Virus sends from envelope with abundance
It has only been on the air for 14 months and already has the most modern studio in German-speaking Switzerland: we’re talking about DRS Radio Virus, which inaugurated its fully digital, 4.5 million francs studio on January 18.
It has only been on air for 14 months and already has the most modern studio in German-speaking Switzerland: we are talking about DRS Radio Virus, which inaugurated its fully digital studio costing 4.5 million Swiss francs on January 18, but neither the toast to the latest technology nor Virus program director François Mürner's carefree optimism could distract from the fact that the young station (annual operating budget: 2.75 million Swiss francs) is facing problems: The expansion of digital radio (DAB) has been suspended for months - although Virus had placed so much faith in this concept when it launched. The receivers are still too expensive and too user-unfriendly. What's more, Virus is far from being present in all cable networks. Only around half of the 2.5 million cable households in German-speaking Switzerland can receive the station. However, DRS radio director Walter Rüegg wants to "get to grips with this problem by the end of the year". And although he was told off by the Federal Office of Communications last summer, he will sooner or later resume the "Fight for Frequency" (fight for an FM frequency), he says. Nevertheless, a large proportion of the data produced digitally by Virus is currently going unheard and unheeded.
Virus talks professionally
his numbers nice
This finding is not altered by the fact that Mürner trumpets a figure which, according to Publica Data, he should keep under wraps because it was collected differently from the radio study: according to a Konso survey (1,300 telephone interviews), Virus reached 300,000 people aged 15 and over in the widest audience last September.
This figure does not say much, and above all it does not say how often and for how long the station is used. Moreover, it is pretty worthless without the figure from Radio 105, which was also collected by Konso. And nobody gives that out. Heinrich Anker, media officer at Radio DRS, at least says this much: "After one year, we are still lagging behind Radio 105 with its two-year head start."
PR statements such as "Virus will...continue to set the tone in the youth scene" (press release) are therefore implausible. Others such as "The DAB expansion is progressing rapidly" (www.virus.ch) sound downright hollow and raise the question of whether Virus places more emphasis on the all-digital shell than on content or whether it is deliberately glossing over. Anyone who has experienced François Mürner live is more likely to guess the latter (mk).
Virus talks professionally
his numbers nice
This finding is not altered by the fact that Mürner trumpets a figure which, according to Publica Data, he should keep under wraps because it was collected differently from the radio study: according to a Konso survey (1,300 telephone interviews), Virus reached 300,000 people aged 15 and over in the widest audience last September.
This figure does not say much, and above all it does not say how often and for how long the station is used. Moreover, it is pretty worthless without the figure from Radio 105, which was also collected by Konso. And nobody gives that out. Heinrich Anker, media officer at Radio DRS, at least says this much: "After one year, we are still lagging behind Radio 105 with its two-year head start."
PR statements such as "Virus will...continue to set the tone in the youth scene" (press release) are therefore implausible. Others such as "The DAB expansion is progressing rapidly" (www.virus.ch) sound downright hollow and raise the question of whether Virus places more emphasis on the all-digital shell than on content or whether it is deliberately glossing over. Anyone who has experienced François Mürner live is more likely to guess the latter (mk).
