Happy waves

week 29
the RTL Group intranet
Newsletter
Happy waves
RTL Radio celebrates
its 50th anniversary
News
Luxembourg
Employee Survey 2006:
many new initiatives
already launched
France
Massive crowd at the
Concert de la Fraternité broadcast on M6
Germany
Cooperation blossoms
between RTL Television and
Gruner + Jahr
People
Spain
Bernd Reichart appointed
Director of Digital Channels
France
Chantal Galba joining M6 Publicité
United Kingdom
Jeff Siegel to join
FremantleMedia Enterprises
the RTL Group intranet
week 29
Happy waves
RTL Radio Luxembourg's 50th anniversary
was like a big family event, with plenty of big
names, famous faces and even better-known
voices, but also less prominent members of
staff, all coming together to celebrate their
own achievements and the radio station's
success story.
Luxembourg - 16 July 2007
Frank Elstner, Jochen Pützenbacher, GeertMüller Gerbes, Hans Meiser, Björn-Hergen
Schimpf and Rainer Holbe all made the journey
to what turned out to be a wonderfully sunny
Luxembourg to attend the 50th birthday festivities of RTL Radio Luxembourg.
RTL Radio CEO Holger Richter thanked all his
present and former colleagues, saying:
“Without you we would not be standing here
today. All of you contributed towards our success”.
Even today, they and many other prominent radio and TV broadcasters are
still closely associated with the “vier
fröhliche Wellen” (literally “four happy
waves”, the programme’s title back
then referring to the four frequencies
on which the it was transmitted nationwide) broadcast from Luxembourg.
During the evening of the actual anniversary, 300 former staff members and
friends of the radio station cruised
on board the MS Roude Léiw along
the Moselle River from Remich, on
the border between Germany and
Luxembourg.
Geert-Müller Gerbes
A special place of honour
was given to Camillo
Felgen, a singer, writer,
actor, show master and
chief speaker at the radio
station between 1958 and
1968, who died in 2005.
Holger Richter handed his
widow a Golden Lion on
his behalf, the award
invented by Felgen himself and handed out on
board a Moselle cruise
ship on many previous
occasions.
Before the cruise, they had gathered
for a celebratory drink at the Luxembourg headquarters of RTL Group,
where guests were also given the
opportunity to tour the studios from
which RTL Radio still broadcasts the
Die besten Hits aller Zeiten (The Best
Hits of All Times) from Luxembourg.
Anna Felgen, the widow of the legendary Camillo Felgen,
and RTL Radio CEO Holger Richter
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week 29
The cruise then continued, with plenty of good
music, food and drink. They revived on board
the intimate atmosphere, the sense of togetherness between colleagues and the very special
spirit that characterises the radio station,
namely creativity and professionalism combined with a substantial fun factor, which has
given free rein to numerous good and occasionally off-the-wall ideas down the years.
“Holger Richter and his team celebrated
RTL Radio Luxembourg's birthday in fitting style. It was great fun to see so
many of RTL's famous faces again, and
I'm convinced that RTL Radio will
remain a success in the future”, said
RTL Group CFO and Head of Corporate
Centre Elmar Heggen as the celebrations
drew to a close.
“We were one big family. We loved each other,
argued with each other and then made up
again”, said Jochen Pützenbacher. Rainer
Holbe added: “The time I spent at RTL Radio
means a great deal to me. The 30 years I spent
here in Luxembourg really left their mark on
me”.
To celebrate its birthday, RTL Radio has issued
a CD collection featuring 100 legendary hits.
The set of CDs can be ordered by phone in
Germany by calling 0180 555 03 or worldwide
by calling 0049 30 206 109 51.
For its birthday weekend on 14 and 15 July,
RTL Radio diverged from its usual policy of
playing Die besten Hits aller Zeiten to change its programme and offer listeners a chance to hear some of the radio station's old
stars again, broadcast interviews and
excerpts from historical programmes, as
well as some legendary technical mishaps.
