Bayern 3 plays pop hits, mainly from the 2000s onward, for listeners aged 14 to 49, with a weekday morning show and a Friday night chart show. It broadcasts from Bavaria, Germany, and you can stream it live and free right now on Radio Shuffle, wherever you are in the world.
What Bayern 3 Plays Today
Bayern 3 is the pop wave of Bayerischer Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for Bavaria. According to German Wikipedia's entry on the station, its flagship shows include Die Bayern 3 Frühaufdreher on weekday mornings, Die Bayern 3 Chart Show on Friday evenings and the Saturday satire segment Die SamstagsCrasher. The format is built around hits, with an adult contemporary flow that favours a steady stream of familiar songs over individual DJ selections.
Germany's First Service Wave
Bayern 3 first went on air on April 1, 1971, as "Die Servicewelle von Radio München," the service wave of Radio Munich. It was the country's first nationwide service-oriented radio programme, built around hourly news, traffic reports and practical information such as avalanche warnings. From the 1980s the schedule shifted toward hosted music programmes mixed with journalism, and by the early 1990s the station had adopted its adult contemporary music approach.
A Talent Factory
Bayern 3 has been a launchpad for some of the biggest names in German broadcasting. Thomas Gottschalk began working as a freelancer for Bayerischer Rundfunk's youth programme in 1971 and made the show Pop nach acht popular from 1977, as digitalfernsehen.de reported on the station's 40th anniversary. Other well-known voices from the 1980s and 90s include Günther Jauch, Peter Illmann and Fritz Egner.
Party Boats and Pop-Up Festivals
The station is also known for live events. Its Bayern 3 Partyschiff, party boat tours on Bavarian lakes, has run since 2006, and it stages annual pop-up festivals. It also hosted Bayern 3 Dorffest village festivals from 2008 until 2018, taking the radio brand out of the studio and into Bavarian towns.
Tune In
From an avalanche-report service wave in 1971 to a pop station with a Friday chart show, Bayern 3 has moved with its audience for more than fifty years. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle to hear it live.