Media

Germany has a strong publicly funded radio and TV sector. Major local broadcasters are united under the umbrella of the ARD (abbreviation of Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland). Many of the ARD radio stations have specific jazz programmes, if only late at night and with a rather limited amount of time. Historically, the ARD stations did play an indispensable role in the distribution and advancement of jazz in Germany. The German public radio stations host their own festivals (Berlin, Frankfurt) or function as major presenters of other important festivals. They also maintain three radio big bands, which, thanks to international awards for their productions, have enormous prestige in their own right and also guarantee reliable working conditions for many excellent professional musicians. 

The WDR in Cologne is the biggest broadcasting station after the BBC in Europe. With its partner stations BR (Munich), NDR (Hamburg), and SWR (Baden-Baden) and smaller stations like Radio Bremen, rbb (Berlin), hr (Frankfurt), SR (Saarbrücken), and MDR (Leipzig), public radio covers Germany in the North, East, South, and the West, often with a particular focus on the domestic scene.

In addition, the nation-wide stations Deutschlandfunk and Deutsche Welle are also featuring relevant jazz programming (https://www.ard.de/home/radio/ARD_Radios_im_Ueberblick/109996/index.html) Germany has a great treasure in media covering jazz.

The French-German TV station "Arte concerts" offers, among other genres, selected live recordings of jazz concert in France and Germany.

Except for the ARD radio stations most other media is privately funded in Germany.