Radio Spaetkauf Berlin

Radio Spaetkauf Berlin•www.radiospaetkauf.com

Radio Spaetkauf is Berlin's English-language podcast, keeping international residents informed about local politics, public transport, urban development, culture, bicycles and bars. The podcast is recorded live each month, and is presented by a rotating cast of hosts including Joel Dullroy, Maisie Hitchcock, Jöran Mandik and Daniel Stern. Radio Spaetkauf has been on air since 2012. Got some feedback about our show? Want to get involved in the production? Drop us an e-mail: hallo@radiospaetkauf.com, or Tweet @radiospaetkauf

Last refreshed: August 19th, 2025 at 2:18 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

RS #09 2013: Recreating the U8 font

Have you ever paid attention to the lettering on the station signs on the U-Bahn? We interview typographer Anton Koovit, who has created a font called U8 based on the U-Bahn station signage. As Anton discovered, the original font was created in the 1920s but was promptly forgotten, and the existing signs are rotting away without proper restoration. He spent months creating a digital version of the U8 font to ensure it does not disappear entirely. During out extended interview, Anton shares some ...

May 20, 2013•23 min

RS #08 2013: Jeans Team talk about their love affair with Wedding

Alexanderplatz is set for a facelift; several new tall buildings are set for development, one measuring 150 meters. Surveys show that a lot of Berliner’s don’t like the architecture at Alex, but they also don’t approve of the plans for new buildings. Maisie presents her interview with the band Jeans Team about the district of Wedding and the monstrous Gesundbrunnen Center, about which they have written a song. Joel discusses the freelancers’ rights movement, a push to improve the conditions of f...

May 05, 2013•24 min

RS #7 2013: Want to buy a theme park?

Berlin's abandoned theme park, Spreepark at Plänterwald, is to be auctioned off, with a starting price of €1.62 million. The new owners will get all the rides, but will be obliged to keep operating it as an amusement park. For more about the history of Spreepark, listen to Joel's audio report from 2009 here: https://soundcloud.com/joelalas/berlins-abandoned-theme-park Obama is visiting Berlin in June for the 50th anniversary of the famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. What witty one-liner will ...

Apr 21, 2013•24 min

RS Update: Protest over deadly eviction

Berlin's housing crisis took a tragic turn this week when an elderly old woman died on the streets two days after being evicted from her apartment. Several hundred people marched through Kreuzberg on Sunday to protest the incident, and to voice their anger at the role of the police in enforcing evictions across the city. An increasing number of evictions are taking place across Berlin as landlords seek to take advantage of soaring rental prices. Evictions are routinely undertaken by large number...

Apr 14, 2013•3 min

RS Update: Photographing the U-Bahn

Have you ever taken the U-Bahn to the end of the line? If not, you're missing out on some great architecture, according to photographer Kate Seabrook. On this short episode of Radio Spätkauf, Maisie interviews Kate about her project Endbahnhof (http://endbahnhof.tumblr.com/), which involved photographing the interiors of every one of Berlin's U-Bahn stations.

Apr 08, 2013•6 min

RS #05 2013: Construction time in Berlin

On this construction-themed episode, Joel, Maisie and Andrew discuss Berlin buildings of all kinds, from the much maligned GDR variety to the much-loathed Stadtschloss (City Palace). Most people oppose the new Stadschloss, so why is it being built? Andrew talks to a man who is preserving East German architecture by creating miniature cardboard cut-outs of plattenbau and iconic DDR buildings. Plus random anti-smoking legislation, Knut lives on in the courts, the joys of Tegel airport and why deve...

Mar 24, 2013•24 min

RS #04 2013: Escape to the DDR: Interview with a defector

Radio Spätkauf is the Berlin podcast, a half-hour discussion about news, politics and culture from the perspective of the city's international residents. Tonight hosts Maisie and Joel talk about the main topic of the past two weeks; the re-fall of the Berlin wall. Who requested the building of a footbridge, which was the ostensible reason for the wall's partial removal? We play interviews from the main events as they unfolded. Berlin's troubled airport has been lit up like a Christmas tree for m...

