Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Radio Frontier is about to go live, at least on the web, offering English speakers in the Lake Geneva region a new music and information service with a voice that will be familiar to many: Mark Butcher, who for several years hosted The Breakfast Show on WRG and later WRS radio, will be providing one of the key shows on Radio Frontier.
The new station was founded by Butcher and Peter Sibley, formerly of World Television in Geneva, to provide commercial radio with a very local slant that focuses on the French-Swiss border area.
RadioFrontier will initially be available at www.radiofrontier.ch, operating from new studios in Meyrin, with plans to expand in 2012.
Radio in English is growing
WRS and RadioFrontier are the only English stations in the region, although there are others, mainly available online, in Switzerland. They include Mountain Radio Verbier, also started by an ex-WRS employee, Conor Lennon.
Main sources of Swiss news in English
The new radio station boosts the English-language information offer that is produced in the region, whose main providers include:
- GenevaLunch, the main producer of regional online news and events listings in English
- public radio station WRS, World Radio Switzerland, which has a Swiss nationwide broadcast mandate and operates online and via DAB and FM
- swissinfo, the online English information arm of Swiss broadcasting, whose main mission is to keep overseas Swiss informed about their country
- Glocals, a local social network now connected to BuyClub.ch, for “group-buying deals”.
International Link is a non-profit organization started by the Vaud Chamber of Commerce to provide a business-based network for the area that introduces foreigners and Swiss people.
Swisster, an online English language news service started by Swiss publisher Edipresse, closed in December 2010.
There are several small local groups based in or near Geneva and Lausanne that provide a variety of services and products for English-speakers, some mainly for expatriates who are relatively new to Switzerland (see list at end).
Switzerland’s international population also attracts outside companies
In addition, Switzerland’s English speakers, viewed as well-educated and well-paid, are wooed by a number of social network and information groups based outside the region. Some, like AngloInfo, a business directory and forum, have strong local ties: the franchise is operated by a Geneva area resident, although some of the information comes from the larger parent group, whose roots are in the south of France.
Others have no, or very little, Swiss presence: Expatica is based in The Netherlands (note: they carry news from swissinfo and GenevaLunch news feeds, with our permission); the English Forum, a social network used by many newcomers to Switzerland, actually based in and moderated from Sweden and Germany and linked to a new news site called local.ch, run from Sweden.
Geneva.com is another “local” news site, run from Argentina.
GenevaLunch “friends”
Local information providers who offer good quality; some offer networking and others sell products:
Books, Books, Books in Lausanne
Expat-Expo, based in Zug
Know it All
Leman Events and Leman Expat Fair
Off the Shelf, online and in Geneva
Business clubs
American International Club
British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce
Executives International
Owit, Organization of Women in International Trade
Long-time station personality in Geneva, Pete Forster remains a key on-air voice for WRS
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – World Radio Switzerland (WRS), public radio in English in Switzerland, is adding 27 hours of programming thanks to new partnerships with US-based public radio: National Public Radio, American Public Media and Public Radio International. The station’s partnership with Britain’s public radio, the BBC, will continue, for international news and special programmes.
The new programming was quietly incorporated into the autumn schedule that began at the end of August, but the station is officially launching the new partnerships Friday to send a signal that the station, three years old, is moving firmly ahead with its mission to become a Swiss-wide station with good quality programming aimed at English speakers in Switzerland.
Taking a bite out of Swiss bankers' bonuses
Taking a bite out of Swiss bankers' bonuses
Credit Suisse cuts bonuses to pay UK tax, UBS told by Finma to reduce payout
Migros takes in former big bank clients
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s two largest banks will be paying out bonuses, but the amounts are shrinking. Credit Suisse, has told several media 19 January that its overall bonus pool will shrink by 5 percent as it reduces payouts to senior managers to cover the new UK bank tax. The UK has announced it will levy a 50 percent tax on bonuses over £25,000, a one-time charge. Some 400 senior managers in the UK will have their bonuses cut up to 30 percent, Bloomberg reports.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “Inside Switzerland”, which was started in 2007 as a glossy Swiss-wide magazine providing news and features in English, has ceased publication of both the quarterly print magazine and its online newsletter. The magazine was published by Schweizer and Davies Media in Zurich, which was founded by Jennifer Davies and Sabine Schweizer.
