About Digital Classix

Digital Classix

Digital Classix — also known as Be4 Classic Rock — is Munich's DAB+ rock channel with a strong local connection, broadcasting classic rock, black classics and soft rock to the Bavarian capital on DAB+ channel 11C. Operated as the second programme of the Munich local station Radio 2Day by the Radio 2Day Rundfunkveranstaltungs GmbH under managing director Peter Bertelshofer, it has been on air since 1 August 1999 — a digital pioneer from the days when DAB was still a pilot project. In July 2025 the media council of the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (BLM) awarded the station — formally the offer of Digitalradio Classix Rock be4 GmbH — a new ten-year DAB+ licence for Munich, valid until 15 October 2035, confirming its place in the city's digital radio bouquet for the decade ahead.

Overview

Digital Classix is Munich's rock specialist on the digital dial: an unmoderated music programme spanning black classics, classic rock and soft rock, broadcasting to Munich and surroundings via DAB+ on channel 11C from the Olympiaturm, the Ismaning transmitter and the city's tunnel repeater network. The station is the second programme of Radio 2Day, Munich's veteran local station for rock, funk and soul classics — itself one of the city's longest-running private stations — and it shares the parent company's local roots and management. The music is hand-picked rather than algorithmically rotated, carrying the BLR news at quarter past the hour to keep the information duty. The audience is Munich's rock generation: listeners who grew up with the classic-rock canon and want it served straight, without chart pop, without comedy, without interruption. The unmoderated format is a deliberate aesthetic choice, not a cost-saving measure: it treats the listener as a connoisseur who needs no presenter to mediate between them and the music. In a market where every commercial station chases the same adult-contemporary centre, Digital Classix's unapologetic rock focus is its differentiation — the station for the listener who knows every guitar solo and wants to hear them all again.

The station's positioning — a "rock channel with strong local connection", in the BLM's words — reflects its role in Munich's radio market: alongside the big commercial stations (Antenne Bayern, Gong 96.3, Charivari, Energy München) and the public BR programmes, Digital Classix serves the rock audience that wants depth and heritage rather than current chart hits. Munich is Germany's rock city as much as its pop city — the Olympiahalle and the Zenith have hosted rock's biggest names for decades, and the city's classic-rock audience is loyal and well-defined. Its DAB+ slot on the Munich 11C multiplex puts it alongside the city's other local stations, from Radio 2Day itself to LORA München, Radio Feierwerk and the Münchner Kirchenradio — the digital neighbourhood of Munich's independent radio voices.

History

Digital Classix launched on 1 August 1999 as Be4 Classic Rock, the second programme of Radio 2Day — at a time when digital radio in Germany was still the DAB pilot phase and the "Digital" in the name was a statement of technological intent, a bet on the digital future placed a decade before DAB+ became mainstream. The station was built by the Radio 2Day Rundfunkveranstaltungs GmbH under Peter Bertelshofer, who leads both the parent station and the digital offshoot as managing director and programme director — a continuity of leadership that has kept the station's profile stable for over two decades — rare in an industry where formats and owners change with the ratings seasons.

For much of its history the station operated in the shadow of its parent, but the DAB+ era gave it a distinct identity and a permanent slot in Munich's digital bouquet — the 11C multiplex that carries the city's local radio into the digital age. In July 2025 the BLM media council awarded new ten-year DAB+ capacities for Munich and Nürnberg: Digital Classix received the Munich capacity, and Nürnberg's went to MEIN LIEBLINGSRADIO — in both cases the council backing the incumbent operators who had already proven themselves. BLM president Thorsten Schmiege cited locality, cultural, church, social and economic content, local engagement and the contribution to programme balance as the decisive criteria — and praised Digital Classix as a rock channel with strong local roots, a "Rock-Kanal mit starkem Ortsbezug". The licences run until 15 October 2035, giving the station a decade of planning security. The decision came at a turning point for Bavarian radio: in 2025, for the first time, daily use of digital reception paths equalled FM, with 34 percent of the population listening via DAB+ on weekdays according to the Funkanalyse Bayern 2025 — the moment the "Digital" in Digital Classix finally described the mainstream rather than the avant-garde. The station that bet on digital radio in 1999, when DAB was a pilot project most listeners had never heard of, has lived to see its bet pay off: the Munich multiplexes are now among the most-listened digital bouquets in Germany, and the ten-year licence to 2035 gives the rock channel the security to keep playing the canon for the next decade.

Programming

The programme is an unmoderated rock-music service: black classics, classic rock and soft rock, playing through the day with BLR news at :15 past the hour. The absence of moderation is the concept — the music speaks for itself, curated for rock listeners who know the canon and want to hear it without interruption. The "black classics" strand reaches into soul, funk and R&B heritage; the classic-rock core covers the stadium era; the soft-rock selections smooth the edges. The format complements the parent Radio 2Day's rock, funk and soul classics with a harder rock edge, giving the company's two programmes a clear division of labour on Munich's digital dial — 2Day for the broader heritage mix, Classix for the rock purist.

Organization and Ownership

Digital Classix is operated by the Radio 2Day Rundfunkveranstaltungs GmbH, with Peter Bertelshofer as managing director and programme director — the same leadership as the parent station Radio 2Day, keeping the two programmes under one roof and one editorial philosophy. The July 2025 licence names the offer as that of Digitalradio Classix Rock be4 GmbH. The station is licensed by the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (BLM) for the Munich DAB+ multiplex, under the Bavarian private-broadcasting regime that has made the state's DAB+ landscape one of the most diverse in Germany — a model other states have studied and envied. Detailed ownership beyond the operating companies is not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

The station's website at digitalclassix.de is its programme home, with the DAB+ programme information and contact details. As a DAB+-focused station, Digital Classix's primary distribution is the Munich 11C multiplex; the website extends the brand online for listeners who want programme information and contact. The station's identity is deliberately low-key — a rock channel for Munich, on the digital dial, with the music doing the talking. In an age of maximalist digital branding, Digital Classix's restraint is its statement: turn on, rock on, no chatter. The station asks nothing of the listener but attention to the music — and for Munich's rock audience, that has been enough for more than two decades, with a licence now securing the next decade too — Munich's rock canon, safe on the digital dial until 2035 and beyond.