Whoever sits in the Red Town Hall – Rik De Lisle is the Governing Radio Master of Berlin! No moderator is better known in the capital than he is. “Old Ami” turns 75 on Friday.
In 1978 he came to the divided city as an Air Force sergeant and moderated the AFN soldiers’ radio station. Interviewed US stars, German artists, made friends with Nina Hagen, Jim Rakete, Peter Schwenkow and Nena.
After switching to civilian life, De Lisle really took off! He was brought to the Rias – he could hardly speak any German. Which didn’t bother his boss.
He only needed four words to host the nightly music show Rock with Rick: “That was” and “Here is.”
A little later, De Lisle was part of the rias2 team – which got ratings of over 30 percent! “Never again has a radio station in Berlin achieved that,” he says proudly to this day. “So we did something right.”
Despite its success, rias2 was not integrated into ARD, but was privatized in 1992. “A mistake,” says the old Ami. When he thinks back to the rias days, De Lisle gets really nostalgic. “I’m a total softie about that.”
In 1991, De Lisle and his family moved to a farm in Brandenburg. Motto: “The East is being built up and I’m part of it.” After ten years, his wife had had enough of country life and moved back to Berlin with him. Here he was even a CDU member for a few years. “I distributed flyers for the party in Marzahn.”
He changed channels several times, moderated the first show of 104.6 RTL from Berlin, was with rs2, advised stations in Eastern Europe. Now he feels at home with Berliner Rundfunk 91.4.
Why doesn’t he treat himself to a radio pension and is still on the air? “Because I can! There is nothing difficult to carry. I just need to come in and chat…”