Arabs in Germany hit the airwaves with new Berlin radio station

The local media council said Arabic programming would add to the diversity of radio offerings in the German capital.
2 min read
18 November, 2019
The city's Arab population will be able to enjoy Arabic folk music [AFP]
Arabic speakers in the German capital will soon be able to listen to a local radio station broadcasting in their native language, according to media reports.

More than 100,000 Arabs live in Berlin and the neighbouring state of Brandenburg.

They will now have access to the city's first Arabic-language radio station, after the MABB media council said it approved the launch of Radio Arabica on Thursday.

The city's Arab population will be able to enjoy traditional folk music, pop and modern music as well as news, sports, culture and comedy programmes, in a move praised by the head of MABB media council.

"Alongside a French, Russian, Turkish, British and American radio show, there will now be an offering for the Arabic population," Hansjürgen Rosenbauer said.

Arabs make up the fourth-largest ethnic minority group in Berlin, after the Turkish, Polish and Russian communities. 

An influx of Arabs came to Germany as "guest workers" in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly from Morocco and Tunisia, to help rebuild the city following the Second World War. 

Later in the 1980s and 1990s, Lebanese and Palestinians arrived in Germany fleeing Lebanon's civil war.

Further conflict in the Middle East saw migrants arrive to the country, namely following the Iraq war in the 2000s and Syria's civil war in 2011.

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