page_title: History of Südwestrundfunk
section_title: Süddeutscher Rundfunk
hierarchical_section_title: History of Südwestrundfunk / Süddeutscher Rundfunk
context_page_description: The Southern part of Germany was split at the end of World War II into two occupation zones, an American and a French one. In Bavaria and in Württemberg-Baden, Radio München and Radio Stuttgart went on air in 1945. In the next years, Radio München was transformed to a Bavarian broadcaster, and in Germany's South West, two public broadcasting corporations started and produced radio and television programs up to their merger in 1998:
  Südwestfunk, SWF, in the former French zone, founded in 1946, and
  Süddeutscher Rundfunk, called "Südfunk", short SDR, founded in 1949.
  The merger of 1998 in the two German States of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate made SDR and SWF the precursors of Südwestrundfunk SWR. The German word Rundfunk means broadcasting, and the ending "-funk" in Südwestfunk and Südfunk is short for Rundfunk, or means 'radio'.
context_section_description: The Süddeutsche Rundfunk (SDR) was a German radio and television station operating in the northern part of the Land of Baden-Württemberg.
  It existed from 1949 to 1998, when it was merged with Südwestfunk to form the Südwestrundfunk. Süddeutscher Rundfunk was briefly called Südfunk and had its head office at Stuttgart, with radio and TV-studios there and in Karlsruhe and Heidelberg (in the 80's moved to Mannheim) and radio studios also in Ulm and Heilbronn.
  The Süddeutsche Rundfunk was member of the ARD and produced programs (program items) for the joint channel/program Deutsches Fernsehen (German Television, today Das Erste). Moreover, SDR ran in cooperation with SWF a regional TV channel, "Südwest 3".
  The Südfunk started with radio in 1949, in the 1980s, it produced 4 radio programmes:
  SDR1 (Südfunk 1) information, background and music,
  SDR3 (Südfunk 3) pop music radio for young listeners, including information (news and magazines)
  in cooperation with Südwestfunk:
  S2 Kultur for classical music and culture,
  S4 Baden-Württemberg with regional programmes and 'melodious music'.
  In 1952, Süddeutscher Rundfunk founded a festival for classical music and opera in the area of Heidelberg, the famous Schwetzingen Festival. 
  Radio chorus: the Südfunk-Chor Stuttgart is now the SWR Vokalensemble.
  Orchestra: the Südfunk-Sinfonieorchester, later Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks is now Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart RSO (Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra).
  see also Erwin Lehn (big band).
caption: Logo of Süddeutscher Rundfunk