It broadcasts on two television channels and six radio channels, with its main television and radio office in Baden-Baden and regional offices in Stuttgart and Mainz. It is the second largest broadcasting organization in Germany behind WDR. SWR, with a coverage of 55,600 km2 (21,500 sq. mi.), and an audience reach estimated to be 14.7 million. SWR employs 3,700 people in its various offices and facilities.
SWR was established on 1 January 1998 through the merger of Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, Southern German Broadcasting), formerly headquartered in Stuttgart, and Südwestfunk (SWF, South West Radio), formerly headquartered in Baden-Baden. The new corporation began broadcasting on 1 September 1998. Its predecessor organizations, SDR and SWF, were formally dissolved at 24:00 on 30 September 1998, SWR legally succeeding them with effect from 0:00 on 1 October 1998.
The existence of two public broadcasting corporations in southwest Germany was a legacy of the Allied occupation of Germany after the Second World War. The French Military Government established SWF as the sole public broadcaster in their occupation zone. This area was later divided into the statesofSouth Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern and Rhineland-Palatinate. The American Military Government established SDR in Württemberg-Baden. When Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern and Württemberg-Baden merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, the corporations were not merged, although SDR and SWF operated several joint services.
The two corporations had intended to merge in 1990, but the merger was pushed back by the reunification process.
Several channel mergers and changes took effect from 1 September 1998:
SWF 1 and SDR 1 became SWR1 Baden-Württemberg and SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz: regional programmes for their respective states (Länder)
S 2 Kultur became SWR2
SWF3 and SDR 3 became the pop station SWR3
S 4 Baden-Württemberg became SWR4 Baden-Württemberg
SWF 4 Rheinland-Pfalz became SWR4 Rheinland-Pfalz
DASDING was unchanged and continued broadcasting
The television channel Südwest 3 became Südwest BW and Südwest RP, and today transmits as SWR Fernsehen
A radio news channel, SWR cont.ra, was added in July 2002. This was relaunched with a new programme format on 9 January 2012 as SWRinfo. It was relaunched again as SWR Aktuell on 6 February 2017.
Das Erste "Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen" (German Television One) – Collaborative program for the ARD. SWR's portion is 16.95 percent. SWR also contributes to ARD digital, delivered over cable and satellite networks.
SWR Fernsehen ("Unser Drittes") – ["SWR television – Our Third"] – The channel three network for Baden-Württemberg and the Rhineland-Palatinate. The programming is transmitted in two different versions, one for Baden-Württemberg and one for the Rhineland-Palatinate. The Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR, Saarland Broadcasting) retransmits over 70 percent of these programs under the banner "SR Fernsehen" ("SR Television).
Phoenix – Collaborative network programming between the ARD and ZDF.
SWR operates six radio channels on FM and DAB, all of which are also streamed on the internet.
SWR1 [de] (Eins gehört gehört – SWR1): plays international pop and rock music from 1960–1990, European pop music, German pop and a limited number of contemporary hits to a target audience of adults aged 30–55, in two regional versions:
SWR Kultur [de] (Kultur neu entdecken): speech-based radio, including features, radio plays, and readings, plus classical music and jazz. Known as SWR2 until 15 April 2024.
SWR3 [de] (Einfach SWR3): plays pop and contemporary music to a target audience of 14- to 39-year-olds.[3]
SWR4 [de] (Da sind wir daheim): plays German hits and "oldies" in two regional versions, each with local and sub-local opt-outs at specified times daily:
Since 2007, the managing director of SWR has been Peter Boudgoust, who was previously the administrative director of SWR. The managing director's office is located in Stuttgart. Seven other directors serve under him (locations of their offices in parentheses):
Jan Büttner – Administration (Stuttgart)
Dr. Christoph Hauser – Information, Sport, Film, Service & Entertainment (Baden-Baden)
Gerold Hug – Culture, Knowledge, Young Formats (Baden-Baden)
Stefanie Schneider – Regional Programming for Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart)
Dr. Simone Schelberg – Regional Programming for Rhineland-Palatinate (Mainz)
Dr. Hermann Eicher – Legal Department (Mainz)
Michael Eberhard – Engineering and Production (Baden-Baden)
Fernsehturm Stuttgart (Stuttgart TV Tower – a large TV/radio transmission tower in a steel-reinforced concrete structure, also containing a tower restaurant and viewing deck)
Fernsehturm Heidelberg (Heidelberg TV Tower – a large TV/radio transmission tower in a steel-reinforced concrete structure, containing a viewing deck).
"SWR Big Band" – originally the "Southern Radio Dance Orchestra", also organized in 1951, and was led for many years by Erwin Lehn.
"SWR 3 Band" – a cover band in which several announcers of SWR3 play (e.g. Stefanie Tücking, Michael Spleth and Jan Garcia).
"SWR 4 Band" – a cover band in which several music editors of SWR4 Baden-Württemberg [Radio Stuttgart] play (e.g. Wolfgang Gutmann, Rolf-Dieter Fröschlin, Helmut Link, Karlheinz Link and Peter Schönfeld).
Within the ARD, SWR is responsible for the coordination of the joint network programming on the networks 3sat and arte as well as the main Internet site for the ARD, ARD.de. The offices for ARTE Deutschland TV GmbH are in Baden-Baden, and the offices for ARD.de are in Mainz.
SWR is also responsible for some of the foreign studios operated on behalf of the ARD:
Rhineland-Palatinate
Television
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