Following the negative concession decision for Radio Energy, the private broadcaster is now receiving support from SRG Director General Armin Walpen in its fight for a fourth FM frequency in Zurich. In an interview with Sonntagsblick, Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier Switzerland, said that SRG has no objections to a further license as long as its own programmes are not significantly affected and it does not cost SRG anything. Walpen had assured him of this in various working discussions.
The decision of the Federal Administrative Court remains to be seen. Should it refer the negative licensing decision back to the lower court, a decision can be expected before the summer vacations - otherwise not until the third or fourth quarter.

Energy wants to support DAB development
Radio Energy could imagine broadcasting via DAB in the future and participating in the establishment of digital radio in Switzerland. However, time is needed to develop a new technology. If the radio station does not receive an FM transition frequency, it will have too few listeners to survive with DAB alone for too long, Walder continued.

After five years, the Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) is discontinuing its regional supplement in tabloid format. The reports of the four supplements will appear in the main paper again from Saturday, May 30, 2009. By integrating the previous split editions "Baden/Zurzach/Brugg", "Aarau/Lenzburg-Seetal/Wynental-Suhrental", "Freiamt" and "Fricktal", the paper will once again become a "newspaper from a single source". The scope of the regional reports will not be reduced, AZ Medien announced on Saturday.
The four different regional editions in a small format were considered a pioneering concept in the media industry when they were introduced in May 2004.
The tabloid was said to be a "trend format" at the time.

Lower production costs
According to AZ Medien, the return to a standardized newspaper format will allow the newspaper structure and bundle layout to be flexibly adapted. From mid-July, the AZ will be published in four instead of five newspaper bundles, depending on the volume of advertising. With fewer advertisements, four bundles will be sufficient for the same editorial content. This will significantly reduce production costs. The "Foyer" bundle (culture, media and special pages) will also be integrated into another bundle rather than appearing as a separate issue on a daily basis.

The Internet video portal YouTube is now growing by an average of 20 hours of video material per minute. Two years ago, six hours of new video material were uploaded to the site every minute, whereas in January it was 15 hours per minute. Despite its popularity, however, YouTube has not yet turned a profit. Google bought the portal in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars.
Meanwhile, YouTube is increasingly focusing on professional image content in order to attract more advertisers. The platform recently began cooperating with Sony Pictures and other Hollywood studios to show TV shows and films.

The umbrella organization for commercial communication Schweizer Werbung SW welcomes the decision of the National Council Commission (KVF) to allow advertising for beer and wine on TV. The association supports the KVF in particular because otherwise local producers of such products would be at a disadvantage in the battle for market share, according to a statement from the umbrella organization. International breweries could not be allowed to present their products on satellite TV or cable in Switzerland without restriction and leave the domestic industry empty-handed as a result of the advertising ban. The umbrella organization also rejects the Council of States' proposal to ban all TV advertising for beer and wine because it believes that legal products should be able to be advertised with as few restrictions as possible. On the other hand, the SW unreservedly supports sensible behavioral prevention measures.

Surprisingly, a successor to Radio Director Walter Rüegg is to be appointed at the SRG Board of Directors meeting on Monday. Deputy Director Iso Rechsteiner has been named as a candidate. This also concerns the current position of Super Director.
Radio director Walter Rüegg was only recently appointed to oversee the merger project between Radio DRS and Swiss Television. He should have held this post until next summer, a year beyond his retirement age. Now everything is different. The media convergence project is likely to be delayed by at least six months. Rüegg will therefore probably retire this year. The SRG management is already trying to install a successor with a trick.
As Chairman of the Board of Directors Viktor Baumeler confirmed at the request of the Berner Zeitung, the appointment of Rüegg's successor is on the agenda of Monday's Board of Directors meeting. There is a possibility that a successor will already be appointed on Monday, Baumeler said. However, this was not communicated anywhere. The position was also not advertised internally or externally.
The story is controversial for the following reason: the Board of Directors is not allowed to appoint the radio director itself. It is only responsible for the proposal. The radio director is elected by the SRG Regional Council. However, this is precisely what the SRG bosses apparently want to circumvent with their actions. Officially, the new director is apparently only to be elected "ad interim". Legally, this is supposedly possible without the usual procedure. The reasoning: the new radio director "only" has a term of office of one and a half years. After that, a super director is to be appointed to replace the television and radio directors. This person will then be in charge of both media.
The planned approach of the SRG bosses is meeting with fierce resistance. "Assuming that the Board of Directors has actually planned it this way, it bears exactly the same hallmarks as the haggling over the new radio and TV super director in March," Andreas Schefer, President of SRG Bern Fribourg Valais, told the Berner Zeitung. At the time, SRG Director General Armin Walpen wanted to promote TV Director Ingrid Deltenre directly to the position of Super Director without a proper election procedure. Due to public pressure, the SRG bosses had to abandon their plan.
The move by the Board of Directors is also viewed critically in the editorial offices of Radio DRS: "If Iso Rechsteiner becomes radio director, this will weaken radio in relation to television from the outset," a long-standing editor at Radio DRS is quoted as saying. If an old director is replaced by a young, inexperienced one, this will not exactly strengthen the position of radio in the merger of the two media.

