Markus Mager takes his hat off at Radio 24
Another departure at Radio 24: Program Director Markus Mager is stepping down as the station’s editorial director and will be leaving Belcom in the coming months. Tamedia has not named a successor. Mager told *Werbewoche* that his departure was for personal reasons. He described the past few months as turbulent.
Another departure at Radio 24: Program director Markus Mager is handing over the journalistic management of Radio 24 and will be leaving Belcom in the coming months. Mager, who joined the station in 2005, wants to reorient himself professionally after three years as program director, as Tamedia announced on Thursday. A successor has not been named. There have been a number of departures at Radio 24 in recent months. In June 2007, Editorial Director Iwan Santoro and Head of Presentation Marc Jäggi left the radio station. They were replaced by Reto Schärli and Andreas Meier. There were also personnel changes on the sales side: Sales Manager Tarkan Özküp and his deputy Marco Genepretti left the station (see
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However, his departure has nothing to do with this, said Mager when asked by Werbewoche: "The reasons for my departure are purely personal." He had three very intensive and exhausting years behind him. Although most of the departures have now been replaced and the budget has been finalized, the time has come for him to take a new path: "The coming years will also be very intense at Radio 24. I asked myself whether I still have enough energy for these tasks. And I've come to the conclusion that I want to put the station in new hands." He strongly denies that Radio 24 is in trouble: "Of course the last few months have been difficult, the changes have brought unrest. The commercial situation has not always been easy over the last few years either. After all, Radio 24 is not a cheap product, and the quality of the station also has to be financed. However, the station is now well positioned for the future, says Mager.
Turbulent situations have not only occurred at his station: "The entire industry is in a phase of change, and that is not just down to Schawinski. Before that, for example, there were already waves of recruitment by DRS for the new info channel, which also had an impact on us.
The restructuring at Tamedia was part of the change process. However, Mager denies that there were any disagreements with his new boss Rolf Bollmann about the journalistic direction: "The new structure has only been in place since the beginning of the year, only a good month has passed. In addition, the new budget was approved on the condition that we continue our program as before."
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However, his departure has nothing to do with this, said Mager when asked by Werbewoche: "The reasons for my departure are purely personal." He had three very intensive and exhausting years behind him. Although most of the departures have now been replaced and the budget has been finalized, the time has come for him to take a new path: "The coming years will also be very intense at Radio 24. I asked myself whether I still have enough energy for these tasks. And I've come to the conclusion that I want to put the station in new hands." He strongly denies that Radio 24 is in trouble: "Of course the last few months have been difficult, the changes have brought unrest. The commercial situation has not always been easy over the last few years either. After all, Radio 24 is not a cheap product, and the quality of the station also has to be financed. However, the station is now well positioned for the future, says Mager.
Turbulent situations have not only occurred at his station: "The entire industry is in a phase of change, and that is not just down to Schawinski. Before that, for example, there were already waves of recruitment by DRS for the new info channel, which also had an impact on us.
The restructuring at Tamedia was part of the change process. However, Mager denies that there were any disagreements with his new boss Rolf Bollmann about the journalistic direction: "The new structure has only been in place since the beginning of the year, only a good month has passed. In addition, the new budget was approved on the condition that we continue our program as before."
Mager himself does not yet have any concrete plans for the future: "I have six months' notice and will carry out my duties over the next few months until a successor takes over." What will happen then is still completely open - including whether he wants to continue working in radio. He is also familiar with other media genres: after starting his journalistic career at Radio Z in 1993, he later worked for RTL/Pro 7 Switzerland and Sat.1 Switzerland, among others, and was deputy editor-in-chief of TeleZüri from 2002 to 2004. Before joining Radio 24 in May 2005, Mager was a reporter at Sonntagsblick.
