The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) has to make further cuts and all department heads have been asked to explain in writing by the end of June how they intend to contribute to a new round of savings. According to the SonntagsZeitung (SoZ), redundancies are unavoidable. NZZ Editor-in-Chief and Chairman of the Executive Board Hugo Bütler confirmed the savings program to the SoZ. However, the scope of the program for the NZZ editorial team is less than the five million francs that the SoZ claims to have heard about. It also knew that the Board of Directors of the NZZ Group is asking the management to think about the future management structure.

Private radio Top boss Günter Heuberger is now also expanding beyond the Lake Constance region with the cable station Top Two.WW Other radio stations are discontinuing their secondary cable radio stations, but you are not only sticking with Top Two, but also want to broadcast internationally - why?
Günter Heuberger You can't optimally reach a regional audience with one program. The needs of the various age groups are too different. A station therefore needs two or even three programs.
Top Two has been broadcasting for some time now.
However, they do not publish any Radiocontrol figures. How many listeners does Top Two have?
The figures are rising steadily from a low level: Top Two reached 11900 listeners in the first half of 2002, 13500 in the second half of the year and in the first half of 2003 it is likely to be a good 15500 listeners. However, the hourly reach from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. is interesting: Top Two reaches twice as many listeners then. This is because we are broadcasting a kind of Eastern Swiss "Echo der Zeit" at this time (see box). There is obviously a growing number of people who are developing a kind of Eastern Swiss identity.
But you won't just want to create an identity with Top Two? we're sticking with Top Two for other reasons: radio usage in general is declining, possibly because our current main target group, young people, are increasingly meeting their entertainment and information needs elsewhere. In the event that young listeners turn away even more from the medium of radio and thus also from Top, I am already working on the possibility of moving Top Two from cable to FM - and conversely Radio Top to cable - as an already well-known and accepted second station.
In contrast to other private radio stations, you have so far refrained from changing the format of Radio Top and instead expect your audience to change channels if necessary.
That's right, because we reached our target audience well right from the start. I am pursuing a different strategy to most of my private radio colleagues: We want a second program so that we can make a format change in the long term. But not by changing the main program, but by swapping channels. I want more flexibility when it comes to format changes.
Why do you need the international license? Who wants to listen to Top Two in Vorarlberg or southern Germany?
With the first Radio Top program, we are already on the cables of the Euregio Bodensee. We are now following suit with Top Two. We are convinced that the Euregio Bodensee will gradually become a superordinate communication area. We want to be part of this from the very beginning, even if we don't yet pick up many listeners there and don't yet have a solution in terms of radio data.
Foreign stations are constantly losing listeners in Eastern Switzerland. That should deter you from expanding abroad.
Radio 7, Bayern 3, Ö3, SWR and Antenne Vorarlberg are losing listeners because they had a disproportionately good presence in Eastern Switzerland in the years before Radio Top. We, on the other hand, have a need to catch up abroad. We will certainly never achieve market dominance, but the leader in Eastern Switzerland will not remain in last place in Southern Germany and Vorarlberg.
How difficult is it to get into the cable networks? less so in Germany, because you have to buy into the cable networks with money. The sale of the Telekom cable networks has created a new market situation.
What does the expansion cost? A six-figure sum every year. We try to acquire advertising and sponsorship, but that won't cover our costs either. This will hardly change in the next five years.
Günter Heuberger: Also think about moving with ducts. For two years
on air
The cable station Top Two has been broadcasting since October 2000 and targets 30 to 50-year-old listeners with mainstream oldies music (music from the sixties and seventies). Every hour, it broadcasts Radio Top's news bulletins and, from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., a compilation of the news from all three Top regional windows - without music or advertising. (mk)
Interview: Markus Knöpfli

Advertising statistics According to Media Focus, gross advertising expenditure in Switzerland fell by 3.3% in April compared to the same month last year, the best result so far this year. Daily newspapers in particular lost 1.7 percent less than in the first three months of the year. Posters even increased for the first time this year, by 2.4 percent. The picture is less rosy for consumer and trade magazines (minus 5.5 % and minus 11.6 % respectively). Television also recorded losses (7.4 %). Radio (3.3 %) and cinema (36.8 %) continued to show an upward trend. Internet advertising expenditure is reported at CHF 723,000, which is 30.7 percent less than in April 2002.

The Lucerne-based communications agency Ottiger & Partner is responsible for overall communications and PR for the D4 business and innovation center that Suva is opening in Root LU, as well as for communications for the machine tool dealer M+M in Cham and corporate identity for the regional development association Chance Rontal and the interest group Sport Luzern plus.

