Since 1998 Radio Future 2 is hosted by Radio Rheinwelle/K2R, a local radio station. A giant step for Gregor and UB: now they have a more professional background production-wise, on the other hand Rheinwelle doesn't put any restrictions on RF2's program scheme. Gregor is eager to point out that the partnership doesn't affect the attitude behind the original idea.

"We have always focussed on our listeners. Of course you cannot be everyone's darling, but then again this is one of the reasons why RF2 is still alive - we keep on trying. Every listener can express his feelings towards the music we play by rating the songs and sending us the results. This is the concept behind our Alternative Charts." Sounds just a little bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, just on a smaller scale. However, the Alternative Charts are not the only remains of the old Radio Future 2 days. There's still the "Nachtmix" on a regular basis as well as some special broadcasts. And it still means a lot of work for Gregor and UB who have to do all the production in their spare time. After all, both of them have regular jobs - still no way of earning money by running RF2.

You can directly listen to RF2 only if you live (or stay) in the Rhein/Main area. However, the RF2-homepage offers the opportunity to receive certain broadcasts over the web. Plus, anyone can participate in the Alternative Charts: a CD or minidisc containing all the songs of the charts can be obtained - further details are to be found on the RF2-homepage as well.

There's just one more question: what the hell does the "2" in "Radio Future 2" stand for? Gregor states: "First of all, the radio was the ideal platform for us, as we intended to transport music and speech via the ether. Plus, everyone has a radio set at home or in the car, so everyone can listen to the broadcasts, and it is cheap too. The name was conceived in the early 1980ies. In those days we listened to bands like Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Can or Visage because they created a very timeless, futuristic sound that to us was synonymous with the year 2000. We had no doubt that the name of our radio station had to express this futuristic image, so we called it "Radio Future". The "2" is tricky: we wanted to be ahead of the rest, hence skip the number one and directly move "to two" (which is a word play). That's basically the story behind the name."

(rh MMII)

>> Radio Future 2 Website