About Lausitzwelle

Lausitzwelle

Lausitzwelle — formerly Elsterwelle — is the Lausitz's regional broadcaster: a private radio programme and a television programme, broadcast in eastern Saxony and southern Brandenburg by the SGS Rundfunkgesellschaft mbH from Hoyerswerda — the region's own media house, the Lausitz's voice on two channels — the radio's ear and the television's eye, the SGS house in Hoyerswerda. The radio went on air on 21 February 2000; the television grew out of HOY-TV, the Hoyerswerda cable TV announcer launched on 20 January 1993 — the radio's millennium start, the television's seven-year head start in the cable — the 2000 and the 1993, the two birthdays of the one brand. In January 2018 the Elsterwelle became the Lausitzwelle — the name change marking the expansion to the whole of the Bautzen and Görlitz districts — the rebranding as the growth strategy, the new name as the new claim — the January 2018 as the turning point, the Lausitz's name on the masthead. The concept: the region's own broadcaster for the region in transition — the Lausitz between coal and structural change, the Sorbian homeland, the towns of Hoyerswerda, Weißwasser, Bautzen and Görlitz — the lignite region's transformation as the editorial mission, the homeland's stories as the daily bread — the coal's century ending, the new century's reporting. The radio frequencies tell the growth: 102.8 MHz Hoyerswerda/Zeißig (first shared with the statewide oldie.fm, until the Sächsische Landesmedienanstalt assigned oldie.fm the 96.9 MHz Hoyerswerda frequency and the Elsterwelle had the 102.8 to itself), 103.8 MHz from Großräschen (since January 2002, the MABB licence opening Brandenburg), Oßling (since September 2011, the network's densification) — the frequency map as the growth chart, the Lausitz's dial filling up — the 102.8, the 103.8, the Oßling, the three frequencies' story. The 2026 "Frühschicht für meine Lausitz" reports — Görlitz 2024, Hoyerswerda 2025, Weißwasser 2026 — show the station on the region's pulse: the structural change as the beat — the Saxon structural-change agency's project, the pupils' day on the region's transformation, the broadcaster as the region's chronicler — the "Frühschicht" as the format, the structural change as the series.

Overview

Lausitzwelle broadcasts as a private radio programme (Spartenprogramm) and a regional television programme across Ostsachsen and Südbrandenburg — receivable terrestrially (analogue and digital), via cable and as a livestream — the dual-medium regional broadcaster, the radio for the car and the TV for the living room — the two screens of the Lausitz, the one newsroom behind them. The headquarters is in Hoyerswerda, with a branch in Elsterwerda; the managing directors are Hans-Peter Schreiber and Stephan Tzeuschner — the Hoyerswerda HQ as the newsroom's heart, the Elsterwerda branch as the Brandenburg outpost — the Saxon centre, the Brandenburg ear, the two-state presence. The programme is German-language, regional through and through: the Lausitz's news, the towns' stories, the region's music — the Deutsch of the Lausitz, the region's German with the Sorbian echo — the majority language's station in the minority's homeland, the respectful coexistence.

The radio's frequencies: 102.8 MHz (Hoyerswerda/Zeißig) — first shared with the statewide oldie.fm until the Saxon media authority assigned oldie.fm the 96.9 MHz Hoyerswerda frequency; 103.8 MHz from Großräschen (MABB licence, January 2002); Oßling (September 2011). The television reaches the cable households of the region — the HOY-TV legacy as the foundation, the Lausitzwelle as the expansion.

History

The radio's sendestart was 21 February 2000 — as Elsterwelle, named for the Black Elster river that flows through the region — the river's name as the station's name, the waterway as the wavelength — the Black Elster's eighteen years on the dial, the river's farewell in 2018. The television's roots go deeper: the regional TV programme emerged from HOY-TV (Hoyerswerdaer TV-Anzeiger), the cable programme launched on 20 January 1993; the renaming to Elsterwelle came with the radio's launch — the TV announcer growing into the TV station, the 1993 cable pioneer becoming the 2000 media brand — the HOY-TV's evolution, the announcer's ambition fulfilled. In January 2002 the SGS Rundfunkgesellschaft received the MABB licence — the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg — to transmit the Elsterwelle radio programme from Großräschen on 103.8 MHz — the Brandenburg expansion, the Spree-Neiße region joining the dial — the Großräschen 103.8 as the bridge, the state border crossed by the signal. In September 2011 the Oßling transmitter joined — the Bautzen district's signal strengthened, the network's third pillar — the Oßling's 2011 arrival, the eastern Saxony completed.

In January 2018 the station became Lausitzwelle — the name change implementing the coverage expansion to the entire Bautzen and Görlitz districts. The Elster (the river that gave the old name) became the Lausitz (the region that gives the new one): the broadcaster's claim to the whole of Lusatia, from the Spreewald's edge to the Polish border — the eighteen-year Elsterwelle era ending, the Lausitzwelle era beginning, the region's name as the station's promise — the 2000-2018 chapter closed, the Lausitz chapter opened.

Programming

The programme is the region: local news, the towns' agendas, the Lausitz's structural change — the coal phase-out, the new industries, the Sorbian culture — the everyday and the epochal — the lignite's farewell as the running story, the region's reinvention as the serial — the decades-long narrative, the broadcaster as the narrator. The 2026 "Eine Frühschicht für meine Lausitz" project (with the Sächsische Agentur für Strukturwandel) exemplifies it: a day with pupils on the region's transformation — Görlitz 2024, Hoyerswerda 2025, Weißwasser 2026, colleague Lisa Grünler on site in Weißwasser — the station as the region's classroom, the pupils as the reporters of the change — the young Lausitz reporting the new Lausitz, the "Frühschicht" pedagogy. The radio plays the AC mix with regional information; the television shows the region's faces — the adult-contemporary soundtrack with the Lausitz's news, the regional TV with the neighbours' portraits — the AC format's regional filling, the television's local faces. The Lausitz's German-Sorbian heritage is the backdrop: the bilingual homeland, the station's German-language programme within it — the Sorbs' centuries-old presence, the German-language broadcaster in the two-language land — the Wendish heritage honoured, the German programme's respectful place.

Organization and Ownership

The programme operator is the SGS Rundfunkgesellschaft mbH, based in Hoyerswerda with a branch in Elsterwerda; managing directors Hans-Peter Schreiber and Stephan Tzeuschner — the private regional media company, the two directors still at the helm of the Lausitz's airwaves and television screens, guiding it since the beginning. Lausitzwelle is a private regional broadcaster — the radio licensed by the Saxon and Brandenburg media authorities (MABB for the 103.8 MHz), the television in the cable networks — the dual-state licensing, the private capital behind the regional mission. Detailed financial figures are not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted.

Digital Presence

Lausitzwelle is online at lausitzwelle.de — radio and television, news and contributions, the livestream for the Lausitz diaspora — the website as the third channel, the region's newsroom on the web. The YouTube channel carries the reports — the "Frühschicht" series, the regional news — the station's video face — the 2026 Weißwasser report with Lisa Grünler, the moving image of the structural change. The social channels (@lausitzwelle) extend the broadcast: the region's news on the feed, the Lausitz's stories on the timeline — the social media as the bulletin board, the region's conversation online. The digital presence is the regional presence: the Lausitzwelle as the Lausitz's own — on air, on cable, online, the region in transition on every screen — the 1993 cable pioneer grown into the 2026 multimedia house, the Lausitz's mirror in the digital age.