Bayern 3
Bayern 3 is a Bavaria-wide radio station operated by Bayerischer Rundfunk. It began in 1971 as a so-called service station focussing on weather forecasts, traffic information and other service programmes. Today, the programme mainly includes music, but also talk formats. BR describes Bayern 3 as the "most popular Bavarian radio programme among the younger audience", with the core target group being 14-49-year-olds. Nationwide, Bayern 3 has a daily audience of up to 2.33 million listeners.
In addition to the traditional radio programme, podcasts are also produced under the station label, and Bayern 3 also organises concerts and events such as the Bayern 3 Party Ship and the Bayern 3 POP-Up Festival. A total of almost one million people follow Bayern 3 on social media.
Audience Share
3.1%
Ownership Type
public
Geographic Coverage
regional (Bavaria)
Content Type
licence fee funded € 18.36 per month
Media Companies / Groups
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Ownership Structure
Bayern 3 is part of Bayerischer Rundfunk. BR has no owner in the literal sense, as it is part of the public broadcasting system and is financed by the public through a licence fee.
Voting Rights
The management of BR consists of the director-general and five directors. According to the Bavarian Broadcasting Act, the Director General is "responsible for the entire operation and programme planning". BR also has two central committees: The Administrative Board consists of seven people: the current President of the Bavarian State Parliament, the President of the Administrative Court and five other members who are elected by the Broadcasting Council. In the event of parity, the vote of the Chairperson of the Board is decisive. This is currently Dr Ilse Aigner, member of the CSU and President of the Bavarian State Parliament. The Broadcasting Council consists of 50 members. Twelve are members of the Bavarian State Parliament, one is delegated by the state government and alternating members (usually one or two) are delegated by various social groups, such as churches, trade unions, chambers of commerce, farmers' organisations, cultural associations, a representative of the Bavarian universities and the journalists' association. The Council is intended to represent society as a whole and thus ensure that the various interest groups are represented. The members of parliament are elected according to the number of seats held by the individual parties. The governing CSU party currently makes up the largest group with six members (five from parliament, one from the state government). The Administrative Board passes its resolutions by a simple majority of the votes cast. A tie vote results in the rejection of a resolution. As a rule, votes are conducted openly. The Broadcasting Council passes its resolutions by a simple majority of the votes cast. A tied vote results in the rejection of a resolution. As a rule, votes are conducted openly.
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1971
Affiliated Interests Founder
Bayern 3 was founded in 1971 as a so-called service wave of Bayerischer Rundfunk. The station was the first service station in Germany to broadcast mainly news, traffic announcements and other information. Later, music programmes were also included in the programme.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
has been the first female Director General of Bayerischer Rundfunk since 2020. She had previously been Programme Director of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) since 2019. Her candidacy was supported by a non-partisan group that included the Chairwoman of the BR Board of Directors, Dr Ilse Aigner (CSU). She has worked as a journalist and reporter since 1994. Wildermuth is a board member of the Akademie für Publizistik Hamburg and the EBU Documentary Group (European Broadcasting Group), an international association of public and private broadcasters.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Programme Director of Bayern 3 since 2022.
Affiliated Interests other important people
President of the Bavarian State Parliament (CSU) since 2018 and qua office Chairwoman of the BR Administrative Board. Aigner also holds various board and trustee positions, including as a member of the TUM University Council and board member of the Wirtschaftsbeirat der Union e. V.
Deputy Head of Programme
Chairman of the Broadcasting Council since 2022. At the same time, he took over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BRmedia GmbH. Until 2018, Ruppert held the Chair of Religious Education and Didactics of Religious Education at the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, of which he was President from 2007 to 2020. Ruppert has been President of the Virtual University of Bavaria since 2002.
Contact
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
80300 München
Hausanschrift:
Rundfunkplatz 1
80335 München
Email: studio@bayern3.de
Webseite: www.bayern3.de
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
The share of the total audience in per cent comes from the agma survey I/2024 and refers to the nationwide daily reach in the population aged 14 and over.
Financial data is given as 'Missing data' because, according to BR's press information, individual broadcaster data does not fall under the obligation to provide information and no information is provided beyond the statutory obligation to provide information.
Comment on the transparency level:
As the transparency level for public service media cannot be categorised in terms of ownership structure, the availability of information on the supervisory and control bodies as well as information on their members and transparency with regard to corporate shareholdings were included in the assessment.
