Now that the Institute for Applied Media Studies IAM has left DJ Radio, Music First wants the license for itself. As Managing Director of Radio 105 and initiator of Music First, Giuseppe Scaglione, writes in a press release, the withdrawal of the IAM means that the most important basis for the licensing of DJ Radio at the time no longer applies. Consequently, the license was to be awarded to the applicant who had fulfilled all licensing requirements: Music First.
 
The city and cantonal governments, advertising associations, the music industry and numerous representatives from the youth and cultural scene supported Music First. Radio 24 and Radio Zürisee were massively opposed. Radio Energy campaigned for DJ Rradio to be granted a license.
 
The IAM had planned to employ the students as interns at Zurich Youth Radio and use them to provide the program. However, as a complaint from Music First () put the license on hold for the time being, the Institute of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur dropped out of the project. It is unclear whether and how the DJ Radio project will continue. According to Bakom, cooperation with the IAM was important when granting the license.

PR and communications agency Burson-Marsteller and technology partner NetBreeze are launching Web Rep. The tool is designed to help develop more effective online strategies.   
Many companies are in the dark when it comes to developing online strategies. Although they know
They know that online presence has become an important factor - but how can measures be planned and evaluated for the rapidly changing digital sector? They can only speculate about the reputation of a corporate brand of individual products, services or exponents on the Internet. Many a planner has therefore wished for a method that provides reliable indications. With the launch of Web Rep, Burson-Marsteller is meeting this need. According to the company's press release, the tool can perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of a specific topic area. To do this, it combs through the most important blogs, forums, newsgroups and sites as well as their content and identifies the relevant topics. A concrete strategy can be defined on the basis of the analysis, writes Burson Masteller.
In practice, employees from Burson-Marsteller and NetBreeze then develop the relevant questions for the reputation measurement together with the customer. This enables companies to use the Internet as a reflection of social sentiment. The new media enable a direct and continuous dialog with all stakeholders. Web Rep should help to develop the right strategy and tone of voice to help companies achieve digital credibility.

One sure way to get the attention of media creators is to write about them. To do that, of course, someone first has to announce something newsworthy about the writers' guild. This time, that honor falls to Michael Grabner, head of Germany's Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, which publishes the German Financial Times, among other publications. He spoke plainly in Thursday's Tagesanzeiger, so plainly that the SDA ran his words over the ticker early the same morning with the quote title "Journalists too often write past the audience.  
Mr. Grabner does away with the image of the pondering, digging-for-topics journalist and in return prescribes more customer orientation for the profession. In the future, before journalists start typing, they must always be clear about the purpose of the article they are writing. Informational benefit? Entertainment benefit? Or service benefit? In today's practice, the publishing man finds too many journalists who are too noble to extrapolate the utility value of their outpourings, and so the audience becomes unduly bored. The sole blame, however, lies not only with the noble journos, but also and above all with the political organizations that incessantly bombard the editorial offices with news. And this political news is simply not what people want. So let's look forward to a cost-true, utility-enhanced, politics-poor media world.

The sponsoring association FASPO is presenting the Sponsoring Award. It is looking for the most creative sponsoring concepts in the German-speaking world. The awards are presented in these categories: Sport, Culture, Media, and Public (Social, Environment, Education). There is also a special award for the most innovative sponsoring approach overall. The most important criteria are sponsorship success, innovative and strategic networking and the mutual benefit for sponsor and sponsored party.
The FASP calls on all market participants to propose sponsorship projects worthy of support. These will join the projects submitted by the jury itself. The deadline for applications is November 30 of this year. The tender documents with further details can be obtained from the address below. The award ceremony will take place on January 16, 2006 in a public setting.

