Stadtfilter discontinues all news outlets
The Winterthur radio station Stadtfilter is abolishing its news programs. The station has many more listeners than originally expected and therefore no longer wants to pay the listener-dependent rates of the news agency SDA.
The more listeners a station has, the more it has to pay the SDA for its news services. In the case of Radio Stadtfilter, this has so far been CHF 3,480 per year - because those responsible expected only modest success and just 2,000 listeners when the station was launched in March 2009. However, the small station was well received: Publica-Data now reports around 40,000 listeners for Stadtfilter - twenty times more than assumed at the start of broadcasting.
In the current year, CHF 22,000 would therefore be due for SDA's services. The news agency confirmed a corresponding article in the Landbote on Wednesday, according to which Stadtfilter canceled its SDA subscription as of January 1 and discontinued all news outlets.
No obligation to provide information
However, the discontinuation of information contributions does not result in Stadtfilter losing its license fee. The station is considered a "complementary program" and therefore has no obligation to provide information. According to federal guidelines, the radio only has to offer a "thematically, culturally and musically different" program.
