About Radio Wellenrausch

Radio Wellenrausch

Radio Wellenrausch is a private commercial radio broadcaster for Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, Germany. The station went on air on 29 October 2023 — deliberately chosen, because German radio celebrated its 100th birthday that day — broadcasting statewide in Schleswig-Holstein via DAB+ and worldwide via the internet. The company was founded at the end of 2022 by the television pioneer and moderator Hans Meiser, Dietmar Baum and Harald Thoma, the son of former RTL chief Helmut Thoma. The headquarters and studios are at Lübeck Airport, where the offices and studios have been located since late summer 2023. The motto, as CEO Harald Thoma explains: "Mehr Informationen für die Menschen an den Meeren" — more information for the people by the seas. The programme director and co-owner is Hans Meiser. The programme wants to emotionally reach its listeners with a feel-good music mix: entertainment for the whole family, a broad palette of popular current music as well as cool older songs — the new private voice in the northern radio landscape, launched on the medium's centenary, the waves' rush on the digital airwaves.

Overview

Radio Wellenrausch is the new statewide private broadcaster for the land between the seas: Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, received via DAB+ and IP audio. The programme wants to emotionally reach its listeners with a feel-good music mix: entertainment for the whole family, a broad palette of popular current music as well as cool older songs. The information claim is in the motto: more information for the people by the seas — the North Sea and the Baltic, the coasts, the islands, the ports, the ferries, the fishing, the tourism, the maritime economy. Schleswig-Holstein is Germany's only state between two seas, and the station's name says it: Wellenrausch, the rush of the waves, the sound of the surf. The programme's promise is the good mood: the music that makes the day lighter, the information that keeps the coasts connected. The station started with a "soft opening": the programme to be successively expanded in the weeks after the launch, the new broadcaster growing into its statewide role. The reception is DAB+ across Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, plus the internet worldwide: the people by the seas, at home and away. The northern radio market is competitive: the public NDR with its regional programmes, the private market leader R.SH, the alternative rock station delta radio — and now Wellenrausch, the feel-good station, the new private voice claiming the information mandate for the coasts.

History

The company was founded at the end of 2022 by a media trio: Hans Meiser, the radio man and pioneer of private television, the well-known moderator whose name stands for German television history; Dietmar Baum; and Harald Thoma, the son of ex-RTL chief Helmut Thoma, the RTL founder's son in the founders' circle. The founders found a strong partner in Lübeck Airport: since late summer 2023, the offices and studios of the new radio station have been at the airport — the Hanseatic city's airport as the broadcast home, the studios where the planes take off. The technology was delivered shortly before the launch, the studio set up at the airport, the Facebook page announcing the start: the new station presenting itself to the public, the studio photos on social media. On 29 October 2023, the station took up broadcasting — on the 100th birthday of German radio, a date not chosen by chance: the new private broadcaster launching on the medium's centenary, the tradition and the future on one day. The launch was announced as a soft opening: the programme to grow successively, the details of the planned content not yet named, the station finding its voice in the first weeks. The new statewide private broadcaster for Schleswig-Holstein was on the air: via DAB+ across the state, via the internet worldwide — the waves' rush on the digital airwaves. The northern radio landscape gained a new voice: alongside the established R.SH, the market leader, delta radio, the alternative rock station, and the public NDR, the new private broadcaster Wellenrausch — the feel-good station, the information station for the people by the seas.

Programming

The programme is the feel-good mix: popular current music and cool older songs, entertainment for the whole family — the music that emotionally picks the listeners up, the good mood on the airwaves. The information promise stands in the motto: more information for the people by the seas — the news from the coasts, the islands, the ports, the land between the North Sea and the Baltic: the ferry schedules, the storm warnings, the tourism, the fishing, the ports' economy, the islands' life. Programme director Hans Meiser, the co-owner, shapes the programme: the television pioneer's radio, the moderator's station, the media veteran's new venture. The music palette is broad: the popular current songs and the cool older ones, the hits the family knows, the songs the coasts love. The target group is the family: the parents, the children, the grandparents — the whole family entertained, the whole family informed. The feel-good claim is the programme's core: the station that makes the day better, the music that lifts the mood, the information that serves the coasts. The soft opening meant the programme grew successively: the weeks after the launch adding content, the station finding its rhythm, the new broadcaster becoming the coasts' daily companion.

Organization and Ownership

Radio Wellenrausch was founded at the end of 2022 by Hans Meiser, Dietmar Baum and Harald Thoma. The CEO is Harald Thoma; the programme director and co-owner is Hans Meiser. The partner is Lübeck Airport, home of the offices and studios since late summer 2023. The station is private and commercial, broadcasting in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg via DAB+ and IP audio: the new private voice in the northern radio landscape, alongside the established R.SH, delta radio and the NDR. The founders' media pedigree is the station's capital: the television pioneer, the RTL founder's son, the media men — the experience behind the new broadcaster, the know-how behind the waves' rush.

Digital Presence

Radio Wellenrausch is received worldwide via the internet, and the website radio-wellenrausch.de is the station's online home. The DAB+ distribution covers Schleswig-Holstein; the IP audio stream carries the programme worldwide: the people by the seas, wherever they are — the holidaymakers, the sailors, the northerners abroad, all tuned to the waves' rush. The digital distribution is the station's statewide reach: DAB+ for the car and the kitchen radio, the stream for the smartphone and the computer — the coasts' radio on every device, the waves' rush everywhere.

Since 29 October 2023, Radio Wellenrausch has been the new statewide private broadcaster for Schleswig-Holstein: more information for the people by the seas — the waves' rush on DAB+ and the internet, the coasts' radio, the islands' station, the north's new voice. Launched on German radio's 100th birthday, founded by the television pioneer Hans Meiser and his partners, headquartered at Lübeck Airport: the new private broadcaster, the feel-good station, the information station for the people by the seas — on the air, on DAB+, on the stream, every day, for the north, for the coasts, for the islands, always and everywhere, without pause or end, forever on air and online, today and tomorrow, daily and nightly, continuously broadcasting onward, always forward.