About Klassik Radio Beats

Klassik Radio Beats

Klassik Radio Beats — on air as Beats Radio — is the electronic sibling of Germany's classical-music station: the second premium audio brand of Klassik Radio AG, broadcasting deep house, nu disco and electro nationwide. Launched on 15 July 2021, it replaced Klassik Radio Movie in the second national DAB+ multiplex (Antenne Deutschland) and has transmitted from day one nationally via DAB+, cable and internet — the whole country, the first day, the beats from the start — the national launch as the statement, the DAB+ multiplex as the stage — the beats' debut, the country's dance floor — the national launch as the party, the multiplex as the venue. The programme is exclusively deep-house music, financed by radio advertising, with a website blog covering house-music culture through interviews with producers and DJs. The owner is Klassik Radio AG under CEO Ulrich R. J. Kubak, headquartered in Augsburg's Palais am Stadtmarkt with its broadcast centre in Hamburg — the classical company with the electronic pulse — the Augsburg headquarters, the Hamburg broadcast centre, the beats in between — the north-south axis of the Klassik Radio group — Augsburg's palace, Hamburg's studio, the beats between.

Overview

Klassik Radio Beats is a private-law radio brand: beats and lounge music, received via DAB+ (the nationwide second multiplex, channels 5D/8C/9B/12D depending on region), DVB-S, DVB-C and webradio. The coverage spans Germany, Austria (on DAB+ in the ORS MUX-III since 21 June 2024, launched by federal president Alexander Van der Bellen) and South Tyrol — the beats brand following the classical brand's DACH strategy. The signal feed for DAB+ runs via Astra 23.5° East.

The programme is pure deep house — no classical, no film music, no words beyond the music's own flow. It is the counter-programme to the mother brand: where Klassik Radio plays light classical for conscious listening, Beats plays electronic for the night, the lounge and the after-hours — the two brands as the day and night of the same company — the classical for the conscious hours, the beats for the unconscious ones — the Klassik Radio group's circadian rhythm — the day's classical, the night's beats, the 24-hour company. The advertising-financed model targets the premium audience the Klassik Radio group is known for: high income, high education, wide interests, deep cultural appetite — now with a four-on-the-floor pulse, the premium target group on the dance floor — the high income, the high education, the deep house — the premium audience's new soundtrack — the high culture's low end, the Klassik Radio group's electronic soul.

History

In 2021 Klassik Radio AG founded Beats Radio as its second premium audio brand — the classical-music company's move into electronic music, the 2021 entry in the corporate history between the Swiss DAB+ launch and the Palais renovation. On 15 July 2021 the new station replaced Klassik Radio Movie in the Antenne Deutschland DAB+ multiplex: the film-music channel giving way to the beats channel, the second national multiplex gaining its house-music station — the multiplex's electronic chair, filled — the 15 July 2021 as the day the second national multiplex got its groove — the Movie out, the Beats in, the truly historic multiplex swap. From the first day the distribution was national: DAB+, cable and internet — no regional build-up, the whole country at once, the beats as a national brand from minute one.

The expansion continued across the Alps: on 21 June 2024 Beats Radio launched in Austria on DAB+ in the ORS MUX-III, alongside 27 other stations, the launch performed by federal president Alexander Van der Bellen — the beats brand as part of Austria's digital radio start, the presidential push of a button for deep house — Alexander Van der Bellen launching the beats, the republic's blessing on the bassline — the 21 June 2024 as Austria's deep-house day. The licence term, as for private radio stations generally, is ten years. The Klassik Radio group's own history frames the move: from the 1990 classical launch (28 October 1990) to the international music brand with six million listeners, the 2019 Austria entry, the 2021 Swiss entry, the 2021 beats founding as the electronic chapter — the company's history as the beats' prehistory — the 1990 launch, the 2017 brand, the 2021 electronic turn — the Klassik Radio timeline, the beats as its latest chapter.

Programming

The programme consists exclusively of deep-house music — the deep, the hypnotic, the groovy, around the clock, the programme type "Beats, Lounge-Musik" as the official label. Beyond the music, the station runs a blog on its website dedicated to house-music topics: interviews with producers and DJs, the culture behind the beats — the journalism of the night, the stories behind the tracks — the blog as the beats' newspaper, the interviews as its headlines — the house-music press, the Klassik Radio way. The programming philosophy mirrors the mother brand's: no complete works, no filler — selected tracks, curated flow, music for conscious listening (or dancing), the Klassik Radio curation applied to the club — the selected movements, the individual enjoyment, the deep-house edition — the classical curation, the club translation. The blog extends the brand into journalism: the beats with a backstory, the producers with a voice, the DJs with a face — the blog as the human side of the machine music — the producers' stories, the DJs' journeys, the beats' biography.

Organization and Ownership

Beats Radio is a brand of Klassik Radio AG, owned by the Augsburg-based media company under CEO Ulrich R. J. Kubak — the managing director as the beats' boss, the classical entrepreneur as the electronic label head — Ulrich R. J. Kubak's second premium brand, the beats under the same roof as the Bach — the CEO's two musics, the company's two souls. The group's headquarters is the Palais am Stadtmarkt in Augsburg (the renovated former city archive, an eight-figure investment housing around 100 employees — the 2018 purchase, the 2021 move-in — the Stadtarchiv becoming the Palais, the archive becoming the future — the eight-figure bet on Augsburg, the beats' headquarters); the broadcast centre is in Hamburg. Beats Radio is financed through radio advertising — the private-law station, the commercial model, the beats that pay for themselves — the advertising as the fuel, the deep house as the engine — the commercial station's economics, the premium audience's value. Detailed financial figures for the beats brand specifically are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

Beats Radio streams via webradio on the Klassik Radio website and internet platforms, alongside DAB+, DVB-S and DVB-C distribution — the beats available on every digital path, the signal fed via Astra 23.5° East for the DAB+ uplink — the satellite as the beats' backbone, the multiplex as its highway — the Astra uplink, the national DAB+ reach. The website blog is the brand's editorial home: house-music topics, producer and DJ interviews, the culture documented — the words behind the music, the people behind the beats — the blog as the brand's editorial conscience — the words that prove the beats are more than background. As the digital-native sibling of a classical brand, Beats lives where its audience lives: on the stream, in the app, on the DAB+ preset — the deep house of the Klassik Radio group, nationwide from day one, the electronic chair of the second national multiplex — the beats' seat at the national table, held since 15 July 2021 — the DAB+ preset, the second multiplex, the deep house.