Schawinski also wants to do radio in Aargau
In addition to Radio 1 in Zurich, Roger Schawinski now has plans for the canton of Aargau as well: With «Radio AG,» he plans to launch a new local radio station in Aargau. Schawinski intends to apply for a license for this station, thereby directly challenging Radio Argovia, owned by AZ Medien: The former pirate radio host aims to break Peter Wanner’s media monopoly.
In addition to