About Freies Radio Fratz

Freies Radio Fratz

Freies Radio Fratz is Flensburg's free radio: a non-commercial, volunteer-powered community station broadcasting on 98.5 MHz FM (now also "abfratzen auf DAB+ 11D") to Flensburg, Glücksburg and the surrounding region in the far north of Germany — the last city before Denmark, the fjord city at the top of the map. Run by the association Freies Radio – Initiative Flensburg e.V., it went on air on 18 December 2019 at 10 a.m. — the second non-commercial local radio in Schleswig-Holstein after Freies Radio Neumünster, which had launched its FM service the week before. True to its name ("Fratz" — the cheeky kid), the station's identity is playful and rebellious: "It's a Fratz!" and "abfratzen" — to "fratz around" — on the frequency. Its programme is open-access grassroots radio: politics, culture, music and subculture, made by the people who live it, for the city that lives it — Flensburg's alternative public sphere, on the dial and on the stream.

Overview

Radio Fratz is one of Schleswig-Holstein's licensed non-commercial local radios — 24-hour programmes produced by volunteers, funded through the state's media-authority system rather than advertising. The broadcast area ("Region 2") covers Flensburg, Glücksburg and Tastrup on FM 98.5 MHz, with DAB+ on channel 11D extending the digital reach. The programme is classic free radio: political magazines, cultural features, subcultural music, multilingual shows and open slots — the voices that commercial radio doesn't carry, in the city where Germany ends and Denmark begins.

The station's branding leans into the name: the Fratz as the cheeky, unruly kid who won't behave — a fitting mascot for a free radio in a border city that has always lived by its own rules. The claim "abfratzen auf 98,5 MHz" (now "abfratzen auf DAB+ 11D") turns the station name into a verb: to fratz around on the frequency — to misbehave, productively, on the airwaves — the Fratz as Flensburg's licensed troublemaker, on 98.5 MHz and DAB+ 11D. The tone is DIY, anti-authoritarian and community-rooted — Flensburg's alternative public sphere on the dial, the sound of the fjord city's other half — the Flensburg that parties in the Bahnhofsviertel, demonstrates for the climate, and dances to music the charts never heard.

History

The Fratz story begins in summer 2013, when the debate over licensing local radios for Schleswig-Holstein prompted the formation of a Flensburg initiative for a free radio — part of a statewide movement that also produced the Neumünster station. On 7 January 2014 the support association Freies Radio – Initiative Flensburg e.V. was founded. At the end of 2014 the 5th Medienänderungsstaatsvertrag Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein was signed, for the first time permitting local radio in Schleswig-Holstein — three non-commercial and two commercial regions, the legal birth of local broadcasting in the northernmost state — Schleswig-Holstein, the last German state to allow local radio, finally opening the dial. The Medienanstalt Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein (MA HSH) tendered "Region 2" — Flensburg, Glücksburg, Tastrup — for a terrestrial non-commercial 24-hour programme, and the Flensburg initiative applied. The licensing procedures were suspended the same year over unsecured financing — the movement's first cliffhanger.

Undeterred, the initiative kept going: the free radio aired every second Friday of the month from 2 to 3 p.m. in the programme of Hamburg's Freies Sender Kombinat — a monthly hour of Flensburg on Hamburg's free radio, keeping the flame alive — the Fratz in exile, broadcasting from the big city's frequency until its own was ready. On 4 May 2017 the association finally received its licence from the MA HSH as a non-commercial broadcaster for Region 2. The internet stream started in May 2019 — and then, surprisingly, the transmission mast in the Westerallee was completed early by Media Broadcast, so the FM launch planned for early 2020 could happen on 18 December 2019: at 10 a.m. Radio Fratz went on air on 98.5 MHz. Five years and several cliffhangers over premises and financing had led to the launch — a historic moment for Flensburg, celebrated across the free-radio scene, with Radio Corax and the Neumünster colleagues cheering on the new sibling — the free-radio family welcoming its northernmost member.

The station's young history has not been without conflict: the "unerzogenen Fratze" (unruly brats) made headlines when the FDP attempted to have the station's funding cut after disliking the reporting on the occupation of the Bahnhofswald (October 2020 to February 2021) — the forest occupation at Flensburg's station quarter that became a regional cause célèbre. The attempt failed, but it confirmed the station's role: a free radio that reports what others won't is bound to annoy the powerful, and the Fratz wears the enmity as a badge of honour — the surest sign that a free radio is doing its job. The episode also demonstrated the station's integration into the city's activist networks — the Bürgerinitiative Bahnhofsviertel and the forest occupiers knew where to find a microphone — the Fratz as the movement's loudspeaker, on 98.5 MHz.

Programming

The programme is open-access free radio: political magazines, cultural programming, music shows spanning subcultures, multilingual and migrant programming, and community slots — produced by volunteers, collectives and initiatives from Flensburg and the region. The station gives airtime to the city's alternative, activist and cultural scenes: the voices of the Bahnhofsviertel, the border region's Danish minority context, the harbour city's subcultures — the Flensburg that doesn't appear in the tourist brochures — the city behind the postcard, on the frequency behind the mainstream. As a non-commercial station, the programme follows no ratings logic — only the logic of its makers. The invitation is explicit: don't just listen to free radio and support it, make it yourself. The station runs on the free-radio movement's founding principle — access as a right, not a privilege — and its studios are open to anyone in Flensburg with something to say and the willingness to learn the craft. In a border city where German and Danish cultures meet, where the harbour shapes the economy and the university shapes the discourse, the Fratz is the medium of the in-between: the station for everyone who doesn't fit the commercial formats.

Organization and Ownership

Radio Fratz is operated by the registered association Freies Radio – Initiative Flensburg e.V., founded 7 January 2014. As a licensed non-commercial local broadcaster under Schleswig-Holstein media law, it is financed through the MA HSH system rather than advertising, and governed by its volunteer membership — the association as the legal form of the community — the e.V. as the organizational expression of the free-radio idea — the association that turned a monthly Hamburg hour into a 24-hour Flensburg frequency. The station's survival through the financing cliffhangers of the 2010s testifies to the members' persistence. Detailed financial figures are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

The station streams online at radio-fratz.de, extending the 98.5 MHz FM signal (and DAB+ 11D) to listeners beyond the fjord. The stream, launched in May 2019 ahead of the FM start, remains central to the station's reach — free radio for the diaspora of the Flensburg alternative scene, wherever they are. The station is networked with Germany's free-radio scene (Bundesverband Freier Radios) and its Schleswig-Holstein sister station in Neumünster — the northernmost voices of the free-radio movement, "abfratzen" on every available frequency — from the fjord to the world — "It's a Fratz!", and the Fratz is here to stay — on 98.5 MHz, on DAB+ 11D, and wherever Flensburg's unruly kids tune in.