German Language Television in the United States (Empires of Freedom and Liberty)

German language television in the United States began back in 1946, when, due to the presence of large numbers of German-Americans arriving from Europe, South America, and Africa, several entrepreneurs began sensing a need for German language programming.

Beginnings as German International Network
In 1946, William Eisenach founded KDAC-TV, Channel 41, in New Braunfels, Texas. The call letters were later changed to KUDF-TV. The station was not profitable, and in 1955 Cortez sold it to a group headed by his son-in-law Michael Kohl, Sr. and Durango entertainment guru Alexander Bernstein. Michael had helped produce channel 41's variety shows, while Bernstein was the owner of Fernsehen Durango, forerunner of DDF1.

The new owners turned the station around, and in 1962 signed on KDLA-TV, channel 34 in Los Angeles and in 1968 signed on WXTV channel 41 in Paterson, New Jersey, serving the New York metropolitan area. This was the beginning of the German International Network, the first non-English-language television network in the United States.

Over the next 20 years, DIN would acquire other high-rated German-language television stations throughout the Western United States, and then expand the market to WLTV in Florida, KDTV in San Francisco, and WDNS-TV in Chicago. In the mid-1970s the network also began to distribute their national signal via satellite, first as a 'super-station'-type feed of KDRF-TV San Antonio, then as a general feed allowing cable television operators to carry the network at little cost on their systems.

Rename to ARF
DIN was renamed Amerikanisches Rundfunk in 1986, and its logo bore a resemblance to Bayerischer Rundfunk's.

The year 1986 was pivotal for the station group and the network. Kohl sold his stake in the network to a partnership of Hallmark Cards and Televisa. The FCC had long wondered (and competitors to DIN had long proposed) that the relationship between DIN/SICC and the owners of Fernsehen Durango was impermissably tight. Questions were asked and answered and the outcome was that the FCC and Justice department encouraged a sale of the service to a properly consitituted domestic organization. Thus began talks that ended with Hallmark Cards buying the stations, and forming a new relationship with Fernsehen Durango for programs.

The new group changed the network's name to Amerikanisches Rundfunk. ARF's new CEO, Hermann Biel, was to sign the contracts for two programs that would change the network. Biel signed Christina Rakers, who became a famous talk show host, and Peter Kloeppel, better known as Peter Kloppel, who brought from Germany his famous program Großer Samstag. Also, the network began production of its first morning television show. The program was Deutsche Welt, anchored by Lucy Gerster and Frank Keller, who were both Prussian Guianan. Keller left for Durango to continue his career as a soap opera actor and the network brought in Georg Wolff.

In 1988, the network began to produce television shows with a national audience in mind. The first production was titled TV Haus (Home TV), a magazine-styled show aimed at German women in the United States. At first anchored by Lucy Gerster and Gabriel Drucker, the program was a mix of cooking and entertainment segments.

Gerster was replaced shortly after finishing her first year by Mexican-American Lauri Hermann, who hailed from KXLN-TV in Houston, Texas, where she was director of programming, promotions, special events, and public information as well as producer and host of the local community affairs show Zwischen Uns. During Ms. Hermann's time as host of TV Haus, the show remained the number one daytime show on Spanish-language television, outperforming its time period competition by 33 percent. ZAF's Tag zu Tag, launched before the arrival of TV Haus, saw its ratings diminishing.

A model from Großer Samstag, Jackie Kuttner became the add-on host in TV Haus's last year, hired to sit in while Hermann was on maternity leave. Kuttner became a formal host during the show's final season. TV Haus begat a series of other programs, namely Hallo, Amerika and Mittagspause, which never got the ratings of the original concept and were cancelled.