tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post455231504130665156..comments2021-10-05T19:44:46.905+02:00Comments on BerlinBites: Way Ta Go, Weltstadt!Jon Lebkowskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16248713335392018033noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-78569251762339306202008-06-04T00:22:00.000+02:002008-06-04T00:22:00.000+02:00I am keeping my fingers crossed and I am waiting t...I am keeping my fingers crossed and I am waiting to hear your new address because if the package does not make it this time, the Germans may not be as efficient as the Thais.... I so hope this works for you. XOXOCCynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02209922477570147718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-89516707305742450572008-05-31T23:13:00.000+02:002008-05-31T23:13:00.000+02:00That is so sad that you could so flippantly insult...That is so sad that you could so flippantly insult the home of the Opel Astra and the subject of a heart-tickling Herbert Groenemeyer song in one foul schwoop. Maybe you should dig tiefer in the word book next time you want to insult a German town. Remember: Bochum? Bo not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-35631220729105510352008-05-31T18:04:00.000+02:002008-05-31T18:04:00.000+02:00Yes, but there are also a lot of people who avoid ...Yes, but there are also a lot of people who avoid paying it deliberately.Bowleserisedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02974472204722759129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-21903519136314589842008-05-31T17:57:00.000+02:002008-05-31T17:57:00.000+02:00Not entirely. Note K-M-S's cite of exemptions for ...Not entirely. Note K-M-S's cite of exemptions for the poor. Too many poor can mean not enough license fees to keep 'em going.Ed Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805932361842578943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-81360757424521764662008-05-31T16:40:00.000+02:002008-05-31T16:40:00.000+02:00The moral of the story is: pay your radio licence....The moral of the story is: pay your radio licence.Bowleserisedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02974472204722759129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-68904195072593365742008-05-31T15:21:00.000+02:002008-05-31T15:21:00.000+02:00All good points, particularly about the paternalis...All good points, particularly about the paternalism, although for those who do like "world music," which has become a pretty big player in the European music biz since Multikulti started broadcasting and using its bureaucracy to promote that sector of the biz across the continent, it actually is a loss. <BR/><BR/>But, like I said, I don't listen to the radio here, any kind of it. It just seems that innovation in format is pretty unusual anywhere in Europe, and that it's a shame that this particular one is being shut instead of improved.Ed Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805932361842578943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-41510862677014561302008-05-31T15:10:00.000+02:002008-05-31T15:10:00.000+02:00My impression was always that Radio Multikulti doe...My impression was always that Radio Multikulti doesn't actually exist for the "foreigners" in Berlin, but more as a tokenist figleaf, first by SFB and then by RBB, designed to show politicians that they're "doing something" that is meant to attract the "foreign demographic" to public-service broadcasting. At the same time the same politicians who effectively run SFB/RBB can claim they're doing something too. Hence their protests against the planned closure. The RBB's funding crisis caused by the relatively large proportion of the Berlin/Brandenburg population who are (due to poverty) exempt from paying radio and television licences isn't a theme they want to mention, though. And nor is the fact that Multikulti is basically, during the day, a German "world music" station with very little news or current affairs (and that that there is is unbearable if you can't stand the "world music" that makes up most of the programming) - and in the evenings a mixture of short programmes broadcast in other languages (which, for a while, have been partly in German, confusing most listeners). <BR/><BR/>And that's another thing. How many listeners does Multikulti have? Now that's a problem, as official listening figures only register, for whatever reason, German citizens. Ignoring that, the listening figures are direly small. Less than "Kulturradio". Previously this was (reasonably) blamed on the weak frequency, which could only be properly heard in a tiny part of Berlin. But since the closure of another SFB/ORB station, Radio 3, a few years ago, Multikulti got its frequency. So that's not the reason.<BR/><BR/>My main problems with Multikulti are a) this constant "world music"; b) this sense of do-gooding (probably well-off, middle-class Green voting) Germans talking at foreigners (with the odd "foreign" voice reading a script); c) and the lack of professionalism evident in its broadcasts.<BR/><BR/>If it goes, I won't miss it. If it gets completely replaced with WDR's Funkhaus Europa (from Cologne, who incidentally supply a good proportion of Multikulti's programming anyway - and the nighttime stuff - 100% music - is taken from other stations as well) perhaps something of much higher public-service quality will grace Berlin's airwaves. About time.<BR/><BR/>Other plans are to merge Radio Fritz and Radio Eins, the closure of Kulturradio (merging it with NDR Kultur, effectively re-founding the old Radio 3). And the merger of Radio Berlin with Antenne Brandenburg has been on the cards for years. Let's face it, RBB is crap; and only that fact can explain the number of identical commercial radio stations in this city. Thank heavens there's Deutschlandradio and Deutschlandfunk (though the closure of the former is permanently on the cards...)Karl-Marx-Straßehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10156583472078730461noreply@blogger.com