Today, RTL Radio broadcasts a highly diverse programme, combining its 50 years of
experience in radio with innovative ideas,
and continues to enjoy great success. Since
1 January 2005 RTL has also been piloting a
new schedule, broadcast using the digital
standard DRM.
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The party ship
RTL Radio DJs, former radio-colleagues, friends and guests
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week 29
“Improvised radio”
Peter “Perleberg” Nilles
In July 1957, the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise
de Télédiffusion (CLT) launched an experimental
radio programme in German language on
medium wave 208. It was the start for a
success story that would also give rise to RTL
Television in Germany. Backstage looks back on
50 years of innovation and entertainment from
RTL Radio Luxemburg.
Luxembourg - 16 July 2007
On 15 July 1957, Peter Perleberg greeted
Radio Luxemburg's first audience with these
words, spoken in German: “Ladies and gentlemen, dear listeners! This is an experimental
programme by Radio Luxemburg, broadcast in
German. Starting from today, we will be broadcasting a variety of light music between 14.00
and 16.00 every day”.
Actually, Peter Perleberg only existed on the air.
His real name was Pierre Nilles, and he was a
Luxembourg journalist, who — like so many
after him — left his official identity at the gates
of the radio station and adopted a pseudonym
for his broadcasting persona. In those days,
everyone was on first-name terms on the radio,
which was new and contributed towards the
medium's easygoing atmosphere.
were no editors, programming directors or
music experts for the debut programme. Each
presenter took a pile of records along to the
studio and simply started playing them on his
show. It was improvised radio —and it worked”.
Camillo Felgen's first official hit parade in 1958
was a roaring success, so the tremendous
public response elicited by the programme
naturally prompted the idea of issuing Radio
Luxemburg's first Golden Lion Award (Goldene
Löwe). The idea of the Lion Award was actually borrowed from Luxembourg's coat of arms,
and whenever this particular lion 'roared', stars
from all over the world came running to the
award ceremonies.
That first programme was unconventional. As a trendsetter it wrote broadcasting history, as well as producing some
of the best-known figures in German
radio andtelevision. The “vier fröhlichen
Wellen” (literally “four happy waves” — a
play on the four frequencies on which
programmes were broadcast ) could be
picked up not just in the Grand-Duchy
of Luxembourg, but also throughout
Germany.
The popular broadcasters during the
early years were Camillo Felgen and Lou
van Burg. Another great radio veteran,
Rainer Holbe, looked back on the good
old days just recently, saying: “There
Camillo Felgen
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The list of big names who worked at the radio
station is long: Dieter Thomas Heck worked
there as a DJ between 1964 and 1966. Thomas
Gottschalk presented the channel's morning
programme Guten Morgen, Deutschland (Good
Morning Germany!) between 1980 and 1982
and guided listeners through the hit parade on
Sunday afternoons. The 12-year-old Anke
Engelke became the radio station's youngest
ever presenter, and in 1977 Desirée Nosbusch
also launched her career in Luxembourg. Other
names that are still fondly remembered today,
like Hugo Egon Balder, Karl Dall, Geert-Müller
Gerbes, Ulrike von der Groeben, Elmar
Gunsch, Biggi Lechtermann, Hans Meiser,
Jochen Pützenbacher, Hans Werner Olm, Max
Schautzer, Björn Hergen Schimpf, Isabel Varell
and Viktor Worms are also closely associated
with Luxembourg's “four happy waves”.
But the rise of Radio Luxemburg to become
one of the most successful radio stations in
Germany is most closely associated with one
name: Frank Elstner. His debut at the age of 21
took place on 14 January 1964, shortly after he
breezed into town from Baden-Baden on his
motor scooter. One year later, he launched his
now legendary midday show Luxemburger
Funkkantine (Luxembourg Radio Canteen). By
1968 Elstner had become the radio station's
chief presenter, and in January 1971 he celebrated his 10,000th broadcast in the company
of a host of international stars. In May 1973, he
was appointed Radio Luxemburg's new programming director, and he continued to make
his mark on the station like no other, by
constantly coming up with new ideas for programmes and showing he had a great nose for
sniffing out talented new presenters. In 1983, Helmut Thoma was
appointed as the radio station's
new programming director, and
shortly afterwards the TV channel
saw the light of day.
week 29
that listeners wouldn't
have to spend a long
time searching for the
station's
frequency
before tuning in.
