Shortly before his 88th birthday
Former sports studio presenter Karl Senne died
Karl Senne, longtime moderator of the ZDF sports studio, died at the age of 88
© Sven Simon / Imago Images
He was a co-founder of the legendary “ZDF-Sportstudio” and presented the show 128 times. Now Karl Senne, longtime ZDF sports director, has died at the age of 87.
Shortly before his 88th birthday, former ZDF sports director Karl Senne died on Monday. This was announced by the television station, citing his family. From 1981 to 1992, the native of East Westphalia presented the “current sports studio” – he was a co-founder of the program and, according to ZDF, presented it 128 times. “Karl Senne was one of the first journalists on ZDF. Elegant and eloquent,” said ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey. From 1989 to 1992, Senne was also ZDF sports director.
In 1962, before ZDF began broadcasting, Senne switched from WDR television in Cologne to the then newly established Second German Television. He was also the presenter of “Telemotor” for many years. As a motorsport expert, he had to deal with sad moments. This included the accidental deaths of top German pilots Manfred Winkelhock and Stefan Bellof, who were guests in the sports studio at the beginning of 1985 and then died in an accident within four weeks. “That touched me deeply,” Senne once said.
From 1971, the graduate sports teacher was in charge of the “Sports Information” editorial department and then, from 1973, of the “Aktuelle Sportstudios” editorial department. From 1984 he was deputy to the then head of sports, Dieter Kürten, before he headed the main editorial team for sports from 1989 to 1995. Karl Senne would have turned 88 on October 26.