Mar 10, 2013•28 min

RS #03 2013: Kreuzberg eviction - are we to blame?

Should Berlin's international residents feel responsible for the eviction of a Turkish family in Kreuzberg? We talk about what the city's foreign residents should be doing to mitigate the impact of their presence. Our new reporter Andrew visited a demonstration against the eviction and collected interviews from people on the street. We also talk about a petition to prevent development on Tempelhof airfield, which is being eyed off as prize real estate. Then there's the sad story of a bottle coll...

Feb 25, 2013•26 min

RS #02 2013: Why is Daniel Brühl allowed in Tacheles?

Berlin's transport company, the BVG, doesn't like graffiti, so when two filmmakers decided to make a film about trainwriting (graffiti on trains) in Berlin, the BVG managed to get it banned. After two years, the ban has been lifted and the film is now set for general release. We talk to the the men behind 'Unlike U: Trainwriting in Berlin' about their fight to get the film shown. Also on the show: After another PhD plagiarism scandal hits German politics, we discuss whether the country's obsessi...

Feb 09, 2013•27 min

RS #01 2013: The great bread-roll debate

Maisie and Joel discuss the debate over what Berliners call their bread rolls - wecken or schrippen. Joel interviews Tim Edler of Flussbad Berlin, the group who wants to turn a stretch of the river Spree into a public swimming pool. Maisie plays a song from a forgotten East German band that sounds uncannily like the Blade Runner theme. And the pair talk about a ban on new restaurants in trendy streets in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg.

Jan 20, 2013•21 min

RS #16 2012: Foreigners given free pass on the U-Bahn?

The BVG declares that "foreigners can count on goodwill" if caught with the wrong ticket on the U-Bahn. Someone is dropping razorblade-laced meatballs on Berlin footpaths. The airport is out of money and delayed again, and the Staatsoper too; so why does Berlin bother trying to build monumental structures? What changes can you expect in Germany on January 1? A new compulsory TV tax, for starters. Join Maisie and Joel for our end-of-year special.

Dec 13, 2012•29 min

RS #15 2012: Police raids in Görlitzer Park – are they racist?

Have you witnessed a police raid in Görlitzer Park that only targets black people? Would you be prepared to tell the police to stop racial profiling? One anti-racism group is asking you to do just that. We talk to a Berliner who accidentally took a flight direct from Schönefeld to Tegel, and Joel explains why he's now a fan of the new airport. Two brown bears living in an odd little enclosure near Märkisches Museum may soon be moved to roomier pastures - but with a 480-sq/m central pad, what are...

Oct 31, 2012•31 min

RS #14 2012: Cyclists Beware!

Bike riders beware! The city is going to double fines for dangerous riding. We list out the new fines - some scary, and some pretty weak actually. What's all the fuss about GEMA? We interview a group trying to set up an alternative music rights collection society in Germany to break GEMA's monopoly. The Prinzenssinnengarten is the latest beloved local cultural institution to face closure. We interview one of the urban garden's founders about why he thinks the city shouldn't sell the land off to ...

Sep 14, 2012•40 min

RS #13 2012: Fighting against anti-tourist angst in Berlin

Negative slurs against tourists and internationals are becoming more common in Berlin. One group is standing up for us new arrivals, and interestingly they come from the German anti-fascist movement. We interview the Hipster-Antifa about why old revolutionaries in Kreuzberg have become so "spiezig" about party tourists. Their theory: a mixture of boredom, jealousy and misdirected anger. Also, we talk about the Berlin mayor's plan to bid for the 2024 Olympic games, and why it is such a terrible i...

Aug 23, 2012•37 min

RS #12 2012 Dodge the German TV license

Do you dodge the German TV license fee? Soon you won't be able to - a compulsory flat fee will be issued against every resident. Our pub quiz asks Berliners how they handle the GEZ fee. Ever been tempted to swim in the river Spree? Here's one good reason not to - like one recent swimmer, you might end up in hospital with rat plague. And we give an update on the threat to close spätkaufs on Sundays.

Aug 02, 2012•38 min

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