On the radio station's
25th anniversary, bestselling German author
Heinz G. Konsalik, said:
“Radio Luxemburg has
Desirée Nosbusch
become a part of life.
Without it, our everyday existence would be
drearier, duller and bleaker”.
When the 'dual broadcasting system' of private
commercial and public-service broadcasters
was launched in Germany in 1984, the parent
company — CLT at the time — launched one of
Germany's first private channels: RTL plus. At
the time, for millions of Germans RTL had
already become synonymous with unconventional and highly diverse entertainment, thanks
to the cult status attained by the Luxembourgbased radio station. This gave the fledgling TV
offshoot an important head start.
Gradually, the radio station relinquished its original identity, becoming format radio. In 1992,
RTL Radio became known for playing oldies:
later on it added current hits again. Today, the
station is called RTL Radio - Die besten Hits
aller Zeiten (RTL Radio - The Best Hits of All
Time) and is still being produced at the company's Luxembourg headquarters. So the varied
mix of tradition and innovation is still a part of
RTL Group's ongoing success story in
Luxembourg.
In the radio station's heyday, radio
was RTL. Some manufacturers of
radio sets even developed a special Radio Luxemburg button, so
Thomas Gottschalk and Frank Elstner
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week 29
RTL Television acquires
a comprehensive
package of feature films
and series from
NBC Universal
Miami Vice
The comprehensive package includes action
films like Miami Vice (starring Colin Farrell) and
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift as well as
the comedies The Break Up (with Vince Vaughn
and Jennifer Aniston), Nanny MchPhee (starring Emma Thompson) and You, Me and
Dupree (with Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson and
Matt Dillon).
Explosive action, romantic comedies, successful
series — In an extensive studio deal with NBC
Universal International Television, RTL's family
of German channels has secured numerous free
TV premieres and additional broadcasting rights
for numerous film and series highlights.
Germany - 19 July 2007
movies, the package obtained from NBC
Universal also includes the comedy mystery
series Psych, which will ideally complement
RTL's hit series Monk. Our acquisition of the
package guarantees our ability to continue
offering our viewers top-quality U.S. series in
the future”.
The package also includes the broadcasting rights to past hits including 8
Mile, The Return of the Mummy, Van
Helsing and The Interpreter.
RTL's Head of Acquisitions, Dirk
Schweitzer summed up the benefits as
follows: “As well as containing romantic comedies and thrilling action
The Interpreter
The Break Up
Psych
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week 29
The modern new-look
Vox.de website is faster
and more clearly
structured
At the beginning of the week, RTL.de welcomed
the increase in the number of hits to the portal,
the fruit not least of the website's makeover in
February 2007. Now Vox's website has also
been given a new look as well as expanding the
range of services on offer to visitors.
Germany - 19 July 2007
In future, the look and feel of the Vox.de website will be more in line with the channel's on-air
design. The website's consistent use of red and
black throughout gives it a noble, lively look that
is bound to appeal to users.
As appropriate for the Web portal of a TV channel, moving images play a more prominent role
on the improved website. Accordingly, in future
visitors will be able to download even more Vox
content from the Internet, including short trailers
and background information. A new advisory
section on issues such as health, family affairs,
lifestyle, wildlife and travel provides Vox viewers with wideranging tips on many subjects,
going into greater detail than
the pointers given by the channel's various programmes.
Vox's new website was designed jointly by
Vox and RTL Interactive. The prime concern
to its makers was that the improved navigation through the website should more
clearly highlight the full range of programmes in Vox's schedule.
out
checkamped
the retve at
websi
.de
ox
www.v
The Vox website's makeover is coinciding
with the launch of the new Mein perfektes
Dinner (My Perfect Dinner) community, a platform where all fans of the programme and keen
amateur cooks can exchange recipes, organise
joint dinner evenings and create photo galleries.
