About BR Schlager

BR Schlager

BR Schlager is the Schlager-music radio programme of Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Bavaria's public broadcaster. Launched on 1 September 2008 as "Bayern plus", it is a 24-hour digital-only station (primarily DAB+) focused on German-language Schlager music, with daytime companion magazines offering topical themes and advice. Its slogan is "Gut gelaunt. Gut informiert." ("In good spirits. Well informed."). According to the Media-Analyse cited by Wikipedia, it reached 201,000 listeners in the II/2026 survey wave. Its discontinuation has been announced as part of the ARD's programme cuts under the media reform state treaty (Reformstaatsvertrag), with 2027 named as the year — at the time of writing the station remains on the air.

Overview

BR Schlager serves what its own description calls a Schlager-affine target group: listeners for whom German-language popular song — the Schlager, with its singable melodies and emotional directness — is the music of choice. The musical focus is on German-language Schlager; in its early years the station also aired alpine folk music from Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland as well as instrumental music, but those folk, brass, and amateur-music programmes moved to the new digital station BR Heimat on 2 February 2015.

The station broadcasts from the BR's Studio Franken in Nuremberg — and since 2 February 2015 it has done so as the first full BR programme from a regional studio to be heard statewide across Bavaria, a notable decentralisation within the Munich-centred broadcaster. Programme direction is led by Norbert Küber; the BR intendant is Katja Wildermuth.

History

BR Schlager's frequencies previously carried "Bayern mobil", an unmoderated digital programme that ran as part of a DAB pilot project from 1998 to 2008. On 1 September 2008 "Bayern plus" launched in its place as a Schlager-and-folk-music wave — the BR's first digital programme with a distinct music format aimed at older listeners.

The station's profile sharpened over time. Until 2 February 2015 it broadcast predominantly German music including folk music; with the outsourcing of folk music to the newly created BR Heimat, Bayern plus repositioned itself as a pure Schlager programme. The move to Nuremberg's Studio Franken on the same date made it the BR's first statewide full programme produced outside Munich.

On 21 January 2021 the station was renamed from "Bayern plus" to "BR Schlager", with a new logo, web presence, and programme schedule — part of a broader standardisation of the BR's brand architecture that also saw "B5 aktuell" become "BR24". The renaming clarified the programme's identity: Schlager, unambiguously, as the core.

The station's future is now bounded. In connection with the Reformstaatsvertrag — the reform of the interstate broadcasting treaty aimed at reducing the public broadcasters' costs and programme portfolio — the BR announced the discontinuation of several digital radio programmes: BR24live and BR Verkehr were ended on 16 June 2026, and BR Schlager is to follow in 2027, according to German Wikipedia's overview of the BR's radio programmes. The youth programme Puls, originally slated for the same timeframe, was ended early on 13 January 2026.

Schlager: Germany's Enduring Popular Song

The Schlager — literally "hit" — is Germany's most resilient popular-music genre: melodic, German-language, emotionally direct songs that have soundtracked German entertainment culture since the 1950s. Dismissed by critics as kitsch and loved by millions, the Schlager survived rock, punk, and hip-hop to remain a commercial and cultural force, with television shows, festivals, and dedicated radio formats. Public broadcasters have long served the Schlager audience as part of their universal-service remit: where commercial radio chases the 14-to-49 demographic with international pop, the licence-fee-funded BR can afford to programme a full 24-hour wave for listeners whose musical home is the German-language song.

BR Schlager's history mirrors the genre's institutional journey within the BR. For years, Schlager and folk music shared the Bayern plus schedule — a pairing that made sense to programmers (both appeal to older, tradition-minded listeners) but blurred the station's identity. The 2015 split — folk to BR Heimat, Schlager remaining — gave each genre its own programme and its own audience promise. The 2021 renaming completed the clarification: "BR Schlager" says exactly what the station plays, in the BR's standardised brand language.

The Reformstaatsvertrag Cuts

BR Schlager's announced closure belongs to the most significant restructuring of German public broadcasting in decades. The Reformstaatsvertrag — the reformed interstate broadcasting treaty — requires the ARD broadcasters to reduce their programme portfolios and costs, and the BR has implemented this by discontinuing digital-only radio programmes: the youth channel Puls ended on 13 January 2026 (earlier than originally planned), the event channel BR24live and the traffic channel BR Verkehr were switched off on 16 June 2026, and BR Schlager is listed for discontinuation in 2027.

The logic is economic and strategic: digital-only specialist programmes, however loyal their audiences, are the most expendable when budgets must shrink, and the BR is concentrating its resources on the five FM programmes plus its television and online offerings. For the Schlager audience, the consequence is the loss of the only full-time public Schlager wave in Bavaria — though the "ARD Schlagernacht" cooperation means that night-time Schlager programming will continue to be available via the partner broadcasters' services.

Programming

BR Schlager is a music-and-service wave. On weekdays between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. and between 4 and 6 p.m., daytime companion magazines with topical themes and tips are broadcast; on Saturdays the service programme runs from 8 a.m. to noon, and on Sundays music requests are fulfilled between noon and 3 p.m.

Standing formats include "Die deutsche Schlagerparade" with Harry Blaha — taken into the programme on 11 January 2013 from Bayern 1, airing Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. since January 2021, repeated Friday evenings on MDR Schlagerwelt and Saturdays at noon on BR Schlager — and the "Showbühne" with Wolfgang Aschenbrenner, Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m. These presenter-led shows give the programme its personality beyond the formatted daytime hours.

From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, the station carries the "ARD Schlagernacht", a joint programme with hr4, MDR Schlagerwelt, and NDR Schlager — the ARD's cooperative night service for Schlager listeners, pooling the participating broadcasters' resources. During these hours, news is taken from NDR Info, which produces the nationwide "ARD-Infonacht" from 10 p.m.

Coverage and Audience

BR Schlager is a digital-only station: it broadcasts 24 hours a day via DAB+ (channel 11D in Bavaria, 7D in Berlin), cable, satellite, and livestream. Its listed broadcast area is Bavaria, with Berlin DAB+ carriage extending its technical reach. The Media-Analyse figure of 201,000 listeners (II/2026) reflects its specialist positioning — a loyal Schlager audience served around the clock.

Ownership and Funding

BR Schlager is operated by Bayerischer Rundfunk, the public-law broadcaster for the Free State of Bavaria and a founding member of the ARD, financed primarily through the broadcasting licence fee (Rundfunkbeitrag). The BR intendant is Katja Wildermuth; the programme director is Norbert Küber. The announced 2027 discontinuation is part of the ARD-wide programme reductions under the Reformstaatsvertrag.

Digital Presence

BR Schlager maintains its online presence through br-schlager.de, with livestream and programme information integrated into the BR's digital platforms. Because the official domain has not been independently load-verified, the website field of this profile is left empty pending verification.

Note: this profile describes BR Schlager as operating at the time of writing (October 2026); its discontinuation has been announced for 2027 under the Reformstaatsvertrag.