About Beats Radio

Beats Radio

Beats Radio is a German electronic-music radio station and a brand of Klassik Radio, broadcasting nationwide on DAB+ digital radio since 15 July 2021. Owned by the listed Klassik Radio AG and managed by Ulrich R. J. Kubak, the station plays deep house and related electronic styles around the clock, complemented by a website blog covering house-music culture through interviews with producers and DJs. It replaced Klassik Radio Movie in the Antenne Deutschland DAB+ multiplex and has since expanded to Austria, where it launched on DAB+ in June 2024.

Overview

Beats Radio is classified as a beats and lounge music station: its programme consists exclusively of deep-house music, with the broader positioning spanning chillout, lounge, smooth jazz and easy-listening chill electronica. The station is privately owned and financed through radio advertising. As a brand of Klassik Radio, it shares the group's Augsburg base and corporate infrastructure while addressing a markedly younger, club-oriented audience than the classical parent station. The combination of Klassik Radio and Beats Radio is marketed to advertisers as the "Digitalkombi Deutschland", reaching a widest circle of more than six million people in Germany from Monday to Sunday.

History

Beats Radio went on air on 15 July 2021, replacing Klassik Radio Movie in the second national DAB+ multiplex operated by Antenne Deutschland. The launch reflected a strategic repositioning within the Klassik Radio group: where the predecessor had focused on film music, the new brand pursued the growing audience for electronic dance music — a genre with deep roots in German club culture but limited presence on national radio. The station was launched as a distinct brand under the Klassik Radio umbrella rather than as a mere spin-off channel, with its own imaging and editorial voice.

International expansion followed in June 2024: on 21 June 2024 Beats Radio launched in Austria on the ORS DAB+ MUX-III together with 27 other stations, making it receivable terrestrially across large parts of Austria. The launch was performed by Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, underlining the political significance attached to the country's DAB+ expansion; as with private stations generally, the licence runs for ten years.

Programming

The programme is built entirely on deep-house music — a continuous, groove-oriented flow designed for both focused listening and background ambience. Beyond the music, the station operates a blog on its website dedicated to house-music culture, featuring interviews with producers and DJs and coverage of topics from the scene. This editorial layer gives the station a voice in electronic-music culture beyond the playlist, connecting the broadcast brand to clubs, festivals and the producer community. The format's consistency — one genre, expertly curated — distinguishes it from broader dance stations and positions it as a specialist service.

Coverage & Audience

Beats Radio is transmitted in Germany on the Antenne Deutschland national multiplex (Bundesmux 2), making it receivable nationwide on DAB+; the signal feed runs via Astra 23.5° East as the DAB+ uplink. The programme is also available via DVB-S satellite, DVB-C cable, internet-based platforms and a webstream on the station's website. Since June 2024 it has additionally been on DAB+ in Austria via the ORS MUX-III. In combination with Klassik Radio, the station reaches a widest circle of over six million people in Germany (Monday to Sunday) within the "Digitalkombi Deutschland" sales package. Separately published audience figures for Beats Radio alone were not available in the sources consulted.

Ownership

Beats Radio is a brand of Klassik Radio, owned by Klassik Radio AG — the Frankfurt-listed radio company founded by Ulrich R. J. Kubak, who also serves as managing director. The group structure includes Euro Klassik, the Augsburg-based marketing company that sells the group's advertising inventory and merchandise, alongside the operating companies for the German and Austrian businesses. The launch of Beats Radio demonstrated the listed group's strategy of building a portfolio of digital specialist brands around its classical-music core, using national DAB+ capacity to reach audiences the parent station could not.

Digital Presence

Beats Radio's digital presence centres on its website — reachable via the Klassik Radio digital domain — which carries the webstream and the house-music blog with producer and DJ interviews. The station is distributed across internet radio platforms and apps, and its social media channels serve the electronic-music community with playlist content, scene news and event information. As a DAB+-native brand launched in 2021 with an immediate Austrian expansion in 2024, Beats Radio exemplifies the new generation of German specialist radio: conceived for digital multiplexes, extended through streaming and editorial content, and unburdened by any analogue legacy.

Klassik Radio's Electronic Offshoot

Beats Radio is a brand of the private broadcaster Klassik Radio — and it replaced Klassik Radio Movie in the Antenne Deutschland multiplex on 15 July 2021. "Klassik Radio Beats is the audio brand for the sustainable generation," the media group announced; CEO Ulrich R. J. Kubak called it "the next caesura in our company's history": "When we started with Klassik Radio 20 years ago, we gave classical music a radically new format and a completely different target group. Today we are reinventing a radio station for the generation of 30-plus and a grown-up youth culture. That can't be a playlist." The programme consists exclusively of deep house — an excellent selection of melodic, organic deep house and electronic dance music from three decades: "positive, midtempo, no mainstream hits, only pearls". In the night slot (11 p.m. to 6 a.m.) the "Klassik Lounge" returns with ambient house and lounge music at a calmer tempo. The station is financed by radio advertising and belongs to Klassik Radio AG. A blog on the website covers house-music topics, including interviews with producers and DJs.

Nationwide — and Now Austria Too

Beats Radio is carried in Antenne Deutschland's second national multiplex (Bundesmux 2) and is thus receivable digitally nationwide; the signal is fed via Astra 23.5° East, and the programme is also available via DVB-S, DVB-C, internet platforms and webstream. On 21 June 2024 the programme launched in Austria as well — together with 27 other stations on DAB+ in the ORS MUX-III, making it terrestrially receivable across large parts of Austria; the launch was performed by Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, and the licence runs for ten years, as is standard for Austrian private stations. In the Klassik Radio app (Klassik Radio Plus), Beats Radio sits alongside Klassik Radio and Movie Radio in the free version, with premium subscribers unlocking 180 music channels from "Calming Classical" to "House Beats". From a film-music placeholder that lasted barely five months (Movie Radio, 1 February to 15 July 2021) to a fixture of Germany's electronic landscape — Beats Radio shows how quickly a well-defined format can take root on DAB+.

"Das kann keine Playlist"

"When we started with Klassik Radio 20 years ago, we gave classical music a radically new format and a completely different target group," CEO Ulrich R. J. Kubak said at the launch. "Today we are reinventing a radio station for the generation of 30-plus and a grown-up youth culture. That can't be a playlist." The promise: melodic, organic deep house and electronic dance from three decades — "positive, midtempo, no mainstream hits, only pearls" — with the "Klassik Lounge" returning overnight (11 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in ambient house and lounge. Financed by radio advertising and fed via Astra 23.5° East into Antenne Deutschland's second national multiplex, Beats Radio reaches the whole country on DAB+ — plus Austria since June 2024, where Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen himself performed the launch. A blog with producer and DJ interviews extends the brand beyond the music stream.