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Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Germany
Availability	National International
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Launch date	5 June 1950
Official website	www.ard.de

ARD (full name: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland – "Consortium of public-law broadcasting institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. It was founded in 1950 in West Germany to represent the common interests of the new, decentralized, post-war broadcasting services — in particular the introduction of a joint television network.

The ARD is the world's second largest public broadcaster after the British Broadcasting Corporation, with a budget of €6.3 billion and 23,000 employees.^[1] The budget comes primarily from the licence fees required to use radios and TV sets in Germany. For radio and TV reception, the fee is currently €17.98 per month. These fees are not collected directly by the ARD, but by the GEZ, a common organization of the ARD member broadcasters, the second public TV broadcaster ZDF, and Deutschlandradio.

ARD maintains and operates a national television network, called Das Erste ("The First") to differentiate it from ZDF, a.k.a. "das Zweite" ("The Second"), which was founded in 1961. The ARD network began broadcasting on 31 October 1954 under the name of Deutsches Fernsehen ("German Television"), becoming Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen ("First German Television") with a corporate redesign in 1984; it adpoted its current name (Das Erste) in 1994. ARD's programs are aired over its own terrestrial broadcast network, as well as via cable, satellite and IPTV.

ARD also produces three free-to-air digital channels (EinsFestival, EinsPlus and Tagesschau24) and participates in the production of cable/satellite channels Phoenix (current events, news and documentaries), KI.KA (children's programmes), 3sat (cultural/traditional programming) and arte (Franco-German cultural programming).

ARD's constituent broadcasting institutions operate 54 regional and local radio stations and seven regional TV networks, some of which split further during certain parts of the day. ARD also owns international broadcaster Deutsche Welle. ARD's regional members (see also Institutions and member organizations) are BR, HR, MDR, NDR, Radio Bremen, RBB, SR, SWR and WDR.

History[link]

1940s and 1950s[link]

The winning Allies of World War II were determined that German radio after the war would not broadcast the same propaganda as the pre-war Reichs-Rundfunk ('Imperial Broadcasting'). A federal structure, the renunciation of state influence and the avoidance of economic dependence were to be the key of the radio and TV institutions under public law (öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk- und Fernsehanstalten, public broadcasting and TV organizations). In 1947 the US military governor Lucius D. Clay declared diversity of public opinion as the main aim of post-war media policy. Individuals aligned with the post-war Allied forces in their respective sectors of Germany had a local influence on local regional broadcasters. NDR cites the influence of Hugh Greene on the early years of their organization.

Reception area of the West German TV channel Das Erste (grey) within East Germany. Main transmitters are shown in red. Areas with no reception (black) were jokingly referred to as "Valley of the Clueless" (Tal der Ahnungslosen), while ARD was said to stand for Außer ("except for") Rügen and Dresden.

After the creation of individual broadcasting agencies for most German federal states these principles were further consolidated by Länder broadcasting laws, decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) and state treaties between the Länder. ARD members are thus (at least nominally) free of government influence and rely for only a small part of their income on advertising (1995: ten percent). They are financed mainly from licence fees from radio and TV owners, which are set through a complex political process. The mandated aim of the ARD corporations is not only to inform and to entertain, but also to encourage the integration of various parts of society and allow minorities a say in programming.

In the 1950s the ARD radio services became the major factor of the mass media system in West Germany. As early as 1952 the ARD radio stations had ten million listeners. However, the radio stations operated on a regional level, and it was only the development of a television umbrella that helped the ARD to establish itself nationwide. The broadcasting of a countrywide TV broadcast service was the goal of the ARD from the outset and the go-ahead for this was given at the end of 1952. The same year ARD was admitted as a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union and the "German sound archive", now German Broadcasting Archive (DRA), was established as a joint facility of the ARD.

In 1955 there was a split of the founding member NWDR ("Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk", English: "North-West German Broadcasting") into today's NDR and WDR. The year before (1954) the smaller SFB was split off. The first daily news feature, the Tagesschau, went on the air from Hamburg in 1952. The famous 8:00 pm chime and announcement "Hier ist das Erste Deutsche Fernsehen mit der Tagesschau" ("This is the first German television channel with the Tagesschau") remains an ARD hallmark today. The broadcast attracts an average of 8 million viewers.

