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Hamburg (dpa) - The traditional NDR program "Greetings on board" on Christmas Eve will be particularly popular with seafarers and listeners in the Corona year.
The number of greetings that are sent is as high as in previous years, said the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) to the German Press Agency.
“But we are receiving more inquiries that make it clear that the program is particularly important for many listeners this year,” the broadcaster said.
In addition, more voicemails, i.e. audio messages, were received than before.
In the cult radio broadcast, which the NDR has been broadcasting on Christmas Eve since 1953 on the radio and also on shortwave, Christmas greetings are conveyed between seafarers and relatives all over the world.
Until the end of the 1990s, the greetings were sent with the help of the famous coastal radio station Norddeich Radio in East Friesland, which the ships radioed.
For many seafarers, the station was therefore a bridge back home.
Since seafarers have only few opportunities to come into contact with their families on the high seas, "Greetings on board" is still a popular program, said the seafarer's pastor of the North Church, Matthias Ristau.
"Many seafarers would like to hear the program, especially this year."
An Internet connection or cellular network are not available everywhere and calls via satellite telephone are expensive.
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In recent years “Greetings on board” was recorded in front of an audience in Leer and Hamburg.
Due to the corona pandemic, this was not possible this year, said the NDR.
Therefore, reporters were in advance in the Leeraner Kulturspeicher and in the Hamburg seaman's mission "Duckdalben" to receive greetings from relatives.
Website Museum Norddeich Radio eV
NDR announcement on greetings on board 2020