Radio Chat Program Story

About a year ago in Germany, the President (Frank-Walter Steinmeier, SPD) made a big passionate speech over division of thought and a trend that public opinion was splitting.  He basically came out to suggest that the public media system of Germany needed to do a 'better' job.  You can look at the suggestion and question the 'better' job.  In some ways, he wanted to prevent the split of opinion....perhaps in another way, he wanted people realize that having a second or third view of a matter was 'healthy'.  Some have suggested that the 'better' job was more about educating or giving people more information, so that they would come to the wiser view of things.

So this past week, I noticed via HR (my regional Hessen public radio/TV network).....that a new 2019 program is about to start via the radio folks.  Their intention is to tour Hessen and have 'chats' with Hessens over various topics.

These chats will be put together for a nightly show (6PM to 8PM).

Is there a division problem?

Part of this is a viewing of the US problem.....where people can't have a civil dialog or open conversation on a wide number of topics anymore.

Another issue is that intellectuals in Germany fear populist 'uprisings' and want to bring people to think like them. 

Finally, there's some growing perception in Germany that the government (the political parties) have been going in a particular direction, and the public has split off....suggesting that the parties are out of focus and not working on a priority list that the public believes in. 

Will people even listen to this radio telecast?  I would have my doubts.  There are six HR channels under the state public radio system.  HR3 is the more popular of these with hit tunes from today.  HR4 is older music (prior to the 1970s), for mostly folks over 60 years old.  HR1 is mostly easy-listening music.  HR2 is classical music only.  HR-Info is news around the clock, from Hessen and Germany.  Finally, there is YOU-FM, which is designed for German teens. 

I suspect if you asked a hundred Hessen adults.....less than five listen to radio in the evening hours, unless it's on the way home from work, or they need traffic/weather related information.