1960s-1980s[link]

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1990s[link]

After unification and the closure of the GDR television service, two new regional broadcasters were established in the East, becoming ARD members in 1992. These were originally the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR, English: "Central German Broadcasting"), and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB, English: "East German Broadcasting Brandenburg"). The existing NDR service expanded into the north-east, where it also covers Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The ORB service has since merged with the former Sender Freies Berlin (SFB, English "Radio Free Berlin") to become Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB, English: "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting").

Another merger took place between two member organizations of the ARD in 1998. The former Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, English: "Southern German Broadcasting") and Südwestfunk (SWF, English: "Southwestcast") became Südwestrundfunk (SWR, English: "Southwest Broadcasting") on 1 October 1998.

ARD programming[link]

Radio[link]

Today, ARD member stations usually regulate their own radio programming. Some ARD member stations usually collaborate for common radio services (an example being Nordwestradio, a culture-oriented radio station co-produced by Radio Bremen and NDR). Most ARD stations, however, will have at least a news-oriented radio station, a classical-music station, a youth-oriented station, and a cultural station. At night some stations will relay common night programming produced on a rota system by the ARD stations themselves. There are three common night programming services: Nachtexpress/Radiowecker (light music), Nachtkonzert (classical music), and Popnacht (pop music). Most services are on the FM broadcast band, though some services are also available on DAB.

A similar network intended for national coverage is called Deutschlandradio, however Deutschlandradio is not an ARD member - instead Deutschlandradio is controlled by both ARD and ZDF. Deutschlandradio provides two radio services: Deutschlandfunk (DLF), a news-oriented service, and Deutschlandradio Kultur, a music-oriented service.

ARD's best known radio station outside Germany is Deutsche Welle, which broadcasts its radio services around the world in many languages, mostly on analogue shortwave radio (but also by satellite, cable, Internet and Digital Radio Mondiale).

Television[link]

The main television channels of the ARD are the nationwide Das Erste and seven regional channels operated by the different regional broadcasting institutions. These channels were available on the analogue terrestrial transmitters until the shutdown of the analogue transmitters started in 2003. Das Erste and the third programmes, like the radio stations, are principally funded by licence fees, with a very limited amount of on-air advertising.

Das Erste broadcasts nationwide 24 hours a day, although the schedule does include four and a half hours of joint programming with ZDF each weekday, in the form of the news programmes Morgenmagazin (on air 5.30–9.00) and Mittagsmagazin (13.00–14.00), which the two organizations take weekly turns to produce. Audience share (March 2008):12.5%, from 14–49 years 6.9%.

The regional members of ARD all, jointly (NDR/rb and SWR/SR) or separately, operate their own regional channels, known collectively as die Dritten ("the Third Programmes") - before recent rebrandings, most of these stations had names like West 3 and Bayern 3. The schedules of these regional channels also include sub-regional opt-outs at certain times, in particular for local news.

• Bayerisches Fernsehen from Bayerischer Rundfunk (sub-regional opt-outs: Altbaiern, Franken)
• Hr-fernsehen from Hessischer Rundfunk
• MDR Fernsehen from Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (opt-outs: state programmes for Saxony, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thuringia)
• NDR Fernsehen from Norddeutscher Rundfunk(opt-outs: state programmes for Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and rb.tv from Radio Bremen)
• RBB Fernsehen from Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (opt-outs: separate state programmes)
• SWR Fernsehen from Südwestrundfunk - in collaboration with SR Fernsehen (opt-outs: state programmes for Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and SR Fernsehen from Saarländischer Rundfunk)
• WDR Fernsehen from Westdeutscher Rundfunk. (11 local opt-outs within North Rhine-Westphalia)

ARD has started three additional channels as part of their ARD Digital package:

• EinsPlus
• Tagesschau24
• EinsFestival

ARD is also involved in several joint venture channels:

• 3sat with ZDF, ORF and SRG: a cultural channel
• KI.KA with ZDF: a children's channel
• Arte with ZDF and France Télévisions: a Franco-German cultural channel
• Phoenix with ZDF: a news and documentary channel, focussed on showing press conferences and political debates in the German parliament live, in addition to historical and political features.

The international broadcaster Deutsche Welle also produces television services; however these services are mostly available via satellite.

Institutions and member organizations[link]

ARD member broadcaster map.

