- A true radio legend
He had them all, almost all. At his studio, pop and rock 'n' roll superstars passed the door handle. For 50 years - and there's no end in sight. On August 3rd, Fritz Egner, the most famous disc jockey in the German-speaking radio, will turn 75.
He was and still is always there
A birthday in retirement age is an anachronism, as decades are certainly not the right measure for popularity in the seemingly eternally young music business. But he was and still is there, with his soothing normal voice, slightly colored by Bavarian melodies, with a softly rolling R. It sounds so beautifully timeless when he talks about music, since 1979, when he started at Bavarian Broadcasting (BR).
That he turned his completely unglamorous first name Fritz into an unmistakable international brand - "Fritz & Hits" - speaks for his sharp intelligence. His radio shows attracted attention not only in Bavaria and Germany when, for example, a pop world star with a gravelly voice greeted the listeners: "Hi, I'm Rod Stewart and you're listening to 'Fritz & Hits', 'cause Fritz has the hits!"
How it all began
At the beginning of this unique career was a not particularly good joke. The Munich native Fritz Egner, son of a federal railway official, completed an apprenticeship as an electrician after graduating from high school, but he did not complete his studies to become a high-voltage technician.
The young man was passionate about music and worked on the setup of the Musicland Studio of the famous South Tyrolean music producer Giorgio Moroder (84). And because he, like many of his contemporaries, listened to the American Forces Network Munich daily, he noticed that the US station was urgently looking for a studio technician in 1974.
Fritz Egner applied - and was hired. Later he said: "I found myself in a cosmos that meant the world to me. For me, a dream had come true."
He received a service ID from the US Army (Installation Pass) and was responsible not only for the functioning of the technology. Soon he was allowed to go on air with traffic news because he could correctly pronounce "Mittlerer Ring" and "Donnersberger Bridge". His English was now so good that he read the weather report - and the Munich AFN chief Neil Fontaine promised him that if a moderator ever overslept in the morning, he, Fritz, could take over the microphone.
The "Guy with the nice German accent"
On Easter Monday 1977, morning host Ron Todd actually overslept his shift, only the technician Fritz Egner was left in the studio, and he spontaneously and unprepared took over the moderation at 6 a.m. Fritz was on the air for over 90 minutes until Todd finally arrived. Annoyed, Fontaine asked the German: "Did you go on the air?" When Fritz replied that he had suggested that himself, Fontaine said, "That was just a joke!"
At least the wife of the US base commander had heard the show with Fritz Egner and found the young man amusing. She thought that guy with the nice German accent should be heard more often. Thus, his career took off despite a bad joke.
Egner then moderated "Discosoul" every Thursday at 9 p.m. in the European AFN program and became a sidekick moderator as "Fritz, the tap-dancing engineer" (the tap-dancing technician) in the shows of AFN DJ Rick Demarest. "The time at AFN was an invaluable training in modern music radio," he said later in an interview with the trade magazine "Radioszene".
This could have gone on forever, as Fritz felt right at home at what he considered the best radio station in Europe. But then, in 1979, a call came from young Thomas Gottschalk (74), asking Fritz Egner if he was interested in unconventional radio at Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Legendary Era at Bayern 3
Fritz was, and so began the legendary era of the young wild ones at Bayern 3 with Thomas Gottschalk, Günther Jauch, Fred Kogel, Jürgen Hermann, Jim Sampson, who also moved from AFN to BR, and Fritz Egner.
At the same time, he accepted an offer from Warner Brothers in the early 80s. For five years, he worked in Los Angeles, New York, and Munich for lawyers and managers in the music business. "I could look behind the scenes and see who controls the stars," he said to the "Süddeutschen Zeitung". This gave him insight into the workings of the music business, another invaluable experience.
"Their word carried weight," judged "Radioszene", the magazine for radio makers. Fritz Egner was a "hit nose" who, with his comprehensive knowledge of the music scene, continually discovered new stars and bands of tomorrow.
He made perhaps the most impressive music career in radio in his unassuming way, remaining the same Fritz Egner who started at AFN in 1974. His successes as a TV moderator did not change that.
Television History with "Dingsda"
From 1985 to 1994, he presented the ARD ratings show "Dingsda", and from 1990, the show "Showfritz" (about TV entertainment in other countries). In ZDF, he moderated "Entweder oder" and "Glücksspirale" from 1994, and "Versteckte Kamera" from 1995 to 2003. From 1996 to 2005, he worked for Sat.1 ("WWW - The Funniest Commercials in the World" and "World History of the Animal Film").
But his great passion remains radio. For over 35 years, until 2015, he entertained his audience with songs and interviews with the interpreters on Bayern 3. Since January 1, 2016, every Friday evening from 8:00 PM on Bayern 1, it's "Fritz & Hits - the greatest artists in music history" for three hours. He says, "I have a wide range. The tightrope extends from country to jazz, from pop over rock to funk and soul, with anecdotes, historical connections, and interview excerpts."
Over 500 stars have met, spoken to, and shared their impressions with the humble Fritz Egner, who lives near Munich with his wife Katrin, an adult daughter, and a minor son. Among them were Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, James Brown, Madonna, Sting, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, ABBA, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, and many others. A few are missing, like John Lennon, Ray Charles, or Aretha Franklin.
A Private Archive Full of Treasures
In his private archive, besides 25,000 LPs and 20,000 CDs, are the recordings of the approximately 500 interviews, mostly archived, digitized, and stored on hard drives, all in English and internationally usable. This year, the game app "Quiz with Fritz", containing his personal archive of the last 50 years with 2,200 questions from James Brown and the Beatles to Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, was created from this.
With old broadcasting colleagues like Thomas Gottschalk, he shares a decades-long friendship, about which he once said, "Whoever has Thomas Gottschalk as a friend can skip the psychiatrist."
Stars in the Night Sky
As Fritz Egner reminisced about his illustrious career, he often looked up at the night sky, filled with the twinkling stars. "Just like the stars," he'd say, "every pop and rock 'n' roll superstar I've interviewed has their unique glow and narrative."
Sharing Stages with the Stars
On numerous occasions, Fritz found himself sharing the same stage as his interviewees, living out his passion for music. "The stars," he mused, "are not just spectacles in the night sky, but also the luminous individuals who grace our radios and concert halls."
