Masurenallee 8-12
D-14057 Berlin
Germany
phone:
+49 30 97993 54001
eMail:
dokumentation-archive@rbb-online.de
web:
www.rbb-online.de
Open to the public
Open by in advance appointment only
Contacts
Frank Dürr
head of the department
Dr. Silke Gömann
head of radio archives
The archives of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) reflect German history. And RBB began the DISMARC initiative with the firm belief that audio history must be accessible for generations to come. From the early days of broadcasting in the 1920s until today, the archives of the regional public service broadcaster have been documenting the soundtrack of change. From superb recordings of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Furtwängler, the post-war swing of the SFB Big Band, early stereo recordings and broadcasts, and innovative music festivals such as the 'Berliner Jazztage', to radio drama and the archive of the former East German state broadcaster Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB), all has found its way into the RBB archive.
After the wall opened in 1989 and the two Germanys were reunited, ORB documented the resurrection of a liberal democratic cultural evolution. A similar process occurred when ORB and SFB merged in 2003, the data and holdings of their archives were collected into a unified RBB archive, a process which is still under way.
Some figures: 2,500 metres of shelves of content, 585,000 recordings, 6,240 hours of original analogue recordings, another 2,090 hours of original digital recordings (most of them unreleased). The target by the end of 2008 is for the content to be accessible by a new radio database, compliant with the standards of the ARD network.
RBB operates one regional television channel, seven radio stations and a wide range of online and videotext services. RBB also contributes to national channels, runs the ARD Warsaw studio and manages the ARD Play-Out-Centre with 17 television and 22 radio channels.
Changes Ver.: 1.0.1.052c.2600