Over the history of broadcasting in Germany since World War II, there were other members of ARD, which are now defunct, through splits or mergers. These include Sender Freies Berlin (SFB; Station Free Berlin) and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB; East German Broadcasting Brandenburg) which merged to become RBB. There were also Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, Southern German Broadcasting) and Südwestfunk (SWF, Southwest Radio) which merged to become SWR. Until the 1950s, there was also Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; Northwest German Broadcasting), which split into the present NDR and WDR.

ARD operates many correspondents' offices in foreign cities, second only to BBC News.^{[citation needed]} ARD and its regional broadcasters are also represented on the World Wide Web.

ARD operates several other companies and institutions, sometimes jointly with ZDF: Degeto Film, a television rights trader and production company; the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA - Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv); the Institute for Broadcasting Technology (IRT - Institut für Rundfunktechnik), responsible for research and development; the Fee Collection Center (GEZ), and others.

ARD is a supporter of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) innitiative (a consortium of broadcasting and Internet industry companies including SES, OpenTV and Institut für Rundfunktechnik) that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.

See also[link]

• Television in Germany
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (Second German TV channel)
• List of German-language television channels

References[link]

• ARD: ARD Jahrbuch 2005. Hans-Bredow-Institut, 2005 ISBN 3-8329-1730-6 (Online Excerpts, in German)

External links[link]

• Official Site (German)
• Official information about ARD in English (PDF document)

Podcasts[link]

The Tagesschau, produced by the ARD on a nightly basis, is available on the ARD website as a podcast (available as audio-only or as audio and video). Other audio programs from the ARD's members (e.g., BR, MDR) and Deutsche Welle are available as podcasts, through their respective websites.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: ARD

Look up Ard in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ard, ARD, Ards or ARDS may refer to:

Ard:

• Ard (plough) or scratch-plough, a type of plough consisting of a simple spike dragged through the soil
• Ard, alternate name of Arad, Iran, a city in Fars Province
• Ard, a son of Benjamin in the Bible: see List of minor Biblical figures: Ard
• Ard, a character in the 1981 film Heavy Metal

ARD:

• ARD (broadcaster), the German association of public broadcasters: the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
  • ARD International Music Competition
• Acid rock drainage, the outflow of acidic water from mines
• ARD (or AD), the Democratic Republican Alliance, a French conservative party of the Third Republic: the Alliance Républicaine Démocratique
• Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, a Pakistani political movement that opposes President Pervez Musharraf
• The American Research and Development Corporation, the first venture capital firm
• Apple Remote Desktop, a remote administration application for Apple Macintosh computers
• Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator, a demonstration program of a capsule shaped similar to the Apollo Command Module by the European Space Agency
• ARD, the US Navy hull classification symbol for an Auxiliary repair dry dock
• Army Reconnaissance Detachment, a special forces unit of the Swiss Army
• ARD, the Amtrak 3-letter code for Ardmore (SEPTA station), a railroad station in the suburbs of Philadelphia
• ARD, the National Rail code for Ardgay railway station, a railway station in the Highlands of Scotland
• ARD, a code frequently used for the Armenian dram, the currency of Armenia (instead of the correct ISO 4217 code "AMD")
• Acquired Rights Directive, European Union law protecting the rights of employees
• Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition, is a special pre-trial intervention program in the State of Pennsylvania
• Antimicrobial Removal Device, a medical product developed by Marion Laboratories
• ARD, the IATA code for Alor Island Airport, Indonesia

Ards:

• Ards (territory), the name of an ancient Irish district, Anglo-Norman county, and former barony of Ireland in modern day County Down, Northern Ireland
• Ards Lower, a former barony in Northern Ireland
• Ards Upper, a former barony in Northern Ireland
• Ards Peninsula, a peninsula in Northern Ireland, between Strangford Lough and the North Channel
• Ards F.C., a Northern Irish football club from Newtownards
• Ards RFC, a Northern Irish rugby football club from Newtownards
• Ards (borough), an administrative district of Northern Ireland
• Ards (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency), a parliamentary constituency of Northern Ireland
• Ards Forest Park, a nature reserve in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland

ARDS:

• Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (or Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome), a serious reaction to various forms of injuries to the lung
• Action Replay DS, a game hacking device for Nintendo DS
• Advanced Remote Display Station

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Alexander Alekseyevich Sizonenko (Russian: Александр Алексеевич Сизоненко; 27 July 1959 – 5 January 2012) was a Soviet basketball player.