The annual congress of the Swiss press, known as the Publishers' Congress, kicked off on Thursday lunchtime in St. Moritz at the five-star Hotel Kulm with a small welcome snack. This was followed by the members' meeting before Publisher President Hanspeter Lebrument officially opened the congress with his speech at Badrutt's Palace in the evening. The event concluded with a rustic and informal evening in the Chesa Veglia.
Werbewoche asked some of the guests about their expectations for this year's congress: Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Publishers Association and owner of the Southeast Swiss media conglomerate: "I suspect that this year's congress will be rather quiet, because the big debates, such as on radio and television or press promotion, have been passed on to politicians as proposals." We don't yet know what the outcome will be, and of course Lebrument also expects one or two surprising questions to be asked at the congress. And he was absolutely right, because at the members' meeting following the welcome lunch, Brienz publisher Urs Gossweiler fired a few broadsides at the President. Gossweiler, who likes to play the role of the white knight of small publishers, accused the Executive Committee of one-sidedness.
Daniel Strobel, CEO of Publimedia, expects open-minded discussions about the upcoming problems, especially in the print media, and refers to the ongoing discussions about the online problem regarding the discrepancy in volumes, not in terms of content, but financially. Strobel concludes his statement by emphasizing the value of print media; efforts that concern not only Switzerland, but Europe as a whole.
Christoph Ackermann, member of the WOZ Executive Board and attending the Publishers' Congress for the first time, is naturally expecting a very positive before-and-after contact balance thanks to his premiere. Ackermann has no precise idea what to expect during the meeting. "But I am looking forward to a large number of inspiring encounters," concludes Ackermann.
Urs Schnider, Editor-in-Chief of Media Trend Journal, expects many good and informal discussions, not least because of the article "Endgame for daily newspapers" in the September issue of Media Trend Journal, which caused quite a stir in some quarters. "I'm curious to see what other people have to say about it," says Schnider. And last but not least, he is of course attending because of Matthias Luchsinger's party.

The website of SRG subsidiary and advertising marketer Publisuisse has undergone a content and visual facelift. According to a press release, the online presence now offers a range of new content, greatly simplified user guidance, logically structured links and an improved search function.  
In the new factsheets on the programs, readers can find planning-relevant information such as program descriptions, broadcast dates, planned and actual viewer performance and advertising rates. Thanks to continuous updating, they are always up to date. The research section has been expanded and enables daily analyses of market shares and ratings. The fortnightly newsletter "Publisuisse News" has been adapted to the new structure and design of the website.

At the general meeting of the Swiss Press Association (VSP) in St. Moritz on Thursday, it became clear that the Swiss Press Council, the body for self-regulation of the print media, and the publishers are talking to each other again. In mid-October, both sides want to start talks on the controversial admission of publishers to the Press Council. A year ago, the fronts were still hardened, but now a meeting is planned. 
 
Publishers' initiative The publishers then took the initiative to set up their own self-regulatory body. A few weeks ago, the Board of Trustees of the Press Council approached the publishers with a view to holding joint talks on a seat, Guido Blumer, publisher of the Winterthur Stadtblatt, told SDA. Swiss television had also been invited. The publishers are aiming for cooperation in media ethics with substantial representation on the Press Council. However, the publishers reject a junction with a CLA containing minimum wages. 
 
Indirect press subsidies to be retained Publishers want to continue to fight for indirect press subsidies to be retained. At the end of 2007, the current funding of CHF 80 million for the delivery of newspapers by post will expire. "There are justified hopes that the indirect press subsidy will be maintained beyond 2008," said Tamedia CEO Martin Kall. Should it be discontinued, this would have major financial consequences, especially for small newspapers. 
 
Trade unions open to talks The trade unions, which are represented on the Press Council and rejected the publishers' initiative last year, are open to talks. However, they do not want to compromise on ethics, as Impressum Central Secretary Urs Thalmann said. 
 
The "Newspaper at School" project, which was launched around two years ago, is also a complete success. More than 400 classes have taken part in this project so far. The aim of this initiative is to introduce young people to reading newspapers. The Swiss newspaper publishers send the newspaper to the pupils in a class for several weeks, and also to their homes at weekends. With the consent of the education authorities, editors discuss the texts with the pupils. The project, which has been launched in several cantons, has met with great enthusiasm from parents, pupils and teachers, but also from editors, Toni Vetterli, Head of Marketing at the Swiss Press Association, told SDA in St. Moritz on Thursday.
 

Keystone and the Swiss Football Association (SFV) are entering into a partnership. As an official supplier, the photo agency will produce images exclusively for the sports association with immediate effect. This applies to all image material for the association and its sponsors, as detailed in a press release. Keystone photographers accompany the national teams to all international matches. They are responsible for portraits of the players and team shots. Keystone already works together with Swiss Olympic and Schweizer Sporthilfe.