Davies is an arts presenter on World Radio Switzerland.
Editor-in-chief Schweizer notes in her letter to readers that the publication “has not been able to withstand current financial pressures.”
The quarterly print publication sold for CHF35 for four issues before it folded.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – World Radio Switzerland (WRS), the English-language public radio station, has offered listeners in Lausanne an explanation for poorer reception by some listeners on its new frequency, compared to the old: 101.7FM has some interference from neighbouring stations 101.5FM and 101.9FM. The move was mandated by the federal communications office in order to give the old location, 88.4FM, to Lausanne FM radio as part of its new license to broadcast in the Geneva area. The allocation of that slot required other stations to move. WRS notes that the best way to pick up the station is with DAB + (digital) radio.
The station was formerly WRG, a private station, but in 2007 it became part of RSR, French-speaking Switzerland’s public radio. RSR director Gerard Tschopp told GenevaLunch at the time that one goal was to build listeners throughout Switzerland with DAB. Digital radio, unlike FM is not geographically limited.
Fewer Geneva roadworks, as tram goes into service
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – If you haven’t yet done so, be sure to shift your radio settings to find World Radio Switzerland in its new FM home: 101.7FM. And this is the weekend when the TPG (Geneva public transport) puts its new schedule into effect, including the new line to Meyrin and more frequent buses and trams on several lines, so doublecheck your travel plans if you’re heading across town. Monday 14 December the new CFF rail schedule goes into effect for all of Switzerland, so make no assumptions about when your train is leaving. Two additional trains should make life easier for urban commuters: an extra late afternoon train from Bern to Zurich (16:14) is designed to ease pressure on that often-packed line, as is an 18:31 regional train from Lausanne to Geneva.
Links for details: CFF, TPG (note: Sunday night the site was being updated), WRS
WRS news conference
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - World Radio Switzerland (WRS), public radio in English, moves to 101.7 on the FM band 8 December, in the Geneva region, the station announced 3 December. Change your settings before next Tuesday! The move does not affect listeners who pick up WRS via online streaming, satellite, cable or DAB.
WorldRadio Switzerland, 101.7FM
The move is the result of musical chairs, or in this case FM slots, ordered by Ofcom, the federal telecommunications regulatory body. Radio Lausanne FM was awarded a license to start broadcasting in the Geneva area, but since it currently broadcasts on 88.4 in Lausanne a new slot had to be found for it: 88.4FM in Geneva, which WRS currently uses. WRS moves up as a result, to 101.7FM, currently used by Espace 2, also a member of the RSR public radio group in the region.
The changes for the three stations, in the Geneva area, will not occur at the same time:
- Thursday 3 December, Espace 2 stops using 101.7 and moves to 100.7FM
- Tuesday 8 December at midnight, WRS stops using 88.4 and moves to 101.7FM
- Tuesday 15 December, Lausanne FM starts broadcasting in the Geneva area on 88.4FM
WorldRadio Switzerland provides a mix of locally-produced news, information, entertainment and music to people who live in Switzerland. The BBC is its partner for international news and some additional programming.
Links to stations’ sites: Espace 2, Lausanne FM, WRS
Shared Internet news ok, but not on radio and TV
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The merger of TSR, public television in French-speaking Switzerland, and RSR, public radio, is meeting some resistance from cantonal governments, which insist the two editorial teams must remain separate and independent. Vaud and Geneva, in a joint statement released Monday 23 November, say they would also like to see the traditional roles maintained of Lausanne as a radio centre and Geneva as a television centre. The statement was made in advance of today’s presentation of the merger project to the board of SSR, the parent company.
Updated link: If you haven’t visited the WRS classifieds pages in a while you’ll be in for a surprise: easier to user, visually more pleasing. The radio station stopped running classifieds on air in 2009.
