The radio idyll is a discontinued model
Radio A third large radio group is created on Lake Geneva: Lausanne-based private radio station Rouge FM acquires a majority stake in Geneva's Radio Lac.
Radio A third major radio group is emerging on Lake Geneva: Lausanne-based private radio station Rouge FM is acquiring a majority stake in Geneva-based Radio Lac. Until recently, the radio landscape in western Switzerland was a pure idyll. The sun shone equally on the large public service broadcaster RSR and the many small, regional private radio stations, many of which still belonged to owners from the era of the radio pioneers. Under Director Gérard Tschopp, Radio Suisse romande is pursuing a far-sighted policy to defend the market against foreign competition. The regional public service works together with the regional radios in the "Communauté des radios romandes" (CRR). The unequal partners ensure mutual respect.
Those who want to participate in the CRR agree to play the complementarity card. This means, for example, that RSR will forego regional journals and the private stations will forego supra-regional or even linguistic regional ambitions. Rouge FM's majority shareholding in Radio Lac puts an end to this idyllic situation and has consequences for the radio market, but also for journalistic cooperation between Radio Lac and Radio Suisse Romande.
Bakom, which has never really understood the special nature of the small-scale radio landscape in French-speaking Switzerland, has also helped. In contrast to German-speaking Switzerland, where foreign stations have a market share of 7.4 percent, they already have an impressive 13 percent in French-speaking Switzerland. Bakom recently granted Lausanne-based station Rouge FM permission to expand its broadcasting area to Geneva.
Rouge FM is the former Lausanne radio station Framboise. The French businessman and millionaire Hughes de Montfalcon bought it in the summer of 2005 shortly before it went bankrupt and gave it a new profile. While Framboise was a quirky music radio station for young people, Rouge FM also offers a lot of information and talk shows. Director Frédéric Piancastelli announced that they wanted to become the largest private radio station in French-speaking Switzerland and take listeners away from RSR's first program.
The decision by OFCOM was not to everyone's taste. The Geneva government, for example, spoke out against it during the consultation process. The arrival of the new broadcaster in the Calvin city would be to the detriment of existing radio stations and put jobs at risk.
Gérard Schoch, founder and director of Radio Lac, shared the view of the Geneva government: "If Rouge FM takes away even five percent of our listeners, that would mean a loss of 250,000 advertising francs and 2.5 journalist jobs," he predicted. He has now drawn the consequences and sold the majority of his share capital. "Bakom is not entirely innocent in our decision," says Gérard Schoch. With its liberal policy and the new RTVA, it favors the big players, "the entrepreneurs with means". A small company like Radio Lac could not survive under the changed circumstances.
The deal changes the radio landscape on Lake Geneva. Three supra-regional groups are created: Lausanne FM with 7.1 percent plus One FM with 5.9 percent reach in the hands of Antoine de Raemy on the one hand, Rouge FM with 6.3 percent plus Radio Lac with 4.4 percent reach on the other, as well as the French commercial chain NRJ (Energy in German-speaking Switzerland), which has absorbed its biggest French competitor, Nostalgie.
No wonder that the remaining small stations, such as Radio Chablais near Montreux, Rhône FM in Lower Valais, Radio Fribourg and the regional radio stations in the Jura Arc (RTN, RJB and RFJ) fear that the lion's share of advertising will be divided up between the three big players. "In the end, the small ones will only be left with the crumbs," fears the director of Radio Chablais, Claude Défago.
However, the big worry for all radio producers in French-speaking Switzerland is the French competition. The arrival of the Lyon-based entrepreneur de Montfalcon was therefore viewed with suspicion. But Gérard Schoch puts his hand in the fire for the new owner: "I am convinced that Hughes de Montfalcon and we have the same ideas about making radio." Nevertheless, Schoch felt it was right to build in a guarantee against any desire to resell: "I can't imagine that Edipresse, as a major shareholder, would allow de Montfalcon to sell to a French group."
Gérard Tschopp, Director of Radio Suisse Romande, is also asking questions. Since 1999, RSR and Radio Lac have been producing joint regional news for Geneva, which is broadcast on the fourth transmission chain Option Musique. "The collaboration needs to be reviewed," says Tschopp. Now that two large groups have emerged, RSR cannot favor one of them by working together. Quite apart from the fact that cooperation between the public service and a local radio station is a different pair of shoes than with a station that expressly wants to become the largest private provider in French-speaking Switzerland.
However, Tschopp also makes the decision dependent on the Bakom transmitter network plan, which defines the new coverage areas and the number of radio stations to be licensed. According to Bakom, the draft will be submitted for consultation at the end of October.
"It would not be a problem for us to continue working with RSR," says Gérard Schoch, "but if RSR sees it as incompatible, then we will have to give up working together in future." The risk of continuing without RSR is smaller for Radio Lac than being without Rouge FM.
Edipresse and RadioThe takeover of Radio Lac
accelerates the development of Rouge FM into a challenger to RSR. All the more so as the publisher Edipresse is also betting on radio and increasing its stake in Radio Lac to 25 percent. Edipresse is pushing ahead with the multimedia future of its two daily newspapers Tribune de Genève and 24 heures. The publishing house, which has so far concentrated on print, is looking to further develop modern information technologies together with Rouge FM; in addition to the traditional radio channel, the station also has two special interest channels distributed via the Internet.