The local radio station Radio Zürisee from Rapperswil has entrusted Soldini Bienenfeld with its advertising budget, and the Zurich advertising agency, known for its involvement in the radio spot award Das goldene Ohr (The Golden Ear) among other things, won the pitch. The previous budget holder was Hesskiss. According to a press release, Radio Zürisee is planning a large, complex image campaign between Zurich and Glarus this year. Advertisements, cinema and TV spots will be used. Soldini Bienenfeld is producing the commercials together with filmmaker and photographer Alberto Venzago. The campaign is expected to be launched at the end of June.

The Swiss Interactive Media and Software Association (Simsa) invites you to a Late Afternoon Talk on "old new media myths" with Professor Otfried Jarren, Director of the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. He will talk about criticism of prevailing e-world ideas. The talk will take place on June 17 from 5.15 p.m. at the Widder Hotel in Zurich. Non-Simsa members pay a participation fee of 60 francs. Further information can be found at www.simsa.ch.

Press Ringier is definitely outsourcing the editorial department of Cash Value and has awarded the contract to Heini Lüthy, the current production manager of the monthly supplement, who will set up a new company, said Cash publishing director Thomas Passen. The outsourcing will affect 5.7 jobs.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Finanz und Wirtschaft (FuW), the favorite newspaper of Swiss bankers, and it goes without saying that it will not only be celebrated with a comprehensive and very readable special edition - it will also review the history of the title and give a voice to business luminaries such as Helmut Maucher, Nikolaus Senn, Michael Kohn and countless others. But there will also be a big party, with good food, plenty to drink, good sound, star music guests from the advertising and media industry and a competition with the new FuW tool (1st prize: a page of advertisements), as publisher Gerhart Isler already promised in the invitation to the birthday party. On the other hand, there would certainly not be a stiff atmosphere, an evening of neckties, seating arrangements, long speeches and an official program, he also promised. Apart from the FuW crew, most of the guests came in suits and ties, but otherwise the hosts' predictions came true one hundred percent. With grilled sausages in all variations, from chili crackers to vegetable sausages, you could satisfy your hunger. Those who still hadn't had enough could then indulge in the freshly prepared porcini mushroom risotto from the large pan. Mövenpick ice cream was served directly from the ice cream van in freshly baked waffle cones and cold beer was tapped at the FuW bar, which was specially made for the event. There was also a smooth white wine and a palatable red wine.
Gino Todesco from the NJP recording studio provided the supporting musical program with a three-piece combo, which was also peppered with a number of surprise guests. The first intermezzo was the in-house FuW band (including a female accompanying choir), which was occasionally reinforced by Isler with a trumpeting garden hose - the gardener's counterpart to the singing saw - or as an Appenzell talerschwinger. Hats off to the mature musical performance of the publishing house staff. Former FuW editor and current columnist René Bondt didn't need to be asked twice and hammered out a snappy ragtime tune. Last but not least, there was a wonderful duet by Todesco and Robi Weber, during which the two piano virtuosos managed to switch instruments in a seamless transition.
The competition with the new FuW tool, which was announced with much anticipatory praise, turned out to be neither a GRP lightning calculation competition between media specialists nor a stock market game, but a fun yoyo competition. And just like share trading, the yoyo game is constantly going up and down. The aim would have been to swing the yoyos as synchronously as possible in groups - ideally with a little dance or acrobatic interlude. To the general amusement of the spectators, this proved to be more than just tricky. To be fair, however, everyone had to have a go and could turn themselves into a yoyo clown.
There was also the obligatory speech by the host, but as announced, it was kept short and sweet. Throughout the history of finance and economics, everything has actually been organized by the company itself, Isler pointed out, referring to the publication's long self-made tradition. And FuW also stands for "festivals and competitions", Isler continued. Be it reader or public events such as the FuW Balloon Day, the overwhelming success of which the publisher still raves about today, or the many small and large events for customers and clients, from Jass to golf tournaments; the domicile was not even built by the publisher itself, but was at least planned internally before the architect was briefed. The company did not want to deviate from this tradition for this anniversary either. The guests found the party uncomplicated and somewhat hand-knitted, but all the more informal and friendly. Even a home-made TV commercial by the FuW crew emerged from the stock and could be inspected - although, with hindsight and in all sobriety, the work of creating the commercial would perhaps have been better delegated to a specialist.
Because last week's second event was a genuine Bavarian-Free State morning meal with original ingredients, we are reporting on it in the local language for a change (with simultaneous translation, of course):
Last week, Soldini Mark and the award-winning Bienenfeld Frank had a great time - (Mark Soldini and the non-Bavarian Frank Bienenfeld from the agency of the same name also hosted a small party last week). The communication experts from Greitzblotz, the misrabligen, invited their customers and a number of friends for a snack. (Clients and friends of the company met at 11 a.m. at the agency on Kreuzplatz, which is currently an ugly construction site). The food was served very fresh, as such a fool with two hundred and fifty socks has grown up in Switzerland. (The food was sent fresh from the sausage factory by courier to Switzerland early in the morning). Zutzln or schäln, that was one of the questions that the Geckn and s'Weibsvolk had to answer. (How to treat the white sausages correctly - to remove them from one side or cut them open - was one of the questions that occupied the ladies and gentlemen present). We ate the sausages from Minga with pretzels, real mustard and a thin slice of wheat, just like at the Oktoberfest. (The original Munich white sausages were of course served with pretzels, sweet mustard and a nice glass of wheat beer, almost like at the Oktoberfest). So gmiadli woas, dös se dia Madln und Mannsbilder d'Wampn gonz schee gfuilt homn. (Because the atmosphere was so good, the appetite was also accordingly). And because it was so bad outside, and so nice inside with the two boys, the two doggies, the suffering had a nice leather jacket and so they sat down for a good time. (Because the sun wasn't exactly beckoning outside and the two clever hosts had apparently hit the mark with their idea, the guests lingered for quite a long time before getting back to work). And there's one thing that everyone knows anyway: A liaba zuvui drunga ois zwenig gessn. (In conclusion, the guests were unanimous: good food and drink keeps body and soul together).
Good old times: FuW's own Hermes Ambassador.
Beat Fritsch immerses himself in the anniversary edition of Finanz und Wirtschaft, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. However, the extremely exciting Extrablatt was not the only activity that the publishing house developed to mark the occasion - there was also a big party, of course. The Soldini Bienenfeld agency offered a rather unusual event - its owners invited guests to an original Munich Weisswurst feast last week. With success, it seems - the author of this column has only been speaking Bavarian ever since.
Where the communications, media and publishing scene meets for its events, we locate at the most diverse events. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keys ([email protected]). Event tips and more shortlist pictures are available online at www.werbewoche.ch.

