A look at an exhibit highlighting the history of radio broadcasting in Bavaria.
Hier ist die deutsche stunde Bayern” (“Here is the German Hour, Bavaria.”) These were the first words transmitted by Bavaria’s premiere broadcasting company on March 30, 1924. This year, the Bayerische Rundfunk (BR) celebrates “75 years of Bavarian broadcasting, 50 years of the Bayerische Rundfunk” with an impressive exhibit entitled Der Ton, Das Bild. Die Bayern und ihr Rundfunk 1924-1949-1999 (The Sound, the Picture. Bavaria and its Broadcasting.) In a joint effort with the Nürnberg-based Haus der Bayerische Geschichte, BR will be displaying the thoughtfully arranged collection of history and memorabilia – and marking the anniversary with a number of events – at its Funkhaus through July 4. The exhibit, which follows a maze, is set up as a timeline. Project leader and organizer Dr. Margot Hamm explains, “We wanted to incorporate the sequence of historical events into the development of Bavarian broadcasting. After all, the two go hand-in-hand.” After a short walk through a canvas-domed tunnel – “we designed it so the viewer would come in from the loud, bustling street into the silent, media-free days of the twenties,” says Hamm – the visitor gets a peek at home-built receivers and documents pertaining to the birth of the Bayerische Stunde. In 1933 Hitler’s SS confiscated the Funkhaus, draped it with the swastika-adorned Nazi flag, and declared that no one was to transmit or receive anything other than what they broadcast. The thirties portion of the exhibit is a fascinating documentation of events, including the execution orders for a young man who was caught broadcasting his own program on a home-constructed transmitter radio was the propaganda medium during the Nazi regime. It is at this point in the tour that the exhibit becomes an interactive and aural affair. Speakers on the ceiling blare news, weather, sports and the BR time tone. Numbered touch-pads on the walls offer the chance to select various O-Töne (original recordings) from the days of radio. The forties are depicted American-style, with photos, flags and English-language programs streaming from the overhead speakers. At war’s end, the “Amis” took the broadcasting facility from the Nazis and founded Radio Munich. American soldier Field Horine oversaw a new, liberal German staff, who would, from 1945-49, use the medium to reeducate a Nazi-brainwashed public. Certain the danger of Nazi resurgence had passed, the Americans signed over Radio Munich to the newly formed Bayerische Rundfunk in 1949. BR’s birth is marked by a display of the actual document of ownership drawn up by the American government. The exhibit then takes a joyous turn. Props from radio shows – such as an original sound-effect cabinet equipped with window, door, oven-door, telephone and other useful sound-simulators – as well as early “high-tech” radios and televisions, original set-models for TV series, magnetic weather maps, personality profiles and myriad other sights and sounds will delight pop-culture junkies. BR’s anniversary party doesn’t stop there. During its two-and-a-half-month stint in Munich, before moving on to Nürnberg, the exhibit will feature a long list of events held in the BR studios. Try your hand at news reporting in Studio 3. Attend lectures by on-air celebrities, tune into BR radio or Bayern 3 TV for specials and documentaries. And as proof that BR is keeping up with the computer age, much of the above is accessible through the World Wide Web. The anniversary site at www.br-online.de/75jahre/ausstellung, provides an entertaining mix of sight and sound. The Bayerische Rundfunk is to be congratulated, not only for its 50 years in broadcasting, but – together with the Haus der Bayerische Geschichte – for the successful production of a 12-week, multi-faceted, multimedia bonanza. Der Ton, Das Bild. Die Bayern und ihr Rundfunk 1924-1949-1999, through July 4, Bayerische Rundfunk, Marsstrasse entrance, catalog (a 342-page must) DM 29, Tel. (089) 59 00 46 12 for a schedule.