Vox editor-in-chief Kai Sturm
said: “Our highly attractive new
website not only successfully
conveys the service-oriented
and viewer-friendly approach
that characterises Vox, but also
builds on it on the Internet. The
homepage now has more to
offer service- and entertainment-minded viewers”.
Vox.de start page
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week 29
Massive crowd at the
Concert de la Fraternité broadcast on M6
Michel Polnareff
Put simply, the concert proved a phenomenal
success, with 300,000 spectators expected,
but double that figure turning up to cheer on
Bob Sinclar, Tokio Hotel, Laura Pausini, Nelly
Furtado and above all Michel Polnareff, the
talented nonconformist who delivered a breathtaking performance.
The mix of French, but also German, Italian and
Portuguese artists chosen was no coincidence.
President Sarkozy wanted this popular musical
event to be pervaded by a sense of European
fraternity.
M6 and W9 were present throughout the
concert, and viewers watching it on
TV were given a great opportunity to
marvel at the beauty of the show and
its magical setting, with the sun setting over the Eiffel Tower in the background.
To celebrate his first Bastille Day as French
president in fitting fashion on 14 July, Nicolas
Sarkozy invited his fellow Frenchmen to the
Champ de Mars for a one-off Concert de la
Fraternité (Fraternity Concert) with Michel
Polnareff as the headline act that was
broadcast live on M6 and W9.
France - 18 July 2007
views with Michel Polnareff and Nikolas
Sarkozy. RTL Radio broadcast live Polnareff’s
first and last song.
The atmosphere was just as Charlotte Moreau
reported it in Le Parisien: “A kind of general
euphoria swept through everyone. The security
personnel were smiling from ear to ear despite
their terrible sunstroke. Adolescents blushed
with emotion and excitement when Tokio Hotel,
then Nelly Furtado took to the stage…”.
In a nutshell, M6, W9 and RTL Radio dished up
an unforgettable Bastille Day for their
audiences.
RTL Radio followed the event from
20.00 to 23.00 with a special coverage of Les Années Bals Pop which was
presented by Olivier Pin. RTL journalist Anthony Martin reported live from
the concert and held exclusive inter-
Tokio Hotel
Concert de la Fraternité, M6
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week 29
Cooperation blossoms between RTL
Television and Gruner + Jahr
Garden experts at RTL Television and Gruner + Jahr have recently started to work on
a joint project. The Flora Garten gardening magazine now presents the finest garden
remakes shown on RTL's Mein Garten programme.
Germany - 17 July 2007
Since 2004, RTL Television's TV gardeners
have made the individual dreams of garden
owners come true as they remodel gardens
before the camera in the before/after show.
Mein Garten is aired seven times a week and
with viewing figures of up to 2 million per episode, it is currently the most successful gardening show on German television.
In Flora Garten, presenter Andrea Göpel, landscape designer Bernd Franzen and joiner
Michael Penners now expand on ideas presented during the programme. In each edition, they
present the finest gardens seen during
the show, illustrate them with additional images and offer further tips on
how these gardens can be recreated.
Tom Sänger, RTL’s Head of Entertainment,
Show and Daytime said: “Since June 2004,
Mein Garten has been the most successful and
emotional TV brand connected with gardening.
This cooperative project with Flora Garten
allows us to offer a high-quality and meaningful
addition to both brands.”
“Cooperation between Mein Garten and Flora
Garten helps significantly boost both sides'
capacities, readers are turned into viewers and
viewers into readers,” explains Flora Garten
editor Holger Radloff.
Bernd Franzen, Andrea Göpel and Michael Penners
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week 29
Employee Survey 2006:
many new initiatives
already launched
The results of the 2006 Employee Survey were
announced in February 2007.
So what's been achieved since then? Which
specific improvements has the survey inspired?
