Radio Sauerland has covered the Hochsauerlandkreis with local news, weather and community programming since 1990, later spinning off dedicated 80s and 90s webradio channels for listeners who just want the hits. The station serves a region so quietly scenic that Germans outside North Rhine-Westphalia often overlook it entirely.
On Air Since a Test Broadcast in 1990
Radio Sauerland launched with a test program on October 1, 1990, followed by official broadcasting five days later on October 6, under a license from the Landesanstalt für Medien Nordrhein-Westfalen, according to its history on German Wikipedia. Paul Senske served as founding editor-in-chief for nearly a quarter century, until Anke Gebhardt took over the role in February 2015. The station runs on a two-pillar model common to German local radio, with an editorial association producing programming and a separate operating company, Radio Hochsauerlandkreis mbH&Co.KG, majority owned by Funke Mediengruppe alongside a trustee stake and a small share held by the Hochsauerlandkreis district itself.
Weather Rangers and Charity Rock Concerts
The station's local identity shows up most in the smaller features built around district life, including "Wetterranger," weather reports sourced from local forest management experts rather than a national meteorology feed, and coverage of Schützenfeste, the traditional shooting-club festivals that remain a fixture of small-town life across the region. Radio Sauerland also runs "Lichtblicke Radiokonzert," a benefit concert series that has featured acts including Die Toten Hosen, turning studio programming into fundraising events for local causes.
The Bitter Land That Became a Hiking Secret
The Hochsauerlandkreis sits inside the Sauerland, a hilly, heavily forested stretch of southeastern North Rhine-Westphalia whose name is often read as "bitter land," a nod either to Saxon resistance against Charlemagne and the Franks or simply to the region's poor soil, though it most likely derives from an old Saxon word for "southern land," according to a regional overview from Britannica. Rolling hills and low mountains make it one of Germany's northernmost skiing areas and, today, the largest tourist region in North Rhine-Westphalia for hiking, mountain biking and water sports, despite a reputation as one of the country's best-kept secrets even among Germans.
A Local Signal for a Quiet Region
Radio Sauerland's mix of hyperlocal weather, festival coverage and benefit concerts fits a district that has spent decades drawing hikers and cyclists without ever losing its low profile. Thirty-five years after its first test broadcast, the station still runs seven hours of local programming a day from Meschede, layered under Radio NRW's regional feed, giving one of Germany's quietest tourist regions a station built entirely around its own backyard.