The history of Saarland Radio is closely linked to the history of
Saarland, as an independent island between Germany and France. Broadcasting in the Saarland began in 1929, under the
League of Nations mandate. In 1935, when the Saar rejoined Germany,
Joseph Goebbels's
Propagandaministerium established the
Reichssender Saarbrücken, under the control of the
Reichs-Rundfunk GmbH Berlin. The interval signal of Reichssenders Saarbrücken were the first four notes of so called Steigerlied ("Glück auf, Glück auf"). The organization joined the ARD alliance of broadcasting corporations in 1959. On 5 April 1969, the three broadcasters then covering southwest Germany – Saarländischer Rundfunk,
Südwestfunk (SWF; Southwest Broadcasting), and
Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, South German Broadcasting) – initiated a joint third television channel, known as
Südwest 3 or
S3. The new channel operated on only three days a week at first, then expanded to four days in September 1969, and to the whole week in 1971. On 30 August 1998, S3 became
SR Südwest Fernsehen, planned in co-operation with
Südwestrundfunk, the successor to SWF and SDR. Since 11 September 2006 it has been called simply SR Fernsehen. 70% of its programming is identical to that of the new SWR Fernsehen, but the on-screen logo and other graphic-design features are different. A teletext service, Saartext, has operated since 2 October 1989. ==Organization and finances==