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'DR' (formerly known as 'Danmarks Radio' and 'Statsradiofonien') is Denmark's national broadcasting corporation. Founded as a public service organization in 1925 (under the name of ''Radioordningen'', changed to ''Statsradiofonien'' in 1926, and ''Danmarks Radio'' in 1959), DR is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise.
DR is funded by the levying of a television licence fee, which all Danes who own a radio or TV must pay even if they don't use any of the services. As of January 2007 if the customer has an internet connection at or above 256kb/s downstream they must also pay the fee regardless of actual use of the services. Owning a mobile phone capable of receiving video over the internet also means that the license fee must be paid.
DR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.
DR runs four nationwide FM radio stations, fourteen Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) stations and eleven additional web radio stations, plus two television channels and an extensive website, a version of which is accessible via mobile phone.

Contents

Radio

Analogue radio

DAB stations

Web radio

Television

DR1

DR2

Web television

DR news reporting

Relocation of DR

See also

External links

Radio

Analogue radio

★ 'P1' - "Thought-provoking radio": factual programming, reports, discussion and debate on public affairs, society and the community, plus in-depth news. It is broadcast on FM, DAB and web radio.

★ 'P2' - "Music and cultural radio": classical music, opera, jazz, radio drama, and coverage of other artistic performances and events. It is broadcast on FM and the web. The channel itself is not available on DAB, but it is associated with DR P2 Klassisk and DR P2 Plus which simulcast many of the P2 programmes.

★ 'P3' - Hit radio, with popular entertainment shows and hourly three-minute news bulletins. P3 also covers major sporting events. It is broadcast on FM, DAB and web radio.

★ 'P4' - DR's most popular radio channel: a "modern public service station" broadcast in nine regional versions, mixing popular music with national and local news. P4 also provides a Traffic Message Channel service of travel news. It is broadcast on FM and web radio.

The regional P4 channels are:

★ P4 Bornholm

★ P4 Fyn

★ P4 Esbjerg

★ P4 København

★ P4 Nordvæstsjælland

★ P4 Nordjylland

★ P4 Midt & Vest

★ P4 Sjælland

★ P4 Syd

★ P4 Trekanten

★ P4 Østjylland
DR also has a medium wave and a long wave station:

★ P5 Mellembølge is simulcasting DR P3 between 04.49 and 00.29, except for 12.00-16.00 (18.00 i the weekends) when P4 København is broadcast.

★ P6 Langbølge is simulcasting DR P1 between 05.45 and 00.30.

DAB stations

The first trials of Digital Audio Broadcasting were carried out in 1995.
In 2002, DR did broadcast the pop station DR Boogie Skum, the parliament channel DR Demokrati, the jazz station DR Jazz, the classical music station DR Klassisk, the news station DR Nyheder, the cultural station DR Plus, the rock station DR Rock and the soft music station DR Soft on DAB. In 2003, they added DR Litteratur. 2004 saw the launch of DR Sport and DR Event.
In December 2004, a second transmitter network was launched that would broadcast DR Gyldne Genhør, DR Kanonkamelen, DR Erhverv as well as digital versions of P1, P3 and P4 Danmark. DR Barracuda was launched in 2005.
In August 2005, the commercial radio stations Sky Radio (now defunct) and Radio 100FM started broadcasting on the DAB network, obliging DR to abandon three of its DAB channels: DR Erhverv, DR Event and P4 Danmark.
On New Years Day 2006, the popular music station DR Soft was closed down, but following protests it was soon brought back. Initially, it would broadcast until the launch of a new channel called DR X, but as Sky Radio closed down, DR Soft and DR X could continue alongside each other.
December 2006 saw major changes to the DAB line-up, as DR's space was reduced since one of the transmitter networks would be entirely taken over by the commercial stations. This meant that DR Litteratur, DR Kultur, DR Gyldne Genhør, DR Soft and DR Sport where closed down and replaced by DR P2 Plus, DR P4 Danmark and DR P4 Hit.
As of 2 May 2007 the line-up of DR stations available on DAB are:

★ DR Barracuda – radio for 7- to 13-year-olds

★ DR Boogieradio – entertainment and popular music for teenagers

★ DR Jazz – jazz music

★ DR Nyheder – continuous news updates

★ DR Oline – (formerly DR Kanon Kamelen) stories and music for children aged 3–7

★ DR P1 (see above)

★ DR P2 Klassisk – (formerly DR Klassisk) classical music

★ DR P2 Plus – arts and literature

★ DR P3 (see above)

★ DR P4 Danmark

★ DR P4 Hit

★ DR Politik – (formerly DR Demokrati) live coverage of parliamentary sessions

★ DR Rock – classic rock

★ DR X

Web radio

All of the above FM and DAB stations (except DR Politik and DR Nyheder) are streamed on the internet. However, DR also provides additional music channels available only via web radio. As of February 2006 these are:

★ DR Allegro – popular classical music, film music, musicals, operetta

★ DR Barometer – (formerly DR Electric) alt-rock and indie

★ DR Country – country music

★ DR Dansktop – popular music and ''schlagers'' (up-tempo oom-pah)

★ DR Electronica – electronica

★ DR Evergreen

★ DR Folk – folk music both Nordic and Anglo-American

★ DR Hip Hop – (formerly DR Ghetto) hiphop from underground to mainstream

★ DR Modern Rock

★ DR R&B – R&B, soul

★ DR World

Television

DR1

Main articles: DR1

DR was Denmark's first television channel. Since the introduction of DR2 it has been known as DR1.

DR2

Main articles: DR2

DR2 is the third national subscription-free TV channel in Denmark (it followed the establishment of TV 2 and its sister channel). It was known in its earliest years as ''den hemmelige kanal'' ("the secret channel") because it could not be seen nationwide at its launch — a situation much ridiculed by its competitors. Its early programme content was also fairly narrow. In recent times, however, it has become one of the strongest brands in Danish television and on several occasions gained more viewers than TV 3. DR2's traditional specialisms are cultural programmes, satirical comedy, in-depth news programmes, documentaries, and a weekly ''temalørdag'' (Theme Saturday) strand examining diverse aspects of one chosen subject in a series of linked programmes.

Web television

In June 2007, DR launched an Internet-based news channel called DR Update. They also provide live streams of DR1 and DR2 as well as on demand streams of many programmes.
Soon will it also be available througt satelitte.

DR news reporting

''Dansk Folkeparti'' (The Danish People's Party), a national conservative political party, has long criticized DR's news for being unfavourable to them, attributing this partly to the political nature of appointments to the DR Board of Directors. In response, DR set up a "watchdog committee" intended to detect and report upon any anti-party bias.

Relocation of DR

DR is in the process of moving all of its departments, including radio, tv and the various orchestras to a brand new complex, for the first time gathering all the departments in the same place. The new building, called DR Byen (the DR city), covers an area of 132,000 m². Among other things it will - when finished in 2008 - contain a new concert building with room for 2,200 people, including 1,600 in the largest concert hall. This will include a large new organ by J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw, which has already been completed in their workshops in Dortrecht, Holland.
The project has become much more expensive than planned, forcing DR to do drastic budget cuts. In April 2007, it was announced that 300 employees had to leave, meaning that most of the sports department would be closed down as well as most of the educational department, several programmes and the radio channel DR X. DR would also give up its rights to the Olympic Games.

See also

★ List of Danish television channels.

External links

★ DR's internet site (Danish with limited English language text)

★ DR Byen (English)

★ DAB stations