"I want to be able to swap formats flexibly"
Günter Heuberger, CEO of Privatradio Top, is now expanding beyond the Lake Constance region with the cable channel Top Two.
Private radio Top boss Günter Heuberger is now also expanding beyond the Lake Constance region with the cable station Top Two.WW Other radio stations are discontinuing their secondary cable radio stations, but you are not only sticking with Top Two, but also want to broadcast internationally - why?
Günter Heuberger You can't optimally reach a regional audience with one program. The needs of the various age groups are too different. A station therefore needs two or even three programs.
Top Two has been broadcasting for some time now.
However, they do not publish any Radiocontrol figures. How many listeners does Top Two have?
The figures are rising steadily from a low level: Top Two reached 11900 listeners in the first half of 2002, 13500 in the second half of the year and in the first half of 2003 it is likely to be a good 15500 listeners. However, the hourly reach from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. is interesting: Top Two reaches twice as many listeners then. This is because we are broadcasting a kind of Eastern Swiss "Echo der Zeit" at this time (see box). There is obviously a growing number of people who are developing a kind of Eastern Swiss identity.
But you won't just want to create an identity with Top Two? we're sticking with Top Two for other reasons: radio usage in general is declining, possibly because our current main target group, young people, are increasingly meeting their entertainment and information needs elsewhere. In the event that young listeners turn away even more from the medium of radio and thus also from Top, I am already working on the possibility of moving Top Two from cable to FM - and conversely Radio Top to cable - as an already well-known and accepted second station.
In contrast to other private radio stations, you have so far refrained from changing the format of Radio Top and instead expect your audience to change channels if necessary.
That's right, because we reached our target audience well right from the start. I am pursuing a different strategy to most of my private radio colleagues: We want a second program so that we can make a format change in the long term. But not by changing the main program, but by swapping channels. I want more flexibility when it comes to format changes.
Why do you need the international license? Who wants to listen to Top Two in Vorarlberg or southern Germany?
With the first Radio Top program, we are already on the cables of the Euregio Bodensee. We are now following suit with Top Two. We are convinced that the Euregio Bodensee will gradually become a superordinate communication area. We want to be part of this from the very beginning, even if we don't yet pick up many listeners there and don't yet have a solution in terms of radio data.
Foreign stations are constantly losing listeners in Eastern Switzerland. That should deter you from expanding abroad.
Radio 7, Bayern 3, Ö3, SWR and Antenne Vorarlberg are losing listeners because they had a disproportionately good presence in Eastern Switzerland in the years before Radio Top. We, on the other hand, have a need to catch up abroad. We will certainly never achieve market dominance, but the leader in Eastern Switzerland will not remain in last place in Southern Germany and Vorarlberg.
How difficult is it to get into the cable networks? less so in Germany, because you have to buy into the cable networks with money. The sale of the Telekom cable networks has created a new market situation.
What does the expansion cost? A six-figure sum every year. We try to acquire advertising and sponsorship, but that won't cover our costs either. This will hardly change in the next five years.
Günter Heuberger: Also think about moving with ducts. For two years
on air
The cable station Top Two has been broadcasting since October 2000 and targets 30 to 50-year-old listeners with mainstream oldies music (music from the sixties and seventies). Every hour, it broadcasts Radio Top's news bulletins and, from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., a compilation of the news from all three Top regional windows - without music or advertising. (mk)
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
Günter Heuberger You can't optimally reach a regional audience with one program. The needs of the various age groups are too different. A station therefore needs two or even three programs.
Top Two has been broadcasting for some time now.
However, they do not publish any Radiocontrol figures. How many listeners does Top Two have?
The figures are rising steadily from a low level: Top Two reached 11900 listeners in the first half of 2002, 13500 in the second half of the year and in the first half of 2003 it is likely to be a good 15500 listeners. However, the hourly reach from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. is interesting: Top Two reaches twice as many listeners then. This is because we are broadcasting a kind of Eastern Swiss "Echo der Zeit" at this time (see box). There is obviously a growing number of people who are developing a kind of Eastern Swiss identity.
But you won't just want to create an identity with Top Two? we're sticking with Top Two for other reasons: radio usage in general is declining, possibly because our current main target group, young people, are increasingly meeting their entertainment and information needs elsewhere. In the event that young listeners turn away even more from the medium of radio and thus also from Top, I am already working on the possibility of moving Top Two from cable to FM - and conversely Radio Top to cable - as an already well-known and accepted second station.
In contrast to other private radio stations, you have so far refrained from changing the format of Radio Top and instead expect your audience to change channels if necessary.
That's right, because we reached our target audience well right from the start. I am pursuing a different strategy to most of my private radio colleagues: We want a second program so that we can make a format change in the long term. But not by changing the main program, but by swapping channels. I want more flexibility when it comes to format changes.
Why do you need the international license? Who wants to listen to Top Two in Vorarlberg or southern Germany?
With the first Radio Top program, we are already on the cables of the Euregio Bodensee. We are now following suit with Top Two. We are convinced that the Euregio Bodensee will gradually become a superordinate communication area. We want to be part of this from the very beginning, even if we don't yet pick up many listeners there and don't yet have a solution in terms of radio data.
Foreign stations are constantly losing listeners in Eastern Switzerland. That should deter you from expanding abroad.
Radio 7, Bayern 3, Ö3, SWR and Antenne Vorarlberg are losing listeners because they had a disproportionately good presence in Eastern Switzerland in the years before Radio Top. We, on the other hand, have a need to catch up abroad. We will certainly never achieve market dominance, but the leader in Eastern Switzerland will not remain in last place in Southern Germany and Vorarlberg.
How difficult is it to get into the cable networks? less so in Germany, because you have to buy into the cable networks with money. The sale of the Telekom cable networks has created a new market situation.
What does the expansion cost? A six-figure sum every year. We try to acquire advertising and sponsorship, but that won't cover our costs either. This will hardly change in the next five years.
Günter Heuberger: Also think about moving with ducts. For two years
on air
The cable station Top Two has been broadcasting since October 2000 and targets 30 to 50-year-old listeners with mainstream oldies music (music from the sixties and seventies). Every hour, it broadcasts Radio Top's news bulletins and, from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., a compilation of the news from all three Top regional windows - without music or advertising. (mk)
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