Luxembourg - 13 July 2007
In September 2006, 6,000 RTL Group staff took
the opportunity to help shape their company by
stating their views. The results of the survey
were positive, in that both the company itself
and its bosses scored higher in the staff's estimation than they had done in the previous global survey, conducted in 2002. "Naturally, I'm
very happy with the overall result, because our
staff are happier, which means we're on the
right path“, said Romain Mannelli, RTL Group's
Executive Vice President Corporate Human
Resources. “However, the main aim of any
Employee Survey is to pinpoint potential improvements, as well as to discuss the results
achieved at all levels and thus make well-targeted changes. Only in this way can we continue
to improve further”.
So what's actually happened since last year's
survey? What follows is an overview of some of
the initiatives that have already been taken.
Where “Employee Training and Development”
were concerned, staff saw a need to widen the
range of courses on offer and improve the flow
of information about advanced and continuing
training courses. Many companies owned by
RTL Group promptly published information brochures or lists on their respective intranets and
increased their budgets for advanced and
continuing training. Some even pledged to offer
each staff member at least one training course
a year. RTL Group's Corporate Centre and RTL
Radio France are developing new resources
and platforms designed to help individuals promote their career planning more effectively.
In addition, the Group's HR departments are
working even more closely together to support
staff in their career planning. For example, central internal job searches are now possible via
Backstage.
On the category of “Pay and Benefits”, a meeting of HR managers held in April 2007 paved
the way for a reconsideration of the existing
remuneration systems. At the same time, these
systems will be explained to staff in greater
detail in future. Further examples in this field
include salary comparisons, job evaluation systems and the introduction of performancebased bonus systems.
A great deal of headway has also been made
with regard to the category “Supervisor”, one
example being at Super RTL. Although the survey's results in this category were positive, a
new instrument has now been introduced there
to provide 'bottom-up' feedback to bosses.
Once a year, staff can fill in a questionnaire online and assess the leadership qualities of their
boss. The results will then be discussed by the
management and, if need be, suitable coaching
or training programmes will be provided. With
Super RTL now hiring more staff, this initiative
was launched to promote Super RTL's corporate culture, which is characterised by trust and
open dialogue.
In this connection, Romain Mannelli added:
“Continual improvement of the leadership qualities of our managers is very important to us
here at RTL Group. Consequently, we would
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like to continue promoting existing leadership
and management programmes at Group level,
such as Preparing for opportunities and
Leadership 1, 2 & 3, working in conjunction
with the Bertelsmann University”.
To foster exchanges of experience within the
Group and bring its staff around the world closer together, in May 2007 the new Group intranet Backstage was launched. The expanded
scope of news, provided in three languages,
and the many new services on Backstage have
greatly enriched Group-internal communication.
In the category of “Information Sources and
Content”, new initiatives designed to enhance
exchanges between managers and staff are
under way in many of RTL Group's companies.
At RTL Television in Germany, CEO Anke
Schäferkordt organised more than 40 meetings
at departmental level, to explain the company's strategy to staff in person. And in
November 2007, RTL Radio in France will
invite its entire staff to a general assembly
where the company's goals will be presented and discussed.
week 29
FremantleMedia has launched not one, but two
brand new initiatives: In the first, called "Lunch
& Learn", internal and external guests alike talk
to staff from FremantleMedia North America
about current business or topics of relevance
to their sector. This happens on a monthly or
quarterly basis.
Meanwhile, at FremantleMedia headquarters in
London the “MyChat” initiative offers staff an
opportunity to meet a member of the management in a restaurant for breakfast or lunch.
“MyChat” is a monthly event that is also poised
to go global, after proving such a success at
headquarters, where it started out.
We will regularly inform Backstage readers
about measures prompted by the Employee
Survey. Until we do, should you be interested in
hearing about further examples, please contact
your HR department.
accessible*
In Croatia CEO Christoph Mainusch
intends to launch a new monthly internal
newsletter. And RTL Nederland is going to
set up a suggestion box, for staff to pass
on their ideas for improvements.
the
new
intranet is there...
http://backstage.rtlgroup.com
yours!