Sizonenko was born in the village of Zaporizhia, Ukrainian SSR. Possibly the tallest person to have ever played professional basketball, he was measured by Guinness World Records at 2.39 m (7 ft 10 in) and named the world's tallest man in 1991. Sizonenko was said to have grown since this measurement was taken, although age reduced his standing height considerably. Because of his enormous growth, his mobility was increasingly impaired.

Sizonenko played professionally for Spartak Leningrad (1976–1978) and for Stroitel Kuybyshev (1979–1986). Sizonenko was also a member of the Soviet national team and appeared on its behalf for 12 games.

He lived in Saint Petersburg, was divorced and had a son Alexander born in 1994. In 2011 he was moved to a hospital in St. Petersburg, where he died on 5 January 2012. He was 52.

External links[link]

• - The Tallest Man: Alexander Sizonenko
• So lebt der längste Mensch der Welt, Jens Hartmann (German)

This biographical article relating to a Russian basketball figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Thomas Anders
Thomas Anders in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Bernd Weidung
Born	(1963-03-01) 1 March 1963 (age 49)
Origin	Münstermaifeld, Germany
Genres	Pop, Europop, Euro disco, Latin pop, dance-pop, pop rock, blue-eyed soul, jazz, house
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Teldec, East West, Polydor, BMG, Edel Records
Website	www.thomas-anders.com

Thomas Anders (born Bernd Weidung, 1 March 1963) is a German singer, composer and record producer.^[1] Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Anders was born in Koblenz, West Germany. He began showing interest in music as a child, he did his first stage-performance at age of 7. Anders first studied music at Koblenz Eichendorff-Gymnasium, and then he studied musicology for five semesters at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.^[1] After having performed at several clubs and discothèques, in 1979, he participated in a music contest organized by the radio station Radio Luxembourg which he walked away from without earning enough points. Two days after the contest, Anders was offered a record contract by the same jury members of the radio contest.

It was then that his career officially began when in 1980, at age of 17, he released his debut single "Judy". Anders released several other singles produced by Daniel David including "Du weinst um ihn", which he performed on Michael Schanze's TV show Hätten sie heut' zeit für uns. In 1983, he met Dieter Bohlen who produced "Was macht das schon", the German cover version of F. R. David's "Pick Up the Phone" and also "Heißkalter Engel", the German cover version of Real Life's "Send Me an Angel". From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including "Wovon träumst du denn", "Endstation Sehnsucht" and "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht". The success, however, came when in late 1984, Anders and Bohlen formed the successful duo Modern Talking, which they started things off by a worldwide hit single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".^[1]

Solo career[link]

In late 1987, Anders and Bohlen decided to terminate Modern Talking and go their separate ways due to constant quarrel between the two. Shortly after which Anders went on a long tour performing before as many as 85,000 fans, the tour involved cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Viña del Mar and Moscow.^[2] This drove Anders to leave Germany for the United States, where in 1989, Anders released his first solo album Different with more pop style rather than dance, which he produced together with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon and a-ha's producer Alan Tarney. The first single "Love of My Own" released in the same year is considered the biggest success of his solo career at that time. The second album Whispers was released in 1991, three singles were released off Anders' second solo album "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" written by Roxette member Per Gessle, "I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" and "True Love". In 1992, Anders released his third album Down on Sunset, the singles "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros) found some success both in Germany and Austria. Anders released his fourth solo album When Will I See You Again in 1993. The first single "When Will I See You Again" featured the original singers of the song, The Three Degrees. Also, in 1993, Anders experienced something new as he got a part in a Swedish movie Stockholm Marathon.^[1] He also wrote the title-song for that film "Marathon of Life", which is one of the tracks in his 1993's album When Will I See You Again. In 1994, he came back with an album Barcos de Cristal, which he released in Spanish only for U.S., South America and Argentina,^[1] this album contained songs from albums of 1992 and 1993, all redone in Spanish. Anders released one more album in 1995 called Souled, which he produced together with Peter Wolf, this album contained a duet featuring The Pointer Sisters "Feel for the Physical". Things for him then were quiet until March 1998 when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the reunion of Modern Talking.^[1] The duo released six studio albums between 1998 and 2003 and split again in 2003.^[1]

Subsequent years[link]

In 2001, Anders produced the song, " My Heart It Feels Like (Dub Dub ...)" together with Gerd Count Bernadotte for the pop girl duo It-Girl.^[1] In late 2003 Anders signed a contract with BMG international as a solo artist after their final album of Modern Talking. The first single, "Independent Girl" released in November 2003 reached No.17 on the German single chart and No.5 in Russia.^[1][3] His album, This Time released in 2004 entered the top-20 as well.^[4] The second single "King of Love" reached the top-40 in Germany.^[3] At this point, Anders was working with his new producer Peter Ries, who previously had worked with such artists as Sandra and No Angels.

