Radio Sweden has confirmed that its German service, which has been on the air for 69 years, will close at the end of March. Within international broadcasting, some languages, including German, have had a breakthrough on the Web and through podcasting, but the number of listeners, especially on shortwave, has dropped dramatically in recent years.
It is this development which has figured in the decision of Swedish Radio management to suspend German broadcasts on shortwave and mediumwave. SR International retains, however, German for a basic service of news on the Web and as a Monday to Friday podcast. English is not affected and not in danger of being taken off the air.
(Source: George Wood, Radio Sweden)
