Berlin is a noisy city, and it's getting louder. Stats show police cars activated their lights and sirens 158,000 times last year - or more than 400 times a day. That's a 5% increase on the previous year. The famous open-air karaoke sessions in Mauerpark can go ahead again after the Pankow authorities reversed their plan to close the event down. Authorities were refusing to issue the regular permits due to nearby construction work. After a public outcry, the authorities backed down. Apparently i...
Mar 22, 2019•5 min
What do Berlin’s criminal gangs have to do with the German hip-hop industry? One high profile rapper is living in fear of retribution from a Berlin mafia boss. Our guest Konrad Werner tells us about a recent court case involving rapper Bushido, who has switched gang allegiances. Listen to his own podcast Meghan's Megacan: https://apple.co/2AtuB27 Why did BVG workers go on strike? Berlin U-Bahn drivers earn around 500 euros less per month than drivers in other German states. And here in Berlin, t...
Feb 26, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Are you one of the 34% of Berliners who enjoy the fireworks free-for-all on New Years Eve? Or one of the 62% who are sick of it? Local Green party politician Georg Kössler says it's time Berlin regulated the mayhem. He tells us how city's political system has failed to tackle this annual problem. Guest Konrad Werner drops in to tell us what's coming up in German politics in 2019. Three state elections will test Angela Merkel's ability to stay in power. Listen to his podcast Meghan's Megacan for ...
Jan 08, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Coliving is booming in Berlin. There are 15 buildings renting serviced rooms with 'community, flexibility and diversity.' But are they just overpriced dormitories? Maisie Hitchcock went to find out. Can we solve the housing crisis by seizing property from private owners? One group is promoting revolution via referendum. We hear from Thomas McGath from Deutsche Wohnung Enteignen. It wants the government to forcibly purchase over 110,000 flats currently owned by large property corporations. At the...
Dec 18, 2018•1 hr
Billboards have gone up encouraging people to voluntarily leave Germany. The Interior Ministry - run by the CSU's Horst Seehofer - is offering to pay up to twelve months living expenses back where you came from. The multi-lingual ads have been attacked with paintballs and 'refugees welcome' tags. Dan's take: freedom of movement is good, especially if paid for by the German state, but only if it goes in both directions. It's Christmas market season. Festive lights have gone up along Unter den Lin...
Dec 01, 2018•5 min
Pedestrians in Berlin have had enough of being overrun by both cars and bikes. They're campaigning for better sidewalks and street crossings. We talk to a pedestrian activist who is hopping mad about being walked over: Roland Stimpel from FUSS, the Organization for Pedestrian Protection. Is Mauerpark a beloved cultural hotspot or a noisy nuisance? Authorities are threatening to seize and destroy instruments if buskers don't pipe down. We meet Karla from Save Mauerpark, who says only a handful of...
Oct 30, 2018•49 min
We record live at Floating University , a temporary structure built over a hidden resevior near Hasenheide. Dan describes it as "Burning Man meets Waterworld." Gang war breaks out on the streets of Berlin. A crime boss has been shot dead at Tempelhof Park on a Sunday afternoon. Have police stirred up a hornet’s nest as they crack down on criminal clans? Have you tried the new BVG weekend shuttle service Berlkönig ? The public taxi vans will pick you up and drop you off almost anywhere for as lit...
Sep 14, 2018•53 min
TV series Babylon Berlin is searching for 3000 extras, but bearded men need not apply. You must be over 1.86 meters tall and be prepared to get a 1920s haircut. Maisie is thrilled about the mass make-over of Berlin blokes. Sign up at Agentur Filmgesichter. The Berlin Wall is being rebuilt to create a totalitarian theme park in Mitte. The art project Dau will submit visitors to mild oppression and screen lengthy films. It will run from from October 12 til November 9, when the "Wall" will be demol...
Aug 24, 2018•5 min
Our annual outdoor recording at the Mobile Kino Lakeside Film Festival at Klingemühle in Brandenburg. Now in its fifth year, the event many improvements - a new name, a new stage, more guests and more fun all round. Like playing card games while camping? Our guest Julia Weiss tells us what it's like to work for a card game company. Julia is the lead writer for Cards Against Humanity, as well as a cast member on the podcast The Improvised Star Trek. "If our goal is to live in a post-capitalist sp...
Aug 14, 2018•33 min
Berlin’s scorching summer is breaking records. Earlier this week the city experienced its hottest night ever, with a minimum of 25°C. The city’s trees are suffering, and residents are being asked to go out and water them. U-Bahns are getting noisier, as there's no moisture to lubricate between the metal wheels and tracks. The drains are stinking, so the water authority is putting “drain deodorant” down the pipes. The pools are all at capacity. But Berlin has only 48 public drinking fountains to ...
