The Haus des Rundfunks (radio broadcasting house) is the world’s oldest independent broadcasting center and Berlin’s oldest radio station. It was designed by German architect and painter, Hans Poelzig, and is located across the street from the trade exhibition grounds in the city of Berlin, Germany. The Haus des Rundfunks was one of the first buildings in Europe dedicated solely to broadcasting. It greatly influenced the development of stereophonic sound and its adoption by radio broadcasting. During the Cold War, the building served as a political football for a number of years.
The Haus des Rundfunks (radio broadcasting house) is the world’s oldest independent broadcasting center and Berlin’s oldest radio station. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com
The building survived World War II and the Cold War and is now used by ARD broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). Despite its age, the building still offers ideal conditions for broadcasting. Immediately adjacent to the Haus des Rundfunks is the new television studio tower of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, formerly called Sender Freies Berlin. It was constructed between 1963 and 1971
Design of the Haus des Rundfunks
Hans Poelzig designed this architectural landmark in 1929. The building forms a triangle with two curved sides and a 500-foot straight façade, clad with ceramic tiles. The gem of the project, the large, central broadcasting studio, was completed in 1933. Poelzig’s design was novel in the broadcasting world because it placed the three transmission studios in the center of the building so that the surrounding office wings would shield them from street noise. Also unique were some of the studios’ acoustic properties. For instance, the chairs in the large broadcasting studio were designed so that the seats had the same sound-absorbing qualities whether or not they were occupied. In the smaller broadcasting studio, the one hundred wall panels could be flipped so that one side of the panels absorbed sound while the other reflected it.
Haus des Rundfunks and the Cold War
After World War II, the Allied occupation forces divided Berlin into four sectors. The Haus des Rundfunks was located in the British Sector of West Berlin. But Soviet forces continued to operate East Berlin’s radio station, Berliner Rundfunk, from the premises. That meant that British soldiers guarded the outside of the building while Soviet soldiers occupied the inside. Since the structure sat entirely in the British sector, the British occupation forces tried to evict the Soviets. They even turned off the water, electricity and heat to the building. To no avail. The Soviets remained put and kept warm by burning the studios’ wood paneling. Not until 1952 did the Soviets move their broadcasting operation to East Berlin. Finally, in 1956, they handed the building over to West Berlin. One year later, after considerable renovation work, the Haus des Rundfunks became home to the West German radio station, Sender Freies Berlin.
The old Radio Broadcasting House still in use today
In 2003, more than a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sender Freies Berlin merged into the ARD broadcaster, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, which still uses the building today. Its programming includes Inforadio and Kulturradio. The small broadcasting studios are still occasionally used for concerts and radio recordings. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin regularly perform in the large studio.
The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin regularly perform in the large studio of the Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