The Association of Swiss Private Radio Stations and the Union Romande des Radios Régionales are launching the Forum Digitalradio Schweiz-Suisse-Switzerland. The aim is to ensure that the discussion about digital radio broadcasting channels does not remain focused on individual technologies. As an internationally networked platform, the Swiss Digital Radio Forum aims to provide information on new digital technologies and serve as a place for exchanging opinions. It also wants to help "ensure that the right solutions are created and implemented in Switzerland at the right time". This was reported by Sda, citing a communiqué from the private radio stations.
The Swiss Digital Radio Forum aims to bring together all market partners: private and public radio stations, providers of transmission technology and receivers as well as the advertising industry (customers, agencies, intermediaries). The timing for the marketable introduction of new technologies will be discussed together. The new organization will also maintain contact with the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) and television broadcasters. The Digital Radio Forum will draw up recommendations and consultation contributions.
In mid-August, OFCOM invited tenders for three radio licenses for German-speaking Switzerland. The aim of the tender is to expand the range of new terrestrial radio stations based on T-DAB (terrestrial Digital Audio Broadcasting) technology (see
). Based on this decision, comparable decisions will have to be made in Switzerland and Europe, the private radio stations write.

Sat.1 Switzerland is now also launching its own casting show. Together with Sony Ericsson and Orange, the TV station is looking for the best newcomer band in Switzerland from the end of October in the program "MobileAct - die Bandshow".  
The Sat.1 press release emphasizes that, unlike other casting formats, the new show will focus on "real" bands that have already found their own style. The participants will play on a tour in four Swiss cities and are to acquire industry knowledge from producers, marketing and mobile content experts. In the eight-part show, two finalists will be selected from all the applicants, who will have to prove themselves in front of the Swiss TV audience and the jury. The winning group will perform as the opening act at Christina Aguilera's concert in Zurich's Hallenstadion. Aguliera is the global marketing partner of Sony Ericsson and Orange.
 
MobileAct" is produced by RingierTV. The concept includes a close link with the online and mobile sectors. According to Marc Görtz, Managing Director of RingierTV, the show is intended to be an example of "how the various platforms will interact in a convergent world in the future".

The online marketer Adlink is placing a stronger emphasis on search engine marketing and is bringing Kate Burns on board for this purpose. Burns is the former managing director of Google UK, Benelux and Ireland and was the first Google employee outside the USA. She brings with her the best know-how and experience in search engine marketing, according to a press release. Burns will work for Adlink in the UK and internationally and is expected to drive forward the company's market position in the field of search engine marketing. According to the press release, Adlink has already been a leader in this field in Switzerland and Austria for some time. This is partly thanks to the cooperation with Goldbach Media's sister company Suchtreffer in Germany. Adlink will also be discussing search engine marketing on Online Advertising Day 2006, which takes place on October 4. A member of the management of Suchtreffer will explain why search engine marketing is important for professional website management and for optimizing online campaigns.

The western Swiss publishing house Edipresse Groupe grew successfully in the first half of the year. The strategy of launching new titles in Switzerland and abroad has paid off. The figures reported by Edipresse on Thursday confirm this: At CHF 444,437,000, the Group's total turnover is up 0.5 percent on the previous year. The operating result before depreciation even climbed by 43 percent to 40,193,000 francs. The increase in the net result is slightly lower due to tax and a value adjustment: by 2.4 percent to 11,199,000 francs. According to Edipresse, the main reason for the good result is worthwhile new launches in Switzerland and abroad.
The free newspaper Le Matin Bleu, launched in October 2005, positioned itself as the market leader right from the start (see
). The most successful free newspaper continues to grow rapidly: it has currently reached a circulation of CHF 150,000 and has exceeded its advertising revenue targets. In the domestic market, Edipresse also implemented its strategy of centralizing newspaper printing and acquired a stake in the Swiss Printers Group (see ). Commitment in the East strengthened, expansion into AsiaEastern Europe in particular is proving to be a favorable environment for Edipresse's international business. Together with its Russian subsidiary, the publishing house in western Switzerland was able to increase its sales of existing titles and launch new titles.
to expand its leading position in the magazine market, which is why this strategy is being consistently pursued (see ). Developments in Spain and Portugal, where the weakening magazine market is currently forcing the publishing group to undertake cost-intensive restructuring measures, were less encouraging. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Edipresse acquired Communication Management Limited, which operates in seven Asian countries, and is thus aiming for the world's most economically dynamic markets.