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new RTL
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the RTL Group intranet
Launch campaign for the new Backstage
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the RTL Group intranet
week 29
Two reasons for RTL Radio Deutschland to be
proud of itself
The German radio stations run by RTL Radio Deutschland in Berlin und
Brandenburg have both performed well: 104.6 RTL is the most popular
station in the German capital, and 105.5 Spreeradio is now attracting
substantially more listeners.
Germany - 18 July 2007
Relaunch increases user figures of RTL.de
In February 2007, the RTL.de website was given a new, high-quality
design that is more user-friendly. Official hit rates from IVW show that
the relaunch has hit the spot with web users.
Germany - 17 July 2007
Orphaned badgers attract huge audiences
The Vox animal documentary Wildes Wohnzimmer achieved record
ratings last Saturday with an 11.7 per cent market share of the target
group of 14-49 year olds.
Germany - 17 July 2007
RTL Group again in the FTSE4Good Index
Only those companies that excel regarding their performance in human
rights, social affairs and environmental protection and respect globally
recognised standards are included in the FTSE4Good Index.
Luxembourg - 13 July 2007
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the RTL Group intranet
week 29
People
Jeff Siegel
Jeff Siegel to join
FremantleMedia
Enterprises
United States of America - 18 July 2007
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has appointed Jeff Siegel to the position of Vice President,
Home Entertainment, responsible for North and
South America.
In this position, Siegel will manage FremantleMedia's current home entertainment catalogue
in the Americas and maximise opportunities for
the company's deep proprietary library. He will
also be responsible for identifying and exploiting digital download opportunities with appropriate partners.
Siegel will be based in New York and report
directly to the CEO of FME, David Ellender, who
is based in London.
“FremantleMedia has a treasure trove of proprietary content and we think there is a great
opportunity to grow our business throughout
the Americas,” commented David Ellender.
“Jeff has a proven history of developing great
DVD titles while at MTV and we're looking forward to his fresh outlook when it comes to our
titles.”
Prior to joining FremantleMedia, Siegel was the
Senior Director, Home Entertainment Worldwide for MTV Networks.
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the RTL Group intranet
week 29
People
Bernd Reichart
Antena 3 has appointed Bernd Reichart as
Director of Digital Channels, a newly created
position reporting to the General Manager of
the Group's Television Division, Mikel Lejarza.
Daniel Rubio will take over Reichart’s former
position as Head of Department for Investor
Relations.
Including to Reichart’s new responsibilities is
the advancement of the digital channels Antena
Neox and Antena Nova; both digital channels
were launched in November 2005. Antena
Neox and Antena Nova’s programming makes
them the most popular channels in digital-terrestrial television (DTT). In Spain,
more than 2 million people watch a DTT
channel every day and the digital switchover is set to be completed in 2010.
Bernd Reichart
appointed Director of
Digital Channels
Spain – 17 July 2007
during his time at Antena 3, he was considered
to be the best Head for Investor Relations in the
media sector in Europe, according to a ranking
published by Institutional Investor Magazine.
Daniel Rubio, 35, has spent his entire career in
the television business, handling various managerial positions within the Antena 3 group,
where he was until now Head of the Strategy
Department. Rubio was previously financial
director of the television holding company of
the DeAgostini group and a senior media
consultant for Deloitte.
Bernd Reichart, 33, held various positions at sporting rights agency
Sportfive and at RTL Group. In 2006,
Daniel Rubio
People
Chantal Galba joining M6 Publicité
France – 16 July 2007
Chantal Galba is henceforth responsible for
Cross Media Strategy at M6 Publicité which is
the advertising sales unit of M6.
Australie. Now Galba will be managing and
implementing M6 Publicité’s Cross Media
Strategy.
Before joining M6 Publicité, Galba worked as a
media strategist for the French agency
She reports directly to Didier Presse, Head of
Development at M6 Publicité.
14
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