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WDR Devotes Entire Evening to 50th 'Kölner Treff' With Live Primetime Special

The broadcaster will pair a live anniversary show with archival documentaries to revisit five decades of changing language and social norms.

Overview

  • WDR confirmed it will mark the programme's 50th anniversary in September by staging a dedicated evening of television centered on a live primetime edition of Kölner Treff hosted by Susan Link and Micky Beisenherz.
  • The announced guest list for the live show includes Carolin Kebekus, Guido Maria Kretschmer, Jörg Pilawa, Motsi Mabuse, Tommi Schmitt and Senta Berger.
  • The evening is planned as a sequence of formats: a live anniversary talk, a 45‑minute documentary tracing five decades of the show, an archive-driven special that confronts older clips with contemporary viewers, and a late-night best-of compilation.
  • One special will pair older viewers with Gen Z respondents to show how language, roles and social standards portrayed on television have shifted, with the programme using rare archival clips and behind-the-scenes material to prompt those contrasts.
  • Reports differ on the exact broadcast date in September—DWDL.de cites 13 September while Stern cites 18 September—so viewers should check WDR’s official schedule for the confirmed air date and times.