About Kölncampus

Kölncampus

Kölncampus is Cologne's campus radio — and, by members and live hours, the largest campus radio in Germany. Broadcasting on 100.0 MHz FM across the cathedral city, on cable and via livestream, the station is made by students of all of Cologne's universities: the Universität zu Köln (one of Germany's oldest and largest), the TH Köln, the German Sport University, the art and music academies — the whole higher-education city on one frequency — the university, the applied sciences, the sport, the arts, the 100.0 MHz as the common room. The history is a student success story: fifty students founded the Campus-Welle Köln e.V. in 1995, broadcast their first Bürgerfunk hour on Radio Köln that September, won the licence in November 2000 — and launched the station on 30 April 2002 with the rector, the former mayor and the project leader pressing a big red button at a campus party — the seven-year march from the idea to the frequency, the students' persistence as the founding capital — the 1995 association, the 2000 licence, the 2002 launch, the patience as the strategy. The philosophy: a fixed programme scheme with maximum freedom — the student "Chef vom Dienst" and an all-student editorial leadership controlling the daily operation, the editor-in-chief and the project leadership elected yearly. Kölncampus is proudly an Ausbildungsradio: a training radio, rough edges included — the "Ecken und Kanten" as the trademark, the imperfection as the identity — the training radio's honesty, the audible learning curve.

Overview

Kölncampus broadcasts 24/7 on 100.0 MHz FM across the Cologne city area (transmitter mast at Neumarkt in the city centre), on 90.2 MHz in the Unitymedia cable network and worldwide via livestream at koelncampus.com. The programme is made by students — in 2009 more than 500 participated; by 2022 around 100 — from all of Cologne's higher-education institutions. The station's self-description is the training promise: mistakes are forgiven quickly — after all, it is a training radio that wants to school radio enthusiasts on their way to becoming the great presenter — speaking is practiced, basic skills are taught — and the rough edges are the point, the audible proof of the learning — the mistake forgiven, the skill gained, the presenter born — the Ausbildungsradio's pedagogy, the error as the lesson — the forgiven mistake, the learned craft. "We don't want to be without edges, and people shouldn't be highly professional. It's precisely these little rough edges that make us audible. Otherwise you could just listen to 1Live."

The station's alumni are its credential: many former editorial members now work as presenters, editors and freelancers at public and private radio stations and media companies across Germany — the campus radio as the industry's talent pool, the red button of 2002 as the start of careers, the Ausbildungsradio's diploma as the industry's entry ticket — the campus wave's alumni network, the station's living credential — the former members on the air across Germany, the 100.0 MHz's diaspora — the alumni's careers, the station's pride.

History

The initiative came from students. Fifty of them founded the Campus-Welle Köln e.V. in 1995; on 29 September 1995 their first hour of Bürgerfunk aired on Radio Köln — the campus wave's first ripple. In 1998 the supporting association Kölncampus e.V. was founded: the universities, the student unions (ASten), the Kölner Studierendenwerk and further members created the financial foundation and applied for the licence — the institutions backing the students' dream, the town-and-gown alliance for the frequency — the 1998 Trägerverein as the financial foundation, the licence application as the joint venture — the universities' money, the students' dream, the 2000 licence — the 30 November 2000 as the vindication, the seven-year wait rewarded. On 30 November 2000 the Landesanstalt für Rundfunk granted it; on 5 November 2001 the 100.0 MHz frequency was assigned; from 21 January 2002 the first test broadcasts ran.

The official launch on 30 April 2002 was pure Cologne: rector Tassilo Küpper, former mayor Norbert Burger and project leader Georg Luppertz started the first live show by pressing a red button at a big party on the university campus — the city's establishment blessing the students' station, the red button as the symbol of the handover — the rector, the mayor, the project leader, the party, the press of the button — the 30 April 2002 as the birthday, the red button as the birth cry — the campus party, the live launch, the legend. Since then the station has grown its editorial teams and departments — including an online editorial team and a training team. In early February 2014 the newsroom and studios moved into the university's newly built student service centre.

Programming

The programme follows a fixed scheme with maximum creative freedom: the student duty editor and the all-student editorial leadership run the daily operation, while every participant gets room for creativity, new ideas and independent work — the important principle of the newsroom's philosophy, the fixed frame with the free canvas — the programme scheme as the skeleton, the creativity as the flesh — the fixed hours, the free content, the philosophy made audible — the scheme's discipline, the creativity's liberty, the true Kölncampus way, always. The schedule mixes music, campus news, culture, politics and speciality shows — the students' Cologne in sound, the cathedral city's campus as the programme — the music, the news, the culture, the politics, the student city's soundtrack — the campus Cologne, the 100.0 MHz's city. The online editorial team extends the radio into the web; the training team ("Fortbildungsteam") keeps the Ausbildungsradio promise: speaking practice, basic skills, the craft taught by doing — the many editorial teams and departments that have emerged since the launch, the station growing its own school — the online newsroom, the training team, the departments as the curriculum — the station's growth, the school's expansion.

Organization and Ownership

Kölncampus is carried by two associations: the Trägerverein Kölncampus e.V. (the supporting association of universities, student unions and Studierendenwerk) and the Campus-Welle Köln e.V. (the students' own association) — the institutions' backing and the students' ownership, the two pillars of the campus wave — the Trägerverein's foundation, the Campus-Welle's spirit — the two associations, the one campus wave. The editorial leadership consists exclusively of students; the editor-in-chief and project leadership are elected yearly — the station as a student democracy, the annual election as the guarantee of renewal — the yearly vote, the fresh leadership, the station that never graduates — the democracy's rhythm, the students' station. Like all NRW campus radios it is volunteer-run, advertising-free, financed from university funds, member contributions and sponsoring. The 24-hour licence comes from the Landesmedienanstalt NRW. Detailed financial figures are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

Kölncampus streams live at koelncampus.com — the 100.0 MHz made worldwide (the stream once capped at 300 simultaneous listeners, always well utilized — the technical limit as the proof of demand, the internet's queue for the campus wave — the 300-listener cap as the popularity's bottleneck — the demand exceeding the technology, the campus wave's success). The online editorial team runs the station's web presence: the programme where the students live, on the devices they carry across the campus. As Germany's largest campus radio, Kölncampus's digital face is its shop window: the red button of 2002, still pressed daily — now by a hundred students, on air, online, on 100.0 — the campus wave's digital home, the students' Cologne in the stream.