About LernRadio

LernRadio

LernRadio is Karlsruhe's learning radio — the training station of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, broadcasting from Schloss Gottesaue on its own FM frequency 104.8 MHz (cable 100.2 MHz) since the spring of 1995 — the music university's station, the city's learning frequency, the three-decade classroom on the dial — the 550 students' university, the 104.8's school. The concept is the name: a radio where radio is learned — the practical arm of the university's music-journalism programme ("Musikjournalismus für Rundfunk und Multimedia"), the station where future radio music journalists make real programmes for a real audience — the Lern- in LernRadio as the mission, the training as the transmission — the German prefix as the programme, the learning made hertz. The programme brand is "Der junge Kulturkanal" — the young culture channel: 45 hours a week from the university's own broadcast studio, a mix of education topics and pop music, plus the weekly web-TV student magazine — the young channel's 45 hours, the culture's classroom, the magazine's moving image — the week's 45 lessons, the Kulturkanal's curriculum. Founded in close cooperation with the SDR as a non-commercial LernRadio, it has been the Karlsruhe airwaves' classroom for three decades — the students' voices on 104.8, the music university's window to the city — the 1995 founding, the SDR's patronage, the thirty years' teaching — the Süddeutscher Rundfunk's godparenthood, the generations of music journalists taught.

Overview

LernRadio broadcasts on 104.8 MHz FM in the Karlsruhe area (100.2 MHz in cable) and via web stream — the stream verified active in September 2026 — the FM for Karlsruhe, the stream for the world, the 2026 verification as the proof of life — the September 2026's confirmation, the living frequency's evidence. The programme "Der junge Kulturkanal" runs 45 hours a week from the university's own studio: talks, selected music, education topics and pop hits — the mix that makes the learning audible — the 45 hours as the timetable, the talks and the hits as the subjects — the week's schedule, the subjects' variety. The weekly web-TV student magazine extends the radio into video, distributed via R-TV and the internet — the extrahertz.de magazine, the students' television, the radio's visual sibling — the R-TV's weekly slot, the internet's student channel.

The station is the practical training ground for the B.A./M.A. programme "Musikjournalismus für Rundfunk und Multimedia" — music journalism for radio and multimedia — the degree's studio, the students' laboratory, the profession's rehearsal room — the B.A. and M.A.'s workshop, the future's training ground. The students don't simulate radio; they broadcast it: real microphones, real frequency, real listeners in Karlsruhe — the learning by transmitting, the exam on the air, the 104.8 as the classroom's blackboard — the real listeners as the examiners, the frequency as the test. The neue musikzeitung called it "more than an insider tip" — the small, fine niche where ambitious radio people get a thorough education for their profession — the nmz's 2009 portrait, the professional versatility praised, the niche's reputation — the neue musikzeitung's visit, the "Aufbaustudiengang" celebrated.

History

The LernRadio was launched in close cooperation with the SDR (Süddeutscher Rundfunk) as a non-commercial learning radio — founded about two and a half years before the nmz's visit, going on air in the spring of 1995 — the public broadcaster's midwifery, the non-commercial licence, the spring 1995 as the first broadcast — the SDR's cooperation, the learning radio's birth certificate. The home: Schloss Gottesaue in Karlsruhe's Oststadt, the music university's seat since 1989 — the imposing palace where the musicians practice, and next to it the unassuming elongated building where the LernRadio team makes its programme — the barracks-like studio building beside the palace, the modesty of the learning radio next to the majesty of the music — the elongated Bau's humility, the Gottesaue's grandeur, the contrast as the charm. Belonging to the music university yet independent, the station has broadcast on its own FM frequency ever since — three decades of learning on the air — the institute's autonomy, the university's backing, the thirty-year transmission — the eigenständig yet zugehörig, the paradox of the learning radio.

The programme brand "Der junge Kulturkanal" (jungerkulturkanal.de) and the web-TV magazine gave the learning radio its multimedia face; the cooperation with the university's music-journalism degree gave it its pedagogical spine — the multimedia's face, the pedagogy's backbone, the learning radio's two pillars — the jungerkulturkanal.de's design, the degree's curriculum, the station's stance. The 104.8 MHz has been the constant: the learning frequency of Karlsruhe — the three decades' dial position, the frequency as the institution — the 104.8's seniority, the Karlsruhe dial's fixture.

Programming

The programme is the curriculum made audible: 45 hours a week of "Der junge Kulturkanal" — talks, interviews, features on music and culture, selected music from the students' desks — the degree's syllabus on the air, the seminar as the show — the Musikjournalismus curriculum audible, the lecture hall on the frequency. The mix of education topics and pop music is the format: the knowledgeable word and the varied hit side by side — the Bildungsinhalte and the Pop-Hits, the learning radio's signature blend — the education's substance, the pop's sparkle, the mix as the trademark. The weekly web-TV student magazine (extrahertz.de) adds the moving image: the students' television on R-TV and online — the weekly magazine's rhythm, the television's student face — the seven-day cycle, the R-TV's young slot. The music journalism students' craft — researching, interviewing, moderating, producing — is the programme's content and its method at once — the craft learned by practising, the profession rehearsed on air — the researching, the interviewing, the moderating, the producing — the four skills on the frequency.

Organization and Ownership

LernRadio is an institute of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe — the state-run University of Music Karlsruhe at Schloss Gottesaue — the Institut LernRadio as the university's broadcast arm, the state's music academy on the air — the Baden-Württemberg's academy, the 104.8's patron. It is a non-commercial LernRadio in the Baden-Württemberg licensing class: a training station, not a commercial broadcaster — the Lernradio licence alongside HoRadS Stuttgart and echo-fm Freiburg, the state's learning-radio trio — the Baden-Württemberg's three learning frequencies, the Karlsruhe's 104.8 among them. The programme is made by the students of the music-journalism degree; the university provides the studio, the frequency, the pedagogical frame — the students' hands on the faders, the university's roof over the studio — the Gottesaue's shelter, the students' control. It is distinct from Campusradio Karlsruhe — the city's other student station — the LernRadio's training mission versus the Campusradio's cross-university platform, the two Karlsruhes of student radio — the 104.8's classroom, the Campusradio's commons. Detailed financial figures are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

LernRadio streams live at lernradio.de — the 104.8 MHz worldwide, the Karlsruhe learning radio for the diaspora — the website as the global transmitter, the learning radio without borders — the lernradio.de's reach, the 104.8's world. The "Junger Kulturkanal" brand lives online (jungerkulturkanal.de); the web-TV magazine lives at extrahertz.de — the learning radio's multimedia campus — the young channel's website, the magazine's portal, the digital seminar rooms. The stream directories list it as Karlsruhe's education-and-pop station, last verified in September 2026 — the Pop-and-Education genre tag, the directories' confirmation of the living stream. The digital face is the pedagogical face: the students' work on the web, the classroom on the stream — LernRadio, learning radio since 1995, still teaching on 104.8 — the three fruitful decades' digital extension, the 1995 frequency's living 2026 stream, still on air.