1.
CU: "Deutsche Welle" emblem on wall PULL BACK TO GV reception.
0.05

2.
SV: various guests greeted by General Manager Walter Steigner (4 shots)
0.18

3.
MV PAN: transmission masts (2 shots)
0.34

4.
SV INTERIOR: Spanish announcer seated at microphone
0.43

5.
SV: Arabic broadcaster at microphone.
0.51

6.
GV ZOOM IN TO SV EXTERIOR: "Deutsche Welle" building in Cologne.
1.01

7.
SV: animated map showing network of transmission.
1.22

8.
SV: Indian/Pakistani broadcasters at microphone.
1.26

9.
GV EXTERIOR: transmission mast.
1.31

10.
MV INTERIOR: listeners letters conference showing letters from all over world. (3 shots)
1.50

11.
GV EXTERIOR: new broadcasting House in Cologne.
1.57


"Voice of Germany" was officially launched on 3 May 1953, It is one of the five biggest external broadcasting services in the world and has a television unit connected to it. It is not a government transmission, and therefore, does not have to follow any official government policy. Managers of the service say it adheres strictly to the journalistic principles of truthful reporting.




Initials RH/1910



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In West Germany, the country's external radio service has been celebrating a quarter of a century's broadcasting to the world. Known as "Deutsche Welle" or Voice of Germany, the service's weekly transmission time now amounts to 600 hours, in 34 different languages.

SYNOPSIS: At a special reception held Bonn earlier this month (May) European and overseas guests were greeted by General Manager, Mr. Walter Steigner, after attending a concert in the Beethoven concert hall. Beethoven has become a sort of a patron for the short-wave service. A passage from his opera "Fidelio": "Brother seeks brother" was chosen as the service's signature tune and pause-sign.

Arabic and Spanish are just two of the 34 languages broadcast across the globe from the service's transmission headquarters in Cologne.

The Voice of Germany has an extensive network of transmitters which are l;inked up[ to relay stations across Europe and Africa. The network of short-wave transmitters ensures good reception of the programmes in each of the different transmission regions.

The service attracts audience reaction from a wide area. Listener's letters are regarded as a true test of popularity to the various programmes broadcast from Cologne. Some 30,000 letters were received in 1963, By 1977, the number had increase by ten times that amount to 300,000.

After 25 years in temporary quarters, the service will soon shift to this new broadcasting house, also in Cologne.