The newly expanded WRS newsroom in 2009
Update 12:15 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – WRS, World Radio Switzerland, says Wednesday morning 4 April, that SSR (Swiss public broadcasting, also known as SRG), its parent company, is considering the possibility of selling the station and privatizing it or closing it down.
The station cites SSR chief executive officer Roger de Weck as saying English-language radio should no longer be publicly funded. De Weck was formerly president of the Graduate Institute in Geneva, took over at the helm of SSR in January 2011.
The station called in a media observer this morning to comment on the situation.
The station was formerly the private station WRG, World Radio Geneva, but SSR, which had been a partner, took it over in 2007. Three years later the station added several hours of programming and began to work with NPR in the US as well as the BBC for broader news coverage, part of its extension as a national rather than local radio station.
Mark Butcher and Peter Sibley, who created the online and cable station Radio Frontier in June 2011, as the linchpin of their company Anglo Media, reacted to the news in a statement saying the company ” believes the closure of an English language FM station is potentially a backward step” but that they sympathize “with the financial pressure the SSR has to face up to – many public broadcasters across Europe have made similar tough decisions.” They believe “the private sector has to be given the opportunity to provide these essential information services,” noting that they are talking to all parties concerned.
Butcher, who spoke to GenevaLunch Wednesday morning, says that as a former WRG and then WRS announcer he is “obviously sad for the people who work there” but that he does “understand the situation that Swiss Public Broadcasting finds itself in,” citing Europe-wide radio difficulties.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The digital audio broadcasting (DAB) offer in Switzerland is slowly but surely growing. Three new licenses have been granted for the French-speaking area. They go to Radio Rhône SA, Radio Fribourg/Freiburg SA and Soprodi Sàrl. Rhone/Vertical will carry music with sports and in particular mountain sports programes, Fribourg plans to offer music with cultural and educational programmes, while Soprodi will focus on French language music with programmes on sustainable development.
Seven other applicants were either refused or withdrew during the application period, which opened in 2008, for not meeting the criteria set by Ofcom, the federal communications office.
The two Northwest airline pilot who overflew Minneapolis airport 21 October have put part of the blame on air traffic controllers, who were not following standard procedures, court documents show. The documents, filed 24 November, have just been made public. The two are appealing to the Federal Aviation Administration, which removed their pilots’ licenses. They were out of contact with radio control for 77 minutes but the many stories that have circulated about what they were doing have not been confirmed or clarified.
Lake Geneva beach
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Radio statistics for the first half of 2009 are out, reflecting changes in licenses and listener habits for the first time since the Swiss federal government redistributed licenses in October 2008. A station can operate without a license, but it does not receive a share of the mandatory fees collected.
Radio Cité, which was given one of three new licenses among the 14 in total, has lost ground in Geneva and remains the least-listened-to station, with some 12,000 daily listeners on average in Geneva, while One FM, which initially lost its license despite being the city’s most popular private radio station, then was offered Buzz FM’s license by that station, has gained ground and now has 75,600 daily listeners.
The lion’s share of radio audiences goes to the several public radion stations owned by SSR, the public broadcasting system. The youngest member, English-languge World Radio Switzerland (WRS), is slowly but steadily building its audience, particularly beyond its original home (as World Radio Geneva, a private station) throughout Switzerland as it develops into a national English-language station.
