Radio NRW

Logo of Radio NRW

Radio NRW (in full: Radio NRW GmbH) is a media company based in Oberhausen. It is a provider of a so-called framework programme for regional radio stations. Radio NRW currently supplies 45 stations with identical programmes, including traffic reports, weather reports, news and comedy content. Through these distribution channels, Radio NRW's framework programme reaches around 3.9 million listeners every day, making it the radio programme with the widest reach in Germany. In addition to content, Radio NRW also offers other services for radio stations, such as infrastructure, via its subsidiaries.
Radio NRW's monopoly position has historical reasons: private radio has only existed in North Rhine-Westphalia since 1987, when the state enacted the State Broadcasting Act, which stipulates a two-pillar model for local radio stations: a radio station only receives a licence if it can present a cooperation agreement between an operating company (BG) and a broadcasting association (VG) in the form of a registered association. According to the State Media Act, the BG may not interfere in the design of the programme, but the VG is permitted to obtain a framework programme from third-party providers. One such third-party provider is Radio NRW.
The division into VG and BG is intended to ensure that the content of local radio stations is organised independently of profit interests. However, critics criticise the fact that this separation is blurred by the great influence of Radio NRW: many of the publishers involved in BGs are also shareholders in Radio NRW. This means that they not only influence the economic decisions on the respective BGs, but also the content decisions, which are legally reserved for the VGs, but are shaped by the framework programme of Radio NRW.
The shareholders of Radio NRW include several large media groups, such as Burda, Axel Springer and Bertelsmann (RTL). Until 2018, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln, which is part of the public broadcaster, held 24.9% of the shares in Radio NRW. However, WDR had to give up these shares for antitrust reasons and they are now owned by Radio NRW GmbH.
For technical reasons, shares of less than one per cent cannot be shown. However, due to their participation in several media companies, even small shares are significant. The SPD's shares are therefore stated as 0%, but amount to 0.06%.

Key Facts

Business FormCommercial / For-profit
Legal FormLimited liability company (GmbH)

Ownership

Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
  • Treasury stock

    Until 2018, the public broadcaster WDR held 24.9% of the shares in Radio NRW. However, as it is a direct competitor in the radio market, WDR had to sell these shares for antitrust reasons. Since 2018, they have therefore been owned by the GmbH itself.
    24.9
  • Minor Shareholders

    The remaining 27.97 per cent of the shares are in the hands of various media companies and publishers, who, like the other shareholders (with the exception of the Mohn family), have pooled their shares in Pressefunk Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH & Co. KG. None of these individual holdings exceeds 5%.
    27.97

Media Outlets

Other Media Outlets

Other Radio OutletsRadio NRW
  • provides the content for all local radio stations in NRW (Radio NRW, 5.2%): Antenne AC, Antenne Düsseldorf, Antenne Münster, Antenne Niederrhein, Antenne Unna, Hellweg Radio, News 89.4, Radio Bielefeld, Radio Gütersloh, Radio Herford, Radio Hochstift, Radio Lippe, Radio WAF, Radio Westfalica, Radio Berg, Radio Bonn / Rhein-Sieg, Radio Erft, Radio Euskirchen, Radio Köln, Radio Leverkusen, Radio Rur, Radio Kiepenkerl, Radio RST, Radio WMW, Radio 90.1, Radio Neandertal, Radio Wuppertal, Radio 91.2, Radio Bochum, Radio Duisburg, Radio Emscher Lippe, Radio Ennepe Ruhr, Radio Essen, Radio Hagen, Radio Herne, Radio K.W., Radio Mülheim, Radio Oberhausen, Radio Sauerland, Radio Siegen. Radio Lippewelle, Radio MK, Radio Vest, Radio RSG, Welle Niederrhein
  • NOXX (MD)
  • nrw1 (MD)
Other Online Outlets
  • www.noxx.de (MD)
  • www.nrw1.de (MD)

Facts

Other Media BusinessesDigital Services
  • Transistor GmbH (100%)
Market Research
  • MS Medienbüro Köln GmbH & Co. KG (100%)
Data analysis
  • Quantyoo GmbH & Co. KG (100% via Transistor GmbH)
Market research
  • RMS Radio Marketing Service GmbH & Co. KG (5.5%)
Radio
  • NRW Audio GmbH & Co. KG (16.33%)
Press agency
  • dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (0.09%)
Founding Year1989
Founder
  • WDR, RTL Audio Deutschland GmbH, Pressefunk Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH & Co. KG
    After the foundations for private broadcasting in NRW were laid in 1989, various publishing houses and media companies founded Radio NRW GmbH, which provides the supporting programme for all local radio stations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
ContactRadio NRW GmbH
Essener Str. 55
46047 Oberhausen
Germany
info@radionrw.de
+49 208 85 87-0
www.radionrw.de
Tax / ID NumberDE 120646368
Revenue€ 17.21 Billion / USD 18.07 Billion (2022)
Operating Profit€ 1.82 Million / USD 1,909 Million (2022)
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Executive Board
  • Marco Morocutti
    Managing Director (CEO) of Radio NRW GmbH since January 2024. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of Audiowest, a marketing company for local radio stations in NRW. Until the end of 2023/beginning of 2024, Morocutti was at times simultaneously Managing Director of seven operating companies of local radio stations. In addition to his position as Managing Director of Radio NRW GmbH, he is currently also Managing Director of the subsidiary MS Medienbüro.
  • Björn Peters
    Authorised signatory since 2022 and Commercial Director of Radio NRW GmbH since 2021. He also holds several powers of attorney at subsidiaries of Radio NRW.
  • Barbara Antonelli
    Authorised signatory and Head of Marketing at Radio NRW GmbH since 2017. She previously worked in marketing at WDR mediagroup and also in marketing at ARD media GmbH.
Non-Executive Board
  • Christopher Witte
    CDO (Chief Digital Officer) of Radio NRW GmbH since 2018. He is also an authorised signatory of the Radio NRW subsidiary Transistor GmbH.
  • Carsten Baera
    Head of Content at Radio NRW GmbH since June 2023
  • Sabrina Pastore
    Chief of Duty (CvD) of Radio NRW GmbH.
  • Silke Van Hees
    Head of Programme Organisation at Radio NRW GmbH. She has been with the company since it was founded in 1990.
Supervisory Board
  • Dirk Holterdorf
    Chairman of the Supervisory Board since July 2022.
  • Axel Schindler
    Member of the Supervisory Board since July 2022. He is Managing Director of Westfunk GmbH & Co. KG.
  • Dr Horst Bongardt
    Member of the Supervisory Board
  • Mr Uwe Peltzer
    Member of the Supervisory Board. He is the managing director of PFD Pressefunk GmbH, a shareholder of Radio NRW and a wholly owned subsidiary of Rheinische Post Mediengruppe.
  • Dr Nina Gerhardt
    Member of the Supervisory Board. She is the managing director of RTL Radio Deutschland GmbH, an owner of Radio NRW.
Headlines
Data Publicly Available
ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.
Meta DataIn the agma survey of audience figures, the local stations that receive their programme from Radio NRW are always shown together. For this reason, and because the framework programme is played identically on 45 local stations, they are treated as a unit within the MOM. Individual listener figures are not available.
The audience figures come from the agma ma l/2024 survey and refer to the daily reach in per cent and millions from Monday to Sunday.
Since the sales revenue was not reported separately in the annual financial statements of Radio NRW GmbH, the value ‘gross profit’ is used as a basis instead. The key figure of the net profit for the year is used as the ‘operating profit’. Since no advertising revenues are reported in the annual report, the item is indicated as ‘missing data’ .
Sources