Prof. Karl Karst

Member of the Organization Committee

Prof. Karl Karst, born in 1956, is Head of Programming for the radio station Westdeutscher Rundfunk 3 and has been managing WDR Kulturradio since 1999. With 1.5 million regular listeners, the station is one of the most successful in its sector. He also writes for newspapers like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and the evangelical press service epd-medien.

Prof. Karst has published a number of books through Suhrkamp and the Inselverlag, and edited the radio plays by Günter Eich. He has been teaching for many years at the universities of Cologne, Essen, Leipzig and Siegen, where he has been Honorary Professor of Media Studies since 2000.

As instigator of WDR 3 Kulturpartnerschaften (‘Cultural and Artistic Partnerships’), founder of the not-for-profit Schule des Hörens initiative (the ‘School of Listening’), and chairman of the German Initiative Hören association, Prof. Karst has demonstrated his commitment to the promotion of music. He is also a member of the National Media Committee of the German Music Council, chairman of the Culture Group of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and member of the artistic management team for the MusikTriennale Köln festival.

 (September 2009)