Edipresse is not ruling out taking a stake in Rouge FM in a next step. At the same time, the Lausanne-based group has just acquired 20 percent of the Nyon-based start-up Virtual Network (Romandie.com), which specializes in content and advertising, and is planning a major private television channel in the form of Vaud TV, a merger of local television stations.
Helen Brügger
Those who want to participate in the CRR agree to play the complementarity card. This means, for example, that RSR will forego regional journals and the private stations will forego supra-regional or even linguistic regional ambitions. Rouge FM's majority shareholding in Radio Lac puts an end to this idyllic situation and has consequences for the radio market, but also for journalistic cooperation between Radio Lac and Radio Suisse Romande.
Bakom, which has never really understood the special nature of the small-scale radio landscape in French-speaking Switzerland, has also helped. In contrast to German-speaking Switzerland, where foreign stations have a market share of 7.4 percent, they already have an impressive 13 percent in French-speaking Switzerland. Bakom recently granted Lausanne-based station Rouge FM permission to expand its broadcasting area to Geneva.
Rouge FM is the former Lausanne radio station Framboise. The French businessman and millionaire Hughes de Montfalcon bought it in the summer of 2005 shortly before it went bankrupt and gave it a new profile. While Framboise was a quirky music radio station for young people, Rouge FM also offers a lot of information and talk shows. Director Frédéric Piancastelli announced that they wanted to become the largest private radio station in French-speaking Switzerland and take listeners away from RSR's first program.
The decision by OFCOM was not to everyone's taste. The Geneva government, for example, spoke out against it during the consultation process. The arrival of the new broadcaster in the Calvin city would be to the detriment of existing radio stations and put jobs at risk.
Gérard Schoch, founder and director of Radio Lac, shared the view of the Geneva government: "If Rouge FM takes away even five percent of our listeners, that would mean a loss of 250,000 advertising francs and 2.5 journalist jobs," he predicted. He has now drawn the consequences and sold the majority of his share capital. "Bakom is not entirely innocent in our decision," says Gérard Schoch. With its liberal policy and the new RTVA, it favors the big players, "the entrepreneurs with means". A small company like Radio Lac could not survive under the changed circumstances.
The deal changes the radio landscape on Lake Geneva. Three supra-regional groups are created: Lausanne FM with 7.1 percent plus One FM with 5.9 percent reach in the hands of Antoine de Raemy on the one hand, Rouge FM with 6.3 percent plus Radio Lac with 4.4 percent reach on the other, as well as the French commercial chain NRJ (Energy in German-speaking Switzerland), which has absorbed its biggest French competitor, Nostalgie.
No wonder that the remaining small stations, such as Radio Chablais near Montreux, Rhône FM in Lower Valais, Radio Fribourg and the regional radio stations in the Jura Arc (RTN, RJB and RFJ) fear that the lion's share of advertising will be divided up between the three big players. "In the end, the small ones will only be left with the crumbs," fears the director of Radio Chablais, Claude Défago.
However, the big worry for all radio producers in French-speaking Switzerland is the French competition. The arrival of the Lyon-based entrepreneur de Montfalcon was therefore viewed with suspicion. But Gérard Schoch puts his hand in the fire for the new owner: "I am convinced that Hughes de Montfalcon and we have the same ideas about making radio." Nevertheless, Schoch felt it was right to build in a guarantee against any desire to resell: "I can't imagine that Edipresse, as a major shareholder, would allow de Montfalcon to sell to a French group."
Gérard Tschopp, Director of Radio Suisse Romande, is also asking questions. Since 1999, RSR and Radio Lac have been producing joint regional news for Geneva, which is broadcast on the fourth transmission chain Option Musique. "The collaboration needs to be reviewed," says Tschopp. Now that two large groups have emerged, RSR cannot favor one of them by working together. Quite apart from the fact that cooperation between the public service and a local radio station is a different pair of shoes than with a station that expressly wants to become the largest private provider in French-speaking Switzerland.
However, Tschopp also makes the decision dependent on the Bakom transmitter network plan, which defines the new coverage areas and the number of radio stations to be licensed. According to Bakom, the draft will be submitted for consultation at the end of October.
"It would not be a problem for us to continue working with RSR," says Gérard Schoch, "but if RSR sees it as incompatible, then we will have to give up working together in future." The risk of continuing without RSR is smaller for Radio Lac than being without Rouge FM.
Edipresse and RadioThe takeover of Radio Lac
accelerates the development of Rouge FM into a challenger to RSR. All the more so as the publisher Edipresse is also betting on radio and increasing its stake in Radio Lac to 25 percent. Edipresse is pushing ahead with the multimedia future of its two daily newspapers Tribune de Genève and 24 heures. The publishing house, which has so far concentrated on print, is looking to further develop modern information technologies together with Rouge FM; in addition to the traditional radio channel, the station also has two special interest channels distributed via the Internet.
Edipresse is not ruling out taking a stake in Rouge FM in a next step. At the same time, the Lausanne-based group has just acquired 20 percent of the Nyon-based start-up Virtual Network (Romandie.com), which specializes in content and advertising, and is planning a major private television channel in the form of Vaud TV, a merger of local television stations.
Helen Brügger