CityNightLine (CNL) AG has entrusted McCann-Erickson Switzerland with its communications. McCann is realizing a campaign that will be shown in Switzerland and Germany in July. Universal-McCann Switzerland is acting as media agency. CNL operates night trains of the same name between Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. The company is owned by Deutsche Bahn, but has its headquarters in Zurich.

Media Goldbach Media made a loss of almost 17 million Swiss francs in its second year. "We are aiming for a balanced result in 2002 and a profit for the first time in 2003." Goldbach Media declared this in June last year. But things turned out differently. In its second year of existence, it increased sales by CHF 26.4 million to CHF 141.7 million, but the loss almost doubled to CHF 16.8 million. The increase in turnover is attributable to TV and radio marketing. Gross TV sales rose by 30 percent to CHF 107.1 million, while radio sales even increased by 49.5 percent to CHF 20.8 million. The Internet business, on the other hand, fell by 29 percent to CHF 13.7 million.High write-downsThe reasons for the high loss are manifold: firstly, Goldbach was still expecting extraordinary income from a strategic partnership last year, which did not materialize after all. Furthermore, double-digit revenues were lost due to the portal collapse, which is why the content division (Moneycab and Swisscontent) was sold off, resulting in write-downs of seven million francs. Various extraordinary expenses (an additional tax payment, the discontinuation of Active Agent Germany and the short-term cancellation of portal contracts) tore a hole of CHF 9.6 million in the cash register. Conversely, the sale of B&J Fastline, Radio Eviva and an advance payment from NRJ for the stake in Radio Z were reflected in the financial result with income totaling CHF 8.8 million.
Goldbach has now reduced costs by 40 percent. Together with further sales increases in the double-digit percentage range, Kappeler expects a balanced result for this year.
Goldbach Media in figures(in CHF million)
2001 2002 Change in %
Group sales 115.3 141.7 +22.9
Gross profit 37.4 36.1 -3.6
Depreciation, amortization and impairment -4.2 -16.6 -298.6
Group result -9.4 -16.8 -78.2
Full-time and part-time positions 341 199 -41.6
Markus Knöpfli

Private radio The Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) has opened the tender for a new youth radio station in Zurich. Applications will be accepted until August 27 and the station will be aimed at 15 to 24-year-olds. Applicants should submit their own proposals on how to ensure that the music profile is youth-oriented and how their program should be structured in the areas of news, youth culture and services. The Federal Council is expected to decide on the award in winter 2003/04.

To prove that good advertising is also done west of Zurich, Publicitas Bern is awarding the "Urs" advertising prize for the tenth time in the categories "Best small Bernese advertisement", "Best local Bernese advertisement" and "Best national Bernese advertisement". Advertising clients, advertising agencies, advertisers and designers based in the canton of Bern are eligible to enter. The advertisements must have appeared at least once in the press between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2003. The prize will be awarded on September 4; the closing date for entries is June 16. The call for entries can be obtained from Martin Bürki, [email protected] or by calling 031 384 11 11.