Rundfunk Berlin and Brandenburg

Today we went to Die Welt and RBB. RBB (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg) was interesting to me because I’m a broadcast production major. RBB is a public broadcast station for Berlin and Brandenburg and it also contributes to Das Erste. Das Erste is broadcast all over Germany and receives its content from the regional broadcast stations. Its kind of confusing how German television works because it is so different from the states.

RBB houses both a television station and radio stations. I thought this was really cool because the television and radio stations that I’ve been to in the States are always in separate buildings. They are also not run by an FCC but instead by a Board of Governors. This board usually consists of educators and religious organizations to name a few. They basically want to make sure that their broadcasts contain good quality.

Some really cool facts that we learned about the RBB was that RBB was built in 1931. During the Nazis reign they used it for political propaganda. When the Soviets took over Berlin they claimed the building so that they could produce communist’s shows. The continued to have control of it even when Berlin was divided and it was in the west. They didn’t give it up easily to the Allies, but they eventually did.