Thomas Anders received an offer from NDR to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, 11 million viewers who already knew Anders as a singer watched him announce the German voting points.^[1] Also, in 2004, Anders was asked to record the ballad "Just Dream" which was to be the official anthem for the ballet Holiday on Ice which reached No.64 in Germany.^[1] The song can be heard during the international three-year Holiday on Ice tour.

In the following year, Anders was involved in a legal battle which he had brought against his Modern Talking partner, Dieter Bohlen.^[1] Anders claimed that Bohlen had slandered about him in his autobiographical book.^[1] In the Spring of 2005, the court rejected to have Bohlen pay the one million Euros which Anders had sued Bohlen for.^[1]

In March 2006, Anders got involved in Eurovision Song Contest again; however, he was one of the three contestants to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 alongside with the Greek-born Vicky Leandros (Eurovision Song Contest 1972 winner) and country band Texas Lightning featuring comedian Olli Dittrich.^[1] However, the spectators chose the latter.^[1]

Also in the same year, Anders left BMG and joined Edel Records and released his swing-album Songs Forever which was commercially unsuccessful peaking only at No.43.^[4] In April 2006, his The DVD-Collection arrived in stores, which contained 20 videos of his solo career as well as some hits taken from Modern Talking period. In July 2008, Anders was featured on two of download singles by Sound-Chateau, "Ibiza Baba Baya" and "For You".^[5]

Anders announced the German Eurovision voting results once again in 2009. In the Spring of 2009, Anders was featured on the song called "The Night Is Still Young for which he collaborated with Sandra, the single peaked at No.46.^[6] Anders released his next solo single, "Why Do You Cry" in 2010 which peaked at No. 21 on Russian Airplay Chart.^[7] In the Spring of 2010, Anders released his next studio album, Strong for Russian market only.^[1] The album reached the platinum status in Russia for sales of 10,000 units.^[8] In 2011, Anders came back collaborating with Uwe Fahrenkrog, German musician and songwriter. The duo's first single together called "Gigolo" was released on May 27, 2011 in Germany which peaked at No.40 there.^[9]Their second single "No More Tears On The Dancefloor" failed to enter the charts. Their album, Two was released on June 10, 2011 which debuted at No.11 on the German album chart.^[10] The single "Gigolo" is written and produced by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Thomas Troelsen.^[9] The duo appears under the name Anders | Fahrenkrog.

Personal life[link]

His parents are Helga and Peter Weidung. He has one brother, Achim, and one sister, Tania. He was married to Nora Balling from 1984^[11] to 1999.^[1] Since July 2000 he has been married to Claudia Hess, with whom he has a son, Alexander Mick, born 27 June 2002.^[1]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Live album(s)[link]

Collaboration album(s)[link]

Singles[link]

As lead artist[link]

As featured artist[link]

Collaboration singles[link]

Videos[link]

Video albums[link]

Collaboration compositions[link]

• 1988 "I Can Never Let You Go" (Co-wrote for Engelbert Humperdinck)
• 1989 "Soldier" (Written and produced by Alan Tarney)
• 1991 "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" (Written by Per Gessle)
• 1992 "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros)
• 1993 "When Will I See You Again" (Duet with The Three Degrees)
• 1993 "Emotional Thing" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1993 "Question of Love" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1993 "Ain't No Woman" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1994 "Tal Vez" (Co-wrote for Marta Sánchez) (#1 Mexico)
• 1995 "Feel for the Physical" (Duet with The Pointer Sisters)
• 2001 "Hey Mr. President" (Produced T-Seven)
• 2001 "Cry for You" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2002 "Stay" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2002 "Funky Dance" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2009 "The Night Is Still Young" (Sandra featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2012 "No Ordinary Love" (Duet with Kamaliya)

See also[link]

• Modern Talking
• Nora Balling

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Thomas Anders at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.thomasanders.ru - More than Talking - Tribute to Thomas Anders, a lot of information about the artist (English/Russian).
• Thomas Anders World-Spain
• Thomas Anders discography at Discogs