hr3 streams current pop hits mixed with music from the 1980s through the 2000s live from Hesse, Germany, backed by a traffic service that has run around the clock since the station's earliest days. You can stream it free anytime on Radio Shuffle.
Born as a Traffic Station
hr3 did not start out as a music station at all. When Hessischer Rundfunk launched it on April 23, 1972, it went on air as a Servicewelle, a dedicated service wave built specifically around traffic information. According to historical coverage of the station, hr3 was among the very first German radio stations to offer round-the-clock traffic reporting, a genuinely novel service at the time for drivers navigating Hesse's roads.
That origin still shapes the station today. Decades after launch, hr3 continues to treat live traffic updates as a core part of its identity, even as its music format evolved into the adult contemporary hits station it is now.
From Service Wave to Over a Million Daily Listeners
hr3's programming has broadened considerably since its traffic-radio beginnings, settling into a format that blends current chart hits with music spanning the 1980s through the 2000s. That mix has built real scale: as of 2023, hr3 reaches more than one million listeners a day, making it one of the most-listened-to stations in Hesse.
The station has also leaned into comedy over the years, including long-running bits like "Die peinlichen 3." That tradition goes back decades, to the late 1970s, when hosts Werner Reinke and Thomas Koschwitz cultivated an on-air fictional feud, a cabaret-style running gag where the pair would interrupt and mock each other across alternating shows, long before "bit"-driven radio comedy became a standard format trick.
What You'll Actually Hear
Expect a steady mix of current pop hits and nostalgic 80s, 90s, and 2000s favorites, wrapped around comedy segments and the kind of dependable, round-the-clock traffic service that has been part of the station's DNA since 1972.
hr3 is free to stream on Radio Shuffle alongside thousands of other stations from around the world. Press play for Hesse's hits, comedy, and traffic, live.