About osradio

osradio

osradio 104,8 is a non-commercial citizen radio station (Bürgerrundfunk) in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany, on air since 1 April 2002 under the slogan "Meine Musik. Mein Zuhause." (My Music. My Home.). It succeeded the Offener Kanal Osnabrück, which began operations on 18 October 1996 as one of 13 citizen-radio projects in Lower Saxony's pilot programme. Under the state's media law, the station has three statutory tasks: up-to-date local reporting, open broadcast slots for everyone, and the mediation of media competence through seminars and training. Its licence — renewed in 2009, 2013, and 2020 — now runs until 2031. (Its website field is left empty here: the official domain could not be independently load-verified, though directories list osradio.de as its website.)

Overview

osradio is the citizen broadcaster for the city and district of Osnabrück — a broadcast area of around 350,000 residents. The station is operated by the association OS-Radio 104,8 e. V. and led by managing director Simone Wölfel. The programme combines professional magazine journalism with around 60 open broadcast slots produced by editorial groups, associations, and individuals — the dual structure characteristic of Lower Saxony's Bürgerrundfunk: a journalistic core plus guaranteed access for citizens, all under the slogan "Meine Musik. Mein Zuhause."

History

The station's history begins with the Offener Kanal Osnabrück, which took up operations on 18 October 1996 as one of 13 radio projects in the state's citizen-radio pilot. The seven-year licence was extended in 2009 through 31 March 2014; in spring 2013 it was extended again through 31 March 2021. In spring 2020 the licence was renewed to 2031: on 20 February 2020 the NLM assembly unanimously decided to extend the licences and allocations of Lower Saxony's citizen broadcasters — including OS-Radio 104,8 e. V. — by ten years to 31 March 2031 (revocable from 1 April 2027). The decision gave the station unusual planning security among Germany's citizen broadcasters.

osradio has operated since 1 April 2002 as the successor to the open channel, within the Bürgerrundfunk category created when Lower Saxony completed the pilot phase and transferred its open channels and non-commercial local radios into regular operation in 2002. In Osnabrück's local media landscape, osradio is the citizen counterpart to the commercial Radio Osnabrück (on air since 2013) and the NDR's regional studio, which produces radio and television contributions for the public broadcaster.

Programming

The programme includes local news, reports, features, interviews, tips, and service offerings on politics, business, sport, culture, university, and school life. Three magazine strands anchor the weekday schedule: "Startklar" (6–10 a.m.) opens the day, "OS-Radio Der Tag" (10 a.m.–2 p.m.) carries the midday hours, and "OS-Radio Am Nachmittag" (2–6 p.m.) covers the afternoon — together providing continuous professional local journalism through the working day, complemented on Saturday afternoons by "Sport total". Around 60 open broadcast slots host established topic and participant groups — from music specialities to community magazines — giving associations, initiatives, and individuals direct access to the airwaves under the open-channel principle.

The university connection runs through "UFO – Das Magazin", the Unifunk Osnabrück campus programme, linking the station to Osnabrück's students. The partnership dates back to 1996: Unifunk is a student initiative and registered association financially supported by the University of Osnabrück's student parliament. Since 1998 it has had its own studio in the Mensa am Schlossgarten of the Studentenwerk Osnabrück while continuing to use osradio's technical support; since 2007 Unifunk has broadcast four one-hour programmes per week, making it osradio's most active user group and the most active campus radio in Lower Saxony. From November 2009, "Radio Out-Sight" by students of the Hochschule Osnabrück joined the schedule: a one-year project within the Social Work degree programme addressing homelessness support in Osnabrück.

Media education is institutionalised across generations. For children and young people from age twelve, the independent editorial group "New in – junges Radio aus Osnabrück" produces youth radio as part of the station's media-pedagogy work, broadcasting weekly on Mondays from 3:05 p.m., supervised by a person completing a voluntary social year in culture (FSJ Kultur) at the station. At the other end of the age spectrum, "Zeitlos" is the editorial group of the over-50s: with support and mentoring from a station employee, the team's members produce a weekly programme tailored to the wishes and preferences of their generation.

Project work has a long tradition. "Funkflöhe" (radio fleas) started in February 2009 as an environmental media product for primary-school children aged five to ten: a two-year project giving children, in the form of an "unusual" science lesson, an age-appropriate understanding of the environment and environmental problems, using radio as the communication instrument. Thirteen primary schools signed up for the cooperative project, funded by several institutions including the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt with 97,000 euros; the children developed radio features with their teachers, broadcasting from environmental education sites such as the Noller Schlucht. In December 2009 "Funkflöhe" was recognised by UNESCO as an official project of the World Decade "Education for Sustainable Development"; the project concluded at the start of 2011. It was followed by "RAUM OS – Radio-Umweltreporter Osnabrück", a pilot project (February 2011 to January 2013) breaking new ground in environmental education and anchoring education for sustainable development in the Hauptschule system: secondary-school pupils researched topics such as energy, transport, and waste disposal and turned them into radio within a "RAUM OS" school working group, funded by the DBU and the Niedersächsische Bingo-Umweltstiftung. As managing director Wölfel has noted, many children love presenting — commentating toy car races or telling stories into a cassette recorder's plastic microphone — and the station channels that enthusiasm into real broadcasting.

Coverage and Audience

The broadcast area covers the city of Osnabrück and the surrounding district — around 350,000 residents. The station transmits on FM 104.8 MHz (from Bad Iburg at 1,000 watts), on digital cable at 122 MHz, and — since 28 April 2025 — on DAB+ digital radio (channel K8B), joining the digital-terrestrial migration that has made most Lower Saxon citizen broadcasters available beyond FM. A livestream, podcasts, and the OS-Radio-App extend reception online and on smartphones. A 2011 NLM audience study recorded 70.4 percent awareness, 51.9 percent ever-listened, a widest listener circle of 19.1 percent, 7.2 percent regular listeners, and 3.6 percent "listened yesterday" — solid figures for a citizen station in a media market that also serves the Hanover and North Rhine-Westphalia catchment areas.

Ownership and Funding

osradio is operated as a non-profit citizen broadcaster licensed by the Lower Saxony media authority (NLM). Like other German Bürgerrundfunk stations, it is financed without commercial advertising — through broadcasting-fee funds, membership contributions, donations, and project grants such as the DBU-funded "Funkflöhe" programme.

Digital Presence

osradio maintains its online presence with a livestream, podcasts, the OS-Radio-App, and programme information (directories list osradio.de as its website; the address could not be independently load-verified for this profile). The app and podcasts make the three daily magazines and the open-slot programmes available on demand, extending the citizen broadcaster's reach well beyond the FM footprint, for on-demand listening at any hour. From an open-channel pilot project in 1996 to a DAB+ citizen broadcaster licensed through 2031, osradio has become Osnabrück's permanent citizen voice — "Meine Musik. Mein Zuhause." made institutional. The three daily magazines, the 60 open slots, and the cross-generational media-pedagogy work — from "New in" youth radio to the "Zeitlos" over-50s group — keep the station rooted in the city's civic life.