ByteFM/Ruhr
Ruben Jonas Schnell, founder and general manager of ByteFM / Photo: Dirk Pudwell/ByteFM
The Web radio station "ByteFM" went on air in January 2008. This is the first Germany-wide music radio station with a journalistic background and has been positioned - like its model, the BBC's Radio 1 - as a medium for high-quality pop music. "ByteFM" has been received enthusiastically by listeners and the media alike. Arte, 3sat, the "DB mobil" magazine of German Railways, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Stern, Süddeutsche Zeitung, taz, Die Zeit and many other newspapers have given extremely positive reports of the "new radio on the Internet".
The station does not just play hit after hit, nor is its content based on a computer-controlled rotation. Instead, listeners are able to enjoy new and old music, well-researched information, interviews and background details about genres, music scenes, bands, developments and contexts - completely without interruption from adverts. The spectrum ranges from "indie" rock to reggae and from 1930s blues through techno to French chansons. A music smorgasbord that is unique for the World Wide Web and conventional radio.
In March 2009 it received the Lead Award (Silver) as "Web Magazine of the Year, 2009". And in June followed the Grimme Online Awards.
Up to now the station has broadcast from a central studio in Hamburg. Now, the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 has inspired "ByteFM" to open a second broadcasting studio in Bochum. Presenters from the Ruhr Metropolis will be able to contribute items for the channel. Creative artists and musicians from the region will have a new platform on which to showcase their works to an audience throughout Germany - and globally. As part of the "2010lab" project, "ByteFM" radio will available on the World Wide Web for all to hear - and listen to.
Around 80 well-known music journalists and aficionados of the scene from all over Germany - some with many years of radio experience - will be working in the ByteFM editorial team, which, like the "Ruhr Pop Foundation", is located on the premises of the former Prinz Regent colliery in Bochum.
Website:
www.byte.fm
Magazine:
HTTP://byte.fm/magazin
Opening of the ByteFM-studio in Bochum:
September 10, 2009
ByteFM is
- musical consultant of the web magazine RUHR.2010-TV (in German only)
- partner of the !SINGsäule in the Local Heroes project (in German only)
Related topics:
Ruhr Pop Foundation