Aug 03, 2018•5 min
A Berlin man who has been in a coma for four months has been identified because someone recognized a photograph of his house keys. The 74-year was found unconscious in a Wilmersdorf park after apparently having an accident while jogging in March, carrying only his keys. A police operation to test all the locks in the area failed. Publishing a photo of his keys worked. It seems Berliners prefer to memorize the grooves of their keys rather than look their neighbours in the eye. The first of Berlin...
Jul 14, 2018•6 min
Are you paying too much rent? Probably: 70% of Berlin landlords are illegally overcharging, says lawyer Daniel Halmer of WenigerMiete.de . He’s offering a no-win no-fee service to fight your landlord for a rent reduction. He’s helped people save up to €600 a month. Tricks landlords use include overstating apartment size by up to 30%. Everybody who has rented an apartment in the last three years could win a rent decrease. Berlin could soon get public electric grills – thanks to a very unexpected ...
Jul 04, 2018•38 min
A video of black people being kicked out of KFC at Alexanderplatz raises question. Is it illegal to call police racist? Can police delete videos from your phone? We've got the answers. Support group Reachout says the incident was clearly racist. The police say they were following KFC's request. KFC is standing by their actions. Want to get fit while cleaning the city? Try plogging, a Swedish sport that combines jogging with trash collection. A meetup group is plogging through the Grunewald fores...
Jun 01, 2018•6 min
What will it take to get Berliners to pickup trash - the offer of a free beer, perhaps? The Big Görlitzer Clean Up happens on July 7. Organizer Lubomila Jordanova from the group Plan A tells us how they plan to incentivise volunteer cleaners. Empty flats in Neukölln? They do exist. Unfortunately they're being kept empty on purpose. Activists squatted several buildings to protest, but were promptly evicted. In some cases, flats are left unrented by speculators who prefer to wait for prices to ris...
May 28, 2018•51 min
Sick of cars parking in bike lanes? Write own parking tickets during Falschparker Aktionswoche, which starts on May 28. Illegal parkers are fined just €20 in Berlin if caught, while the EU average is €100. You can use an app called Wegeheld to report drivers to the authorities, if you don’t mind being called a Spießer. Trees in Berlin parks are being wrapped in white webs by an invasion of oak processionary moth caterpillars. Watch out for their bristles - they contain a toxin which irritates th...
May 18, 2018•5 min
A special live recording of the fourth and (maybe) last episode. Take a tour of all four of Berlin’s under-construction, out-of-use, falling-apart and over-capacity airports. Each has had a part to play in the story of how Berlin fucked up an airport. At BER, we hear the airport company's side of the story: damn high regulations got in the way, they say. Tempelhof is closed, Tegel is operating precariously, and only socialist-built Schönefeld is muddling through. The end is in sight - October 20...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Chris Dercon has resigned from the Volksbuehne Theater, just six months into the job, and following a lot of fuss over his appointment. It seems he had failed to secure enough sponsorship money to pay the bills. Joel says he wasn't given a fair chance. Konrad says he was always wrong for the job. The AFD tried to shut down Berghain, complaining about the strange hours, sex and drugs, bad music and exclusive door policy. The AFD representative Sybille Schmidt used to run a punk club. The party la...
Apr 20, 2018•5 min
Two men who killed a goat in the Hasenheide petting zoo have been sentenced to 10 months in jail. Their lawyer said they were hungry, and argued for leniency as they only took one leg. Also, all meat eaters are animal killers, he said. Another Berlin ban has been overturned by a court. Horses and carriages will be allowed back in front of the Brandenburger Tor, despite the city government's attempt to forbid them. The city's prohibitions on AirBnB, Uber and beer bikes have all been watered down ...
Apr 06, 2018•6 min
How much do Berlin’s bottle collectors earn? Our guest Wouter Bernhardt has done the math - it's a measly €150 a month. He thinks it amounts to a form of socially accepted poverty. Wouter is host of the Berlinology podcast. Listen to the full episode of 'The Bottle Collector' here: http://viertausendhertz.de/bln02/ The Berlin Senate has changed the AirBnB law to allow people to rent out their flats as holiday apartments for up to 60 days per year. Starting on May 1, you can obtain a registration...
Mar 26, 2018•53 min
Bike thefts are down 11% in Berlin. Just over 30,000 bikes were reported stolen in the past year, 4000 less than the year before. Has the flood of shared bikes helped? There’s been a cherry tree massacre at the Garten der Welt in Marzahn. Seventeen cherry trees were chopped down on Sunday. The kirchbäume were the garden's biggest drawcard each spring during the cherry blossom season. The gardens have been targeted by protests over a plan to have sheep and cattle graze on nearby paddocks. Don’t b...
Mar 09, 2018•3 min
Film director Karim Ainouz tells us what life was really like for refugees living in Tempelhof airport. His documentary "Zentralflughafen THF" was filmed in the camp, which recently closed. Could public transport in Germany soon be free? The federal government suggested this as a way of reducing air pollution from diesel cars. What would Berlin be like if dirty cars are banned? Should car manufacturers be made to pay for cheating and lying? Maisie says Berlin's U-Bahns are filling up with more p...
Feb 26, 2018•53 min
BER has been built twice - the first time incorrectly, the second time incompletely. We hear from Marco, an engineer who worked on site. Employees were busy stealing copper instead of fixing the fire system. Some managers got rich taking bribes. Informers had their coffee poisoned. Joel and Jöran drive out to the unfinished BER terminal to inspect the too-short escalators that end with stairs. They were just one of 150,000 mistakes discovered in an audit after the 2012 cancellation. Cables were ...
Feb 16, 2018•52 min
Days away from the planned 2012 opening party, nothing seemed amiss at BER. What was really going on? On this episode, we look at how the airport managers and politicians were messing with the plans, even as construction was underway. They demanded a 70% increase in terminal space to add hundreds of extra shops, and requested special double story boarding gates for the supersized Airbus A380, even though no airline requested it. Instead of a working fire safety system, they planned to hire up to...
Jan 28, 2018•43 min
Germans throw out one truck's worth of good food each minute. SirPlus is a supermarket that sells groceries that are past their best-before date but are still edible. Founder Raphael Fellmer joins us with a basket of typical products from his shelves. You can visit the shop at Wilmersdorfer Staße 59. Or you can order a home delivery box at: http://www.sirplus.de Konrad Werner explains why Germans are terrified of fresh elections. The country still doesn't have a governing coalition and might nee...
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 2 min
The number of public bikes in Berlin increased to 6200 this week when Chinese company Mobike placed 700 of their orange and silver bicycles on the streets. They’re not to be confused with O-Bike, a Singaporean company which introduced 500 yellow-framed bikes just a few weeks earlier. In other cities, Mobike gives users credits for reporting broken bikes, and takes away credits for poor parking and “abandoning the bike when intercepted by police.” The Berlin transport department says another thre...
Nov 24, 2017•5 min
Dodgy Berlin real estate deals have been discovered in the Paradise Papers. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a company called Phoenix Spree based on the Isle of Jersey has been buying Berlin property, forcing out tenants, putting up the rent, then sending the profits to offshore accounts where they pay little tax. Wondering why rents are going up and where that extra money is going? Now you know. Another trick highlighted in the Paradise Papers are so-called share deals. Investors avoid Be...
Nov 10, 2017•6 min
Almost 200 cyclists blocked traffic on Oranienstraße in a protest after a cyclist was doored and seriously injured. O-Straße is the third most dangerous street for cyclists in Berlin. What would happen if we painted our own bike lane? Over 34,000 bicycles worth almost €20 million are stolen annually in Berlin, only 3.5 percent are recovered. Air Berlin's turbulent descent into insolvency has reached its end. At 10.45pm on October 27 the final Air Berlin flight AB6210 from Munich will touch down ...
Oct 27, 2017•5 min
Storm Xavier lashed Berlin with winds of 120 kilometres an hour on October 5. Public transport and flights were cancelled for most of the day, and regional train lines were cut for several days. Five people died from falling trees and car accidents, and 18 flamingos at the Berlin Zoo didn’t make it through the storm. How do storms get their names? You can pay €260.61 to name a storm. The money goes to climate research at the Institut für Meteorologie at Berlin’s Freie Universität. Sign up for on...
Oct 13, 2017•5 min
Comedian and journalist Drew Portnoy tells us about his return to Berlin after several years away. The city has grown by the equivalent of two Bonns in that time and is feeling much fuller. Berlin-based refugee rescue charity Jugend Rettet is in trouble. The organization's boat has been impounded by Italian authorities. Jugend Rettet says they are being bullied out of the Mediterranean. Are you a freelancer in Germany? Our guest Henrietta Mehlis from the SMart freelancers cooperative has some ti...
Oct 02, 2017•1 hr
Tegel Airport fans won a referendum on whether the hexagonal Flughafen should stay open post-BER. The "yes" vote was 56.1%. But it doesn't mean Tegel won't close, as the federal and Brandenburg governments would have to agree. Renovation and residential soundproofing costs could reach a billion euros. Tegel supporters now want an U-Bahn extension as well. The referendum happened on the same day as the German federal election, in which Angela Merkel's CDU won almost a third of votes. Berlin voted...
Sep 29, 2017•4 min
