Since 6 April 1992, Peter Kloeppel and Ulrike von der Groeben have hosted a total of 4,580 broadcasts of RTL Aktuell together. On 23 August, the era came to an end as the journalist duo said goodbye during a special farewell edition of RTL Deutschland’s flagship news programme.
Co-hosted by Frauke Ludowig, the special RTL Aktuell edition looked back on the most memorable moments of the past 32 years. Peter Kloeppel and Ulrike von der Groeben discussed how their joint career began and shared memories they will never forget. Moreover, they were presented with a Guinness World Record award for being the ‘Longest-serving national news anchor duo’ in Germany.
Stephan Schmitter, CEO of RTL Deutschland, says: "Peter Kloeppel and Ulrike von der Groeben have played a decisive role in shaping journalism at RTL Deutschland over the past decades. For many viewers, and also for me and the entire RTL Deutschland team, they are much more than outstanding journalists, presenters and colleagues – they are part of the family. And that will remain the case even after their departure from RTL Aktuell. I wish them both all the best and am delighted that we are honouring them with the ‘Peter Kloeppel Award’ and the ‘Ulrike von der Groeben Award’. In the future, these awards will be presented by the two of them to graduates of the RTL School of Journalism.’
To commemorate their farewell, the popular anchor duo received numerous greetings from politicians, athletes and celebrities, including from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Olaf Scholz said: "Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you for the consistency with which you have pursued this profession. And thank you for insisting, at a time when there is a lot of fake news that can be found everywhere on social media and elsewhere, that it is well-researched information that the public wants from news programmes.”
In an interview with RTL Deutschland ahead of his farewell, Peter Kloeppel discussed how the position of anchorman grounded him and looked back on the most memorable news events during the past decades, from 9/11 to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
32 years is a long time – You became a TV legend. How would you summarise this time?
“I am extremely grateful that I could do all this and take the opportunities available to me. I'm extremely grateful that the viewers enjoyed watching us so much. I'm extremely grateful that Ulrike and I were able to do this together. And I'm also extremely grateful that I got through it in good health, so to speak. There are many people who, for whatever reason, may fall ill and who may not be well in other ways. I haven't had any of that, but over the past 32 years, I've always had the feeling that I'm on the sunnier side of life, even if the news I bring doesn't always look like it.”
How would you say you have developed during your time at RTL?
“That's a difficult question. The people I meet and who talk about me always say that I’m a rock. I think that's what it has done to me, that it has anchored me more.
Anchorman is perhaps an appropriate term now. But this job grounded me and I wanted to stay grounded. It’s not just about the job, but it’s also about my disposition. It also has a bit to do with my outlook on life. I studied agriculture, which is also very grounding. And it's always been very important to me in life that I never lose touch with the ground on which I stand.”
And if this job has had any effect on me, it has given me a few more opportunities to put down roots, to anchor myself in life and to have a certain sense of calm. And I live quite well with this calm, and I'm really glad that it didn't go the other way.”
What moments do you particularly remember when you look back on 32 years of RTL Aktuell?
“It’s the programmes and the encounters that have a certain overriding importance. 9/11 was important, a programme with almost 24 hours of coverage, for example, not all at once, but at least we were there for 24 hours. When we went from 1999 to 2000, when everyone was talking about the millennium and what was in store for us. We did that too – I will remember that for the rest of my life. The moment when I learnt that the Berlin Wall had fallen in 1989, when I wasn't yet an on-air presenter but was already on the road as a political correspondent. Election programmes in Germany, when suddenly a chancellor, in this case Helmut Kohl, was voted out of office and a new chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, was elected, or when Angela Merkel was elected. These are all moments when I realised that I was here in the studio and at the same time I was witnessing history being made. And history is being made. And I can report on it directly. That is something that has stayed with me very, very strongly. And I repeat that I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this.”
