Grief goes far beyond its broadcast area.
Radio presenter and musician Matthias Holtmann has died at the age of 75. For several decades he shaped radio programming in southwest Germany – first on Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), then on Südwestrundfunk (SWR). His career has taken him from the stage as a drummer to the microphone as a presenter and music editor.
Holtmann grew up in a home close to the arts and studied music in Cologne. In the 1970s he played drums in the progressive rock band Triumvirate, which also received international attention. The band toured and released several albums before Holtmann changed his career path.
In 1979 Holtmann began his career at SDR. There he developed as a presenter and music editor on the SDR3 program which became known by the slogan “Radio for the Wild South”. His evening program “Treff nach zwei” lasted for many years and reached many people in the southwest.
In his role as music editor, Holtmann helped design the program and conducted numerous interviews with artists from various regions. Her conversation partners included Harry Belafonte and the Spice Girls, as SWR wrote in its obituary.
In addition to his work on radio, Holtmann can also be seen on television. Among other things, he moderates the “Extraspät” and “Ring frei” formats. After the merger of SDR and Südwestfunk into SWR in 1998, it remained at the new station.
Holtmann temporarily heads the music department at SWR3. He later returned as a presenter and was heard on the program “Guten Abend Baden-Württemberg”, among others. With the format “Pop & Poetry in Concert” he combines music and literature in a series of events.
A Parkinson’s diagnosis didn’t stop Holtmann from continuing to work. In 2022 he published his autobiography “Porsche, Pop and Parkinson’s”, in which he describes his life between music career, radio and the struggle with the disease.
Holtmann worked for public broadcasting in the southwest for decades. As a presenter, music editor and journalist, he helped shape programming and mentor several generations of radio listeners. His work at the SDR and later at the SWR made him famous in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. (place in the news)
