Bakom: Audience satisfied with Swiss radio and TV stations
High marks for Swiss radio and television stations: A study by the University of Zurich found that the majority were fairly or very satisfied.
Radio performed better than television, with around 70 percent of the audience "very and fairly satisfied". This was announced by study director Heinz Bonfadelli at a media conference organized by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) in Biel on Tuesday. A good 3,600 people were surveyed last fall.
Only 44% were satisfied with the programs on private television, 9 percentage points less than in spring 2009. 64% are very or fairly satisfied with SRG television programs. Since the last survey, ratings of the content and variety of information as well as local relevance have fallen, while ratings of entertainment value have risen.
As many as three quarters are very or fairly satisfied with SRG radio programs. The professionalism of the journalists and their contributions, the credibility, the sense of responsibility of the program makers and the diversity of information are described as strengths.
The local radio stations are rated as satisfactory by two thirds. Comprehensibility and local-regional reporting scored particularly highly here. In contrast, the variety of information on politics, business and culture is clearly below average.
Diverse radios in Zurich
The private radio stations in the greater Zurich area were analyzed in particular. Radio Energy (16.8 percent) and Radio 24 (16.1 percent) are at the top of the list in terms of listenership, followed by Radio Zürisee (9.5 percent). Radio 1, Radio Top and Radio Munot are below 5 percent. Energy scored well in the survey for entertainment, professionalism and general satisfaction. In the view of its listeners, Radio 24 has strengths not only in terms of professionalism but also in the local relevance and balance of its programming.
An analysis by media researcher Publicom in the first week of October 2010 shows that the stations position themselves most clearly in terms of music formats. The differences lie less in the style than in the age of the music. The Zurich radio landscape is diverse, summarized Publicom Managing Director René Grossenbacher. However, the importance of information is very different, the weighting of topics is station-specific and reporting on the broadcasting areas also varies greatly. During prime time, for example, the proportion of information on Radio 1 was 21 percent, while on Radio 105 it was only 7 percent.
Pole parties often at the microphone
In general, the diversity of opinions and perspectives was well implemented. However, the political parties SP and above all the SVP had their say far more often than the other parties. However, this was partly due to the fact that the referendum campaign on the deportation initiative was underway at the beginning of October 2010.
According to Bakom Director Martin Dumermuth, the final reports on the audience survey will be published at the end of the year. Of a total of 47 event organizers, 13 have so far met 80 percent or more of the requirements. The quality assurance process is ongoing. OFCOM is basing this on the performance mandates, as the Federal Constitution requires radio and television to contribute to education, cultural development, the free formation of opinion and entertainment. (SDA)
