Funkheinzelmann

Funkheinzelmann was one of the most outstanding characters of the early German radio broadcast system. The name was coined in 1924 by Hans Bodenstedt, the leading personality of the Nordische Rundfunk AG (Norag) in Hamburg at the time. Bodenstedt also developed the character of Funkheinzelmann and the radio format that hosted it as a special programme for children. As the name indicates, Funkheinzelmann was a Heinzelmann, one of the invisible fairy tale night workers, and, at the same time, a person from the radio broadcast – Funk. The stories told on Sundays by Funkheinzelmann-Bodenstedt combined classic narrative elements with the content and figures of the modern world. Funkheinzelmann became one of the most popular figures of the time and expanded from the radio to print media. It also attained a considerable amount of success in revue shows of the greatest German theatre of the time, Großes Schauspielhaus Berlin. Anchored in the brandmarketing and seriality theories (especially related to popular culture), this article investigates the rise and fall of Funkheinzelmann as an early model illustrating the complex dynamics of the media convergence phenomenon.