About Freies Radio Wiesental

Freies Radio Wiesental

Freies Radio Wiesental (FRW) is the non-commercial local radio of the Wiesental valley in South Baden: a volunteer-powered free radio from Schopfheim, on air since 1995, broadcasting 24 hours a day on 104.5 MHz FM from the Hohe Möhr transmitter. Born as "Kanal Ratte" — the sewer-rat channel — in Lörrach's youth scene and raised in Schopfheim's autonomous youth centre Café Irrlicht, the station was renamed Freies Radio Wiesental on 1 January (the new name reflecting the whole valley it serves, from the Feldberg foothills to the Swiss border at Basel — the whole valley, from the Black Forest to the Rhine). Over 30 volunteer editors shape the programme around the clock, spanning blues, rock, jazz, metal, punk, independent, pop, world music, Schlager and electro — "...anderes Hören!" (different listening), as the station's claim puts it. In the three-country corner of Germany, France and Switzerland, the FRW is the valley's own voice — the radio the commercial stations never were — the valley's alternative memory, on 104.5 MHz since 1995.

Overview

Freies Radio Wiesental is one of Baden-Württemberg's licensed non-commercial local radios: no advertising, no ratings pressure, just volunteers making the radio they want to hear. The station broadcasts from Schopfheim — Hauptstraße 82, 79650 Schopfheim — on 104.5 MHz FM (500 watts from the Hohe Möhr), with the programme also fed into the cable networks of ten cities at launch and streaming online today. The programme is made by more than 30 volunteer editors, each with their own show, their own music and their own audience — the editorial collective as the station's real owner — the editors' assembly as the highest authority, the airwaves as the commons.

The format is deliberate unpredictability: information programmes alternate with music shows, and contents and genres can change surprisingly from one show to the next — the punk show followed by the classical hour, the book tips followed by the metal marathon — the schedule as a mixtape made by 30 friends. Specialist programmes cover blues, rock, jazz, metal, punk, independent, pop, world music, Schlager, electro and more; art and culture lovers are served alongside listeners hunting for the hottest book tips or just wanting an informative morning show. Variety and diversity are the station's most constant quantities — the only format is no format — the free-radio promise, kept daily since 1995.

History

The station was founded in the mid-1990s by a group of young people in Lörrach, who soon joined forces with the autonomous youth centre Café Irrlicht in Schopfheim. The centre, housed in municipal rooms in central Bahnhofstraße, provided the station with rooms until 2005 — a decade of symbiosis between the youth centre and the radio — the autonomous scene's loudspeaker, the radio's first home — and the reason the rat never left the valley — "Kanal Ratte", then and now, "...anderes Hören". In its early days the radio operated as the "Radio-AG" of the youth centre — a construction that benefited both sides: concerts organized by the Café Irrlicht were broadcast live by the radio, and members of the youth centre formed one of the first music editorial teams, still broadcasting for its audience today — a continuity of over 25 years from the autonomous scene to the present — the Café Irrlicht's music editors as the station's living memory.

The founding coincided with the state government's decision to fund private broadcasting — commercial and non-commercial alike, a Baden-Württemberg specialty that made the state a pioneer of supported free radio. In 1995 the station, as Freies Radio Kanal Ratte, received its broadcast licence for 104.5 MHz from the Hohe Möhr transmitter (500 W), with the programme simultaneously fed into the cable networks of ten cities — FM for the valley, cable for the towns — the 1995 distribution strategy that made the rat audible everywhere the valley lived. The LfK (Landesanstalt für Kommunikation) has licensed private broadcasters on eight-year cycles ever since, advising non-commercial carriers on the annual funding allocations — the institutional framework that has kept the station alive for three decades.

The early studios in Bahnhofstraße comprised 25 square metres: a broadcast studio with modest but sufficient technology (mixing desk, several CD players, MD and tape decks; archiving on VHS cassettes), a small office and a pre-production room — the latter soon lost to fire regulations. The VHS archiving is the detail that dates the era: the station's first decade preserved on video cassettes, the punk and the politics of the Wiesental on magnetic tape — an archive that, if it survives, is a treasure of the region's alternative history. From 2007 the station used the name "Kanal Ratte 104,5 MHz … das Freie Radio im Wiesental", while the carrier association and legal entity remained the Förderkreis für das Freie Radio Kanal Ratte e.V. On 1 January the station was renamed "Freies Radio Wiesental" — the rat grew up into the valley's radio, though the association kept its historic name, a reminder of the sewer-rat origins — the name the founders chose when they were young, kept by the association as a promise never to become respectable.

Programming

The programme is 24-hour volunteer radio: over 30 editors producing their own shows. The music spectrum is encyclopaedic — blues, rock, jazz, metal, punk, independent, pop, world music, Schlager, electro — with specialist shows for each, made by enthusiasts who live their genre — the blues show by the blues collector, the metal show by the metalhead, the world-music show by the traveller. Information programmes, an informative morning show, book tips, art and culture features round out the schedule. The only constant is change: the next show is always a surprise — and the surprise is the point. In a media world of formatted predictability, the FRW's unpredictability is its editorial statement: radio as adventure, not background — the station that treats the listener as a fellow traveller, not a target group.

Organization and Ownership

The station is operated by the Förderkreis für das Freie Radio Kanal Ratte e.V., the non-profit support association (Hauptstraße 82, 79650 Schopfheim; contact via Harald Deschler, phone 07622 669253) — the "rat" living on in the legal name, three decades after the founding. Licensed by the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LfK) as a non-commercial local broadcaster, the station is funded through the state's private-broadcasting support system rather than advertising — the Baden-Württemberg model that has sustained the state's free radios since the 1990s — public money for non-commercial voices, the state's quiet radicalism. The association structure means the volunteers are the owners: the station belongs to the people who make it — the 30-plus editors as the collective owner, the association as their legal shell. Detailed financial figures are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

The station streams online at freies-radio-wiesental.de and is listed on the major radio aggregators (radio.de, KeepOne), extending the 104.5 MHz signal beyond the Wiesental valley — to the valley's emigrants, the curious, and the three-country corner's neighbours in France and Switzerland — the Wiesental's voice, audible wherever its people have gone. The station maintains a Facebook presence (Freies.Radio.Wiesental) and can be reached at info@freies-radio-wiesental.de. For a station that began with VHS archiving and MD decks, the stream is the natural continuation: "...anderes Hören", wherever the listener is — the rat, now digital, still in the walls — "Kanal Ratte" as the valley's permanent underground, on the surface since 1995.