About MDR Tweens

MDR Tweens

MDR Tweens is the children's radio station of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), broadcasting across Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Launched on 3 December 2018 from the Funkhaus Halle, it targets schoolchildren aged 8 to 13 — the "tweens", from the English "between": children standing between childhood and youth. Its claim is "Wir funken dazwischen!" ("We broadcast in between!"). It was the first full-day radio programme for children in the MDR's broadcasting area.

Overview

MDR Tweens broadcasts via DAB+ and livestream — it has no FM frequencies. The programme is produced at the MDR's radio headquarters in Halle (Saale). Editorial leadership sits with Sandra Hänel; programme direction for the MDR's culture and youth output is held by Christina Herßebroick (acting). The MDR intendant is Ralf Ludwig.

History

MDR Tweens began on 3 December 2018 — the MDR's third digital-only radio launch, after MDR Klassik (2002) and MDR Schlagerwelt (2016), and the completion of the broadcaster's digital trio. The launch was the MDR's answer to a gap in its programme family: the broadcaster served adults (regional waves, MDR Jump), young people (MDR Sputnik), and indirectly small children (through KiKA, the ARD/ZDF children's television channel for which the MDR has primary responsibility) — but school-age children had no dedicated MDR radio.

The programme was substantially built by Jana Cebulla, who moved from leading the MDR Sputnik editorial team to heading the MDR's "Young Offerings" department, taking responsibility for Tweens alongside Sputnik and other youth services including the ARD/ZDF youth platform Funk. The launch quoted MDR intendant Karola Wille: with MDR Tweens, children in the MDR's broadcasting area would for the first time receive a full-day radio programme with plenty of music, information, tips, and knowledge from their world — and the chance to participate themselves. That MDR Tweens launched alongside MDR Klassik and MDR Schlagerwelt as another exclusive DAB+ offering, Wille noted, underlined digital terrestrial radio's strategic importance for the broadcaster.

Why Children's Radio?

A children's radio station is a statement of public-service faith. Commercially, radio for 8- to 13-year-olds makes no sense: the audience has no purchasing power, the advertising market is restricted, and the competition — YouTube, TikTok, gaming — is ferocious. Publicly, it makes every sense: the remit to inform, educate, and entertain applies to children as much as adults, and audio has developmental virtues that screens do not.

MDR Tweens' programme philosophy reflects this. The mix — music, information, tips, knowledge "from their world", and the chance to participate — is designed for children who are old enough for curiosity but young enough for wonder. "BissenWissen" (morsels of knowledge) feeds the hunger for facts; "Die Hobbyisten" validates leisure pursuits; the media-literacy content addresses a generation growing up in an information environment their parents never knew. The live show's direct contact — children calling in, shaping the programme — treats young listeners as participants, not just consumers.

The launch completed a circle for the MDR. The broadcaster has primary responsibility within the ARD for KiKA — the ARD/ZDF children's television channel, headquartered in Erfurt — making central Germany the national centre of public children's television. MDR Tweens gave the same region a public children's radio: the MDR's children's offering now spans television (KiKA) and radio (Tweens), a combination no other ARD broadcaster matches.

The Tween Years: Why 8 to 13 Matters

The station's name is its developmental thesis. "Tween" — from "between" — describes children standing between childhood and youth: too old for preschool programming, too young for youth radio. These are the years when musical taste forms, when peer culture begins, when children develop opinions about the world — and when media habits set for life.

Public broadcasters have historically underserved this age group: children's television skews younger, youth radio skews older, and the tweens fall through the gap. MDR Tweens was designed for the gap. The afternoon prime time — the "MDR Tweens Live" hours from 4 to 6 p.m. — targets the after-school window when children are home, homework-done or homework-avoiding, and available for audio companionship. The music specials ("Rock It", "Pop-Tweens") acknowledge that tweens are already developing genre loyalties; the knowledge and hobby shows feed the curiosity that defines the age.

Radio Against the Screens

MDR Tweens launched in December 2018 — deep into the smartphone era, when the conventional wisdom held that children no longer listen to radio. The station's existence is a bet against that wisdom, and the bet has logic. Audio is the medium that fits children's lives: it plays during homework, in the car, at bedtime — moments when screens are impractical or forbidden. It develops listening, imagination, and language in ways video does not. And for parents, a curated, advertising-free, age-appropriate audio stream is a relief in an uncurated digital world.

The DAB+-and-stream distribution reflects the same realism: tweens do not own FM radios, but households have DAB+ receivers and every child over ten has (or borrows) a smartphone. The livestream meets the audience where it is; the DAB+ presence gives the station the legitimacy and discoverability of a "real" radio channel.

The Halle Youth Cluster

MDR Tweens' production base — the MDR's Hörfunkzentrale in Halle — places the children's station alongside MDR Sputnik, the youth station. The connection is institutional as well as geographical: Jana Cebulla built Tweens after leading Sputnik's editorial team, and Christopher Löwe brought Sputnik experience to the "MDR Tweens Live" microphone. The MDR's "Young Offerings" department spans both stations plus the ARD/ZDF youth platform Funk — a youth-media cluster under one roof.

This clustering matters for the audience journey: a child who grows up with MDR Tweens can graduate to MDR Sputnik, then to MDR Jump — a cradle-to-adulthood pipeline of public radio that no commercial competitor offers. Whether young listeners actually follow this path in the streaming era is uncertain, but the institutional logic is clear: catch them at eight, keep them for life.

The Presenter as Big Sibling

The choice of Christopher Löwe — a presenter with MDR Sputnik experience — for the flagship live show was deliberate. Tweens do not want teachers; they want cool older siblings. A presenter who knows youth radio brings the energy and credibility the age group demands, while the children's format requires the warmth and responsibility it deserves. The direct contact the live show seeks — children calling, messaging, participating — makes the presenter a daily companion in the after-school hours, the audio equivalent of the trusted older kid.

Programming

The core of the programme is the weekday live show "MDR Tweens Live mit Chris", broadcast 4 to 6 p.m. and presented by Christopher Löwe — who brought radio experience from MDR Sputnik. The live show seeks direct contact with the young audience: children call in, participate, and shape the programme.

Beyond the live hours, the schedule carries weekday music specials: "MDR Tweens Rock It" (Thursdays from 7 p.m.), "MDR Pop-Tweens" (Fridays from 6 p.m.), and special-interest shows around hobbies, leisure, media literacy, and knowledge — "MDR Tweens – Die Hobbyisten" (Wednesdays from 6 p.m.) and "MDR Tweens BissenWissen" (Thursdays from 6 p.m.). The mix of music, information, tips, and knowledge from children's own world — with the opportunity to join in — defines the format.

Coverage and Audience

MDR Tweens broadcasts via DAB+ across Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia and via livestream. As a children's programme on digital-only distribution, its audience measurement follows the patterns of digital radio: the station serves the 8-to-13 target group and their families, with afternoon prime time (the "MDR Tweens Live" hours) as the day's centrepiece.

Ownership and Funding

MDR Tweens is operated by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, the public-law broadcaster for Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia and a member of the ARD, headquartered in Leipzig with its radio centre in Halle (Saale). Like the MDR's other programmes, it is financed through the broadcasting licence fee. The MDR intendant is Ralf Ludwig.

Digital Presence

MDR Tweens' online presence is integrated into the MDR's digital platforms at mdr.de, with livestream and programme information; programme directories list the station under mdr-tweens.de. Because the official domain has not been independently load-verified, the website field of this profile is left empty pending verification.