional FM frequencies, nationwide DAB+ carriage, cable distribution, Europe-wide satellite coverage and a global webstream. The station is operated in Germany by RTL Radio Deutschland (RTL Audio Center Berlin GmbH) and managed by Frank Jaeger. According to the ma 2022 Radio II media analysis, RTL Radio reached around 464,000 listeners per working day with a nationwide market share of 0.7 percent.

History

The station's origins lie with Radio Luxembourg, whose French-language programme began on 15 March 1933 as a private commercial venture of the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion, founded in 1931. The German-language service — the direct ancestor of today's station — started on 15 July 1957 with just one hour of daily programming. Broadcast from the Grand Duchy into neighbouring Germany, it quickly gained popularity, expanding to three hours and, by around 1965, running from 7:30 a.m. to midnight alongside the shrinking Dutch service and the evening English programme on FM and shortwave.

In post-war Germany, where public broadcasters held a non-commercial monopoly, Radio Luxembourg — together with the Saarland-based Europe 1 — broke new ground: it brought advertising to German radio for the first time and introduced listeners in both East and West Germany to rock and roll, bebop and cool jazz and other American popular music, in sharp contrast to the classical repertoire that dominated domestic services. The station's German DJs became household names, and its "four cheerful waves" era made it a pop-cultural institution.

In 1988 Radio Luxembourg was renamed RTL Hörfunk, and in 1992 the German programme was relaunched as "RTL – Der Oldiesender", targeting 25-to-45-year-olds with slogans such as "Die besten Hits mit Gefühl" and later "Die besten Hits aller Zeiten". For a time the station lost its AM frequency to Mega Radio before recovering it. From 2005 the medium-wave frequency 1440 kHz from the Marnach transmitter carried a fundamentally digital-era schedule: RTL programming in limited dayparts, religious programmes (notably from the Swiss mission organisation Freundesdienst) and, for much of the day, China Radio International — an unusual timeshare that lasted until the frequency was switched off on 31 December 2015.

Between 2008 and 2013, FM frequencies 93.3 and 97.0 MHz carried a regional Luxembourg-oriented version, "RTL Radio 93.3 und 97.0"; in December 2013 the national German feed returned to those frequencies. On 1 July 2015 the station was relaunched as "RTL – Deutschlands Hit-Radio" with a Hot AC format (previously Major AC), and production moved from Luxembourg City to Berlin — ending nearly 58 years of German-language RTL programming from Luxembourg, though regional traffic and weather for the Luxembourg FM frequencies continued to be produced there. In June 2026 the station changed its name and format again, returning to the RTL Radio name with feel-good music from the 1980s to today.

Programming

The current programme is a current-based AC music format built on feel-good hits from the 1980s through to current releases, aimed at an adult mainstream audience. Historically the station's formats have tracked the eras of German commercial radio: the pioneering pop shows of the Radio Luxembourg decades, the oldies focus of the 1990s and 2000s ("Die besten Hits aller Zeiten" — love songs and soft pop), the Major AC phase until June 2015, and the Hot AC "Deutschlands Hit-Radio" era from 2015 to 2026. Regional windows provide weather and traffic information for German-speaking listeners in Luxembourg and the Saarland. The station's long-running identity as a German-language service of a Luxembourg-based broadcaster gives it a distinctive cross-border character unmatched by domestic German stations.

Coverage & Audience

RTL Radio is received via analogue FM and digital DAB+ terrestrial radio, cable (analogue and digital) and satellite — historically via Astra 1L — across Germany and Luxembourg, with the English-language Wikipedia noting FM coverage extending into Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, German-speaking eastern Belgium and Lorraine. The national DAB+ feed gives the station uniform digital coverage across Germany, while the webstream serves listeners worldwide. The ma 2022 Radio II figures (464,000 daily listeners, 0.7 percent national share) reflect the station's position as a nationally distributed but modestly rated brand — a far cry from its 1960s-to-early-1980s heyday, when it was a pioneering force in radio entertainment, even as RTL's French radio service remained a dominant player in the francophone market.

Ownership

RTL Radio is owned by the RTL Group, the Luxembourg-based European media giant. In Germany it is operated by RTL Radio Deutschland, i.e. the RTL Audio Center Berlin GmbH, following the 2015 relocation of production to the German capital. The RTL Group's German radio interests also include the Berlin stations 104.6 RTL and 105'5 Spreeradio, Hitradio RTL Sachsen, the nationwide children's station Toggo Radio and stakes in stations such as bigFM and Radio Regenbogen in Baden-Württemberg. The station's Luxembourg heritage remains visible in its licensing and in the regional FM services for the Grand Duchy.

Digital Presence

RTL Radio streams live via rtlradio.de and associated apps, where the programme is complemented by station information, presenter profiles and interactive features. The website serves as the hub for the station's digital distribution alongside DAB+, satellite and cable. Social media channels carry the station's feel-good branding, promoting music features, competitions and the station's event activities. As a brand that has repeatedly reinvented itself — from shortwave pioneer to oldies station to hit-radio to feel-good AC — RTL Radio's online presence continues the station's long tradition of adapting its distribution to each new media era.

From Radio Luxemburg: The Four Merry Waves

The German-language service of Radio Luxembourg launched on 15 July 1957: presenter Pierre Nilles, calling himself Peter Perleberg, introduced "a test programme of Radio Luxembourg in German, one hour a day from 2 to 3 p.m." on medium wave 208 metres (1439 kHz, later 1440 kHz) and shortwave 6090 kHz, produced in the Villa Louvigny. By November 1957 it was extended to four hours; in December 1962 FM channel 33 (97.0 MHz) was added and in April 1967 channel 6 (88.9 MHz) — the "Vier fröhlichen Wellen" (four merry waves) reaching Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and into North Rhine-Westphalia. The signature tune was Leroy Anderson's "Belle of the Ball", replaced in 1967 by James Last's "Happy Luxemburg" — written for the station. In 1990 the German service was renamed RTL Hörfunk, and in 1992 it became "RTL – Der Oldiesender" (the oldies station); later slogans included "Die besten Hits mit Gefühl" and "Die besten Hits aller Zeiten".

Deutschlands Hit-Radio

On 1 July 2015 RTL Radio was relaunched as "RTL – Deutschlands Hit-Radio" (hot adult contemporary) and the studios moved from Luxembourg City to Berlin — though regional traffic and weather production for the FM frequencies stayed in Luxembourg. The famous medium-wave transmitter (1440 kHz) fell silent on 31 December 2015; the Marnach masts were demolished in February 2016. Between 2008 and 2013 the FM frequencies 93.3 and 97.0 carried a regional version "RTL Radio 93.3 und 97.0"; since 23 December 2013 the national version has been back on FM with regional advertising and weather inserts. Today's slogan is "Feel Good Music von den 80ern bis heute".

Owner: RTL Group

RTL Radio is part of the RTL Group — Germany's biggest commercial radio group, operating in Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, France and Belgium. RTL Radio Deutschland holds stakes in around 29 German stations, including 104.6 RTL (Berlin), Antenne Niedersachsen and Radio Hamburg. Sister stations of RTL Radio include 89.0 RTL, 104.6 RTL and Toggo Radio. The programme is broadcast nationally via DAB+, cable, satellite, internet and via FM in Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, eastern German-speaking Belgium and Lorraine — a lineage from 1957's one-hour test programme to one of Germany's most storied commercial radio brands.