WHe already has time to demonstrate on Monday morning, especially when the thermometer is heading towards thirty degrees under a flawless Bavarian sky? The baby boomer generation and a few younger people took the time; around two hundred and fifty people showed up in front of the Bavarian Radio tower to demonstrate against the renovation plans and for their valued cultural radio. Among them are Hans Pleschinski, Amelie Fried, Peter Probst, Ernst-Wilhelm dealer, Joseph von Westphalen and the former art minister Wolfgang Heubisch, who is fighting for his return to the state parliament.
Two and a half hours earlier, BR program director Björn Wilhelm had been able to defend the reform approach in detail in “KulturWelt” – one of the programs that are on the cancellation list: more regionality, fixed times for cultural contributions in the morning “Radiowelt” between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and On weekdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. a two-hour cultural program with a focus on Bavaria – fewer blockbusters, more Bavarian premieres.
Long live format radio!
In addition to four police officers, many BR editors and employees whose future fields of work would be affected by the measures also came. And Björn Wilhelm also came, black Bille, dark blue suit, white shirt. At first smiling and confident, at the end with a serious expression. He followed what the initiators Sandra Hoffmann and Eva Mair-Holmes (the writer Thomas von Steinaecker was missing, apologies) were presenting in a small side street of the BR high-rise – it is threatened with demolition, a demo is said to be in preparation. The fact that the speakers spoke in front of an entrance gate with three signs warning “Absolute No Parking” gave the scene a touch of symbolic depth.
People complained that the reform came in a media situation in which trying to please everyone in advance was a “fatal signal”. Each program from the threatened format radio that was on the cancellation list was called up individually and defended with boos that were initially gentle and then became more obvious. The sound transmission via megaphone turned out to be very weak. Around 150 artists from all disciplines signed the open letter; it is flanked by an online petition that has currently collected 3,000 signatures.
Reviews on traffic news?
Three speeches were given, starting with Uwe Timm. Every time the word reform is mentioned, it means savings, says Timm. He interpreted the concentration on Bavarian issues as a “distortion”, and worse: Björn Wilhelm was thus meeting the demands of Free Voters and the AfD – frenetic applause. According to the logic of quantity, book reviews should be incorporated into traffic broadcasts, Timm scoffed. The BR cultural programs enjoy a brilliant reputation nationwide. If you want to ruin a cultural broadcaster, reform is the right way: “I want to continue listening to ‘Diwan’ – I’ll pay for it.”
This was followed by Nora Gomringer, writer and director of the International Artists’ House Villa Concordia in Bamberg. She also suggested that culture should not be treated as a “disposal”. The threatened programs are precisely the reason to turn on the radio – “indispensable formats”. The author Jonas Lüscher concluded. He assumed that the reformers “did not take their audience seriously.” Pandering with low-threshold views was the wrong approach. He quoted the Hungarian philosopher and Holocaust survivor Ágnes Heller, who said that democracy needs a cultural elite – as a counterweight to the political elite. Lüscher asked himself whether the BR establishment wanted to give control to the demagogues?
That may have been a bit too much in the end, but the collective resolve of the demonstrators had noticeably solidified. Insiders report from the radio station that the director and program management are at least forced to deal with the content of the reform themselves due to the ongoing protests. And see: just an hour after the end of the event, the BR press office sent out a message with the headline “BR sets key points for expanding cultural reporting”.
Director Katja Wildermuth recommends “a clear look at the facts” and adds: “We share a passion for culture! Our Free State is a cultural state, and BR is more committed than any other broadcaster.”
That’s exactly what the critics outside the tower doubt. They also consider the afternoon slot to be stillborn; in terms of content, they see many repeats coming up. As part of a brass music finale, the initiators handed over the open letter to BR director Björn Wilhelm. He thanked you for that.
#Demo #reform #Bavaria #Munich