Information services on the radio: French-speaking Swiss broadcast twice as much info on average

The Swiss private radio landscape is characterized by a wide variety of programming. Depending on the region, economic conditions, competitive situation and radio philosophy, this results in programs that sometimes differ greatly in terms of information content, journalistic presentation and music format. In particular, they provide the information services required by the license during prime time to very different extents.

The differences in performance are clearly evident in the area of regional information from the concession area. With 53 minutes a day, RFJ occupies the top position in Switzerland as a whole. At the other end of the performance spectrum are GRRIF, which also operates in the Jura Arc, and FM 1 in Eastern Switzerland (5 minutes each). On average, private radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland broadcast 31 minutes of regional information during prime time on weekdays, 16 minutes in German-speaking Switzerland and 14 minutes in Ticino. Since 2013, private radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland have maintained their strong quantitative performance. Private radio stations in the rest of Switzerland have reduced their regional information production overall.

Fees strengthen the information service

16 Swiss private radio stations receive fee shares to compensate for structural disadvantages. These additional financial resources obviously have a positive effect on information performance: On average, fee-based radio stations devote a fifth of the time available to them during prime time to providing information. This figure is only 12 percent for the other private radio stations. The correlation between fee shares and information output is even more pronounced in the case of regional information. This generally incurs higher editorial costs than information from Switzerland and abroad, which can be procured comparatively cheaply via agencies or correspondent networks. Fee-based radio stations broadcast an average of 35 minutes of regional information during prime time on weekdays, compared to 14 minutes for licensed private radio stations that do not receive public funding.

Regions neglected by the media

According to the license, the information offered by private radio stations should cover the entire coverage area. As the density of events in urban centers is far greater than in peripheral communication areas, this requirement is difficult to meet. As a result, many Swiss regions are rarely included in the journalistic reality of private radio stations. However, it is not only peripheral, sparsely populated communication areas, in which hardly anything worth reporting happens, that are among these barely noticed areas. Heavily populated areas are also affected: These "blind spots", which have already been identified in previous surveys, include the Freiamt, Fricktal, Glarus and La Broye communication areas. The Zurich Oberland, which is one of the most populous regions in Switzerland but is hardly noticed by private radio stations, must now also be included.

The Publicom study commissioned by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) examined 37 licensed private radio stations during prime time of an artificial week between January and December 2016. The analysis covers a total of 1,628 program hours.

Detailed summaries and the complete report can be downloaded at here download