In order to achieve these savings, adjustments to the VAT reform, the Postal Services Act or the education reform in favor of journalism training are necessary, Lebrument said in today's edition on Friday.
However, Lebrument went on to say that if parliament decided on better framework conditions, this would certainly be accompanied by restrictions. Levers would be built in that would not only please the very large media companies: A publisher should not expect profits to be too large. Anyone looking to maximize profits would have to change sectors. Economic size associated with the publishing business will no longer be accepted at some point due to the lack of independence. With this vote, the publisher of the newspaper Die Südostschweiz is supporting small and medium-sized publishers.
In the interview, Lebrument also speaks out against an article on media diversity in the constitution. Such an article would only result in an artificially imposed media diversity. It is the publishers' job to ensure that the titles remain distinguishable.
Despite the 400 or so jobs that have been cut in the Swiss journalism industry in recent months, Lebrument does not see the situation as dramatic. The editorial offices are still large enough to provide a public service. They should concentrate on this core task and narrow down their current overly broad range of topics, Lebrument demands. He does not believe that the newspapers would lose readers as a result.

The founder of Qvest magazine, Constantin Rothenburg, has launched a new magazine. With the topics of business, politics and society, "the magazine about people and brands", as Rothenburg defines it, aims to fill the gaps left by Vanity Fair and Park Avenue. The green-tinted first issue is adorned with a grey-green Prince Charles, who is presented under the title "The Green Conservative".
The title refers to two long stories about the commitment of the heir to the British throne and other aristocrats to ecology and sustainable development. The editorial team around Rothenburg is an original mix. With no recognizable departmental structure, photo portfolios and reports on fashion, design and lifestyle are juxtaposed with researched stories about the confusing olive oil market and success stories from Saxony, the underrated German state, Nzzonline.ch describes the new magazine.
After the magazine appeared on newsstands on Wednesday, Meedia.de asked whether the new magazine really closes the gap left by Vanity Fair and Park Avenue and concluded: "At 3.50 euros, the comparatively inexpensive Quality does a lot of things well, but is no better than the competition.

Rainer Heneis becomes the new head of marketing at Sat1. He takes over from Claudia Zellerhof at the beginning of July. Heneis was most recently in charge of marketing at sister station Kabel1. Before that, he worked for RTL2, producer MME and Deutsche Bahn, among others.
Also in early July, Martin Trepte will take over as head of controlling at the station. The former Prosieben production manager will join Sat1 as head of production, and the former deputy youth protection officer at Prosieben, Markus Gaitzsch, will become the new youth protection officer at Sat1. The station, which is currently moving its headquarters from Berlin to Munich, thus completes its top management reorganization.

"Hopefully our chiefs will read it before the head of the cavalry does." This topical allusion stands next to the picture of a Peer Steinbrück engrossed in reading "The Blocher Principle". Ruf Lanz designed this advertising motif for Meier Buchverlag to mark the sale of around 27,000 copies of the book.
The subject appears in NZZ, Weltwoche and persönlich blau.
In "The Blocher Principle", Christoph Blocher presents his leadership philosophy and principles in discussions with the journalist Matthias Ackeret. The book, launched in 2007, is now in its 4th edition
Responsible for the Blocher principle: Christoph Blocher (overall responsibility), Walter Eberle (project management), Norbert Neininger, Matthias Ackeret (advertising management). Responsible at Ruf Lanz Zurich: Markus Ruf, Danielle Lanz (Creative Direction), Marcel Schläfle (Art Direction), Markus Ruf (Text), Michèle Leibacher (Consulting). Image editing: Patrik Rohner.

The interest group Poster Space Society has expressed criticism of the announcements on the day of advertising. The fight against the advertising bans is considered inappropriate.
With the personnel changes in the Swiss Advertising Association SW, the IG PRG hopes for a breath of fresh air and a departure from an economic liberalism that is out of touch with reality, the IG said in a statement. It is disillusioned to note that the Swiss advertising industry continues to focus on the fight against advertising bans. Advertising, however, is less a right than a privilege. Advertising bans targeting specific content may not be an effective means of getting a grip on advertising. However, the fixation on this issue and the attack on dissenters would show that the advertising industry has so far not been able to solve the problem within the industry.

The University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW has announced the Corporate Communications Award for the fifth time this year. Communication concepts that are implemented by July 2009 can be submitted for the Awards-CC. Entries for the competition with the category prize Media Relations are possible until the end of May, the deadline for the submission of concepts and inserts is July 31, 2009. The award ceremony will take place on September 10, 2009, as part of the Swiss Forum for Integrated Communication, at the School of Business of the FHNW University of Applied Sciences.
The QR code is now being used in award communication. This square code consisting of a pixel pattern can be scanned by owners of new mobile devices. They are then taken directly to the Award-CC website and receive all the important information about the "Prize for Integrated Communication". The QR code is initially advertised in the advertisements and leaflets.

The Editor-in-Chief of the Willisauer Boten/Wiggertaler Boten, Josef J. Zihlmann, is stepping down as Editor-in-Chief at the end of June. However, he will remain with the company as Managing Director. He will be succeeded as Editor-in-Chief by his former deputy Stefan Calivers.
Josef Zihlmann joined the Willisauer Bote in 1976 after studying German and philosophy at the University of Fribourg. 11 years later, he took over as the Canton of Lucerne's representative for culture and youth issues and returned to the Willisauer Boten after two years as editor-in-chief. Around nine years ago, Zihlmann also took over the management of the publishing house and, in 2007, the management of the Willisauer Bote Medien und Print cooperative and its subsidiary SWS Medien Verlag. This subsidiary produces the Willisauer Bote, the Wiggertaler Bote and the Seetaler Bote on behalf of the WB cooperative. Zihlmann will continue to work as managing director of these two companies.
The Board of Directors has elected Stefan Calivers as the new Editor-in-Chief. After studying German and history at the University of Berne, he had already worked for the newspaper as a freelancer for a number of years before becoming its editor in 1989. Since the 1990s, Stefan Calivers has been deputy editor-in-chief and editorial director and, since 2004, also head of the Canton of Lucerne department.
The Willisauer Bote and the Wiggertaler Bote are published twice a week, while the Seetaler Bote is printed once a week.