Deutsche Welle Radio streams English-language international news live from Germany, the country's state-funded voice to the rest of the world. You can stream it free anytime on Radio Shuffle.
Built to Repair a Country's Image
Deutsche Welle's first shortwave broadcast went out on May 3, 1953, opening with an address from West German president Theodor Heuss. According to the broadcaster's history, its founding mission was explicit: repair Germany's badly strained relationships with other nations after the Second World War and present a new, democratic Germany to a world that had every reason to be skeptical. ARD public broadcasters formally agreed to share responsibility for the station on June 11, 1953, with Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk initially in charge before the broadcaster split into NDR and WDR in 1955, handing Deutsche Welle programming to WDR.
A Global Reach of 100 Million People a Week
That original mission scaled into something genuinely vast. Deutsche Welle now broadcasts in dozens of languages and says its combined radio, television, and online output reaches around 100 million people worldwide every week, funded directly by the German federal budget as a public international broadcaster rather than through advertising or subscriptions.
That funding model has come under real pressure recently. Germany's 2026 federal budget cut Deutsche Welle's subsidy by 10 million euros, bringing total funding down to 415 million euros, with an additional wage-related shortfall pushing total required savings to around 21 million euros. The broadcaster responded by shutting down its Greek-language service entirely and cutting roughly 160 full-time positions, a sign that even a seven-decade-old state broadcaster is not immune to budget politics.
What You'll Actually Hear
Expect English-language international news, breaking coverage, and feature reporting built for a global audience, carrying forward the same mandate Deutsche Welle launched with in 1953, just aimed at a modern streaming listener instead of a postwar shortwave one.
Deutsche Welle Radio is free to stream on Radio Shuffle alongside thousands of other stations from around the world. Press play for Germany's voice to the world.