Egon Blatter sees DJ Radio as a pawn in media politics

 
On Thursday, the Uvek announced that the FM license for Zurich youth radio would be awarded to Radio 105 from Music First under Giuseppe Scaglione. In his letter on Friday and to Werbewoche, Egon Blatter, initiator of competitor DJ Radio, expressed his anger and disappointment at the Uvek's decision. DJ Radio was awarded the license in 2004, but Radio 105 lodged an appeal, which was upheld. The application process began anew, and now Radio 105 has been awarded the license, and the decision is based on "flimsy arguments", according to Blatter. The training concept for young journalists was in place at both radios, and both had maintained a broad-based cooperation with youth-related institutions and organizations - important criteria when awarding the licence. "There were no substantial differences between the license applications of Radio 105 and DJ Radio. The Uvek even confirmed this in its explanatory statement. As you can imagine, the two applications have converged over the three years."
Blatter believes that the Uvek wanted to take "the path of presumably least resistance". "The reasons for yesterday's decision explained in the ruling appear to be merely a means to an end in order to take into account the threats and gestures of Radio 105 co-owner Giuseppe Scaglione," he says. They took the one who shouted the loudest. In addition, Radio 105 still has two other license applications pending, where conflicts are inevitable. Blatter told Werbewoche that they probably wanted to keep Radio 105 quiet with this license. He also sees DJ Radio as a pawn in media politics.
Blatter is also particularly annoyed by the fact that Radio 105's license appeal three years ago apparently went through due to a formal error by OFCOM. "Due to an earlier violation of the right to be heard, which was attributable to misconduct on the part of Bakom, the license awarded to DJ Radio at the time was withdrawn." At the time, Blatter was not particularly concerned about Radio 105's complaint. They had received positive signals and therefore continued to invest. According to Blatter, DJ Radio will now consider challenging the decision before the Federal Administrative Court. "We now have to analyze the situation and then we'll see what happens."
Although the Uvek understands Blatter's disappointment, the accusation that the decision was motivated by media politics cannot be accepted. The two applications were indeed very close in terms of quality, but Radio 105 was simply a tick better. The Uvek finds the accusation that Radio 105 wanted to be kept quiet with the license simply ridiculous. The decision was made strictly according to the specified criteria. As far as the formal error was concerned, the Federal Council had established this. They are also fair enough to admit this. However, DJ Radio would not have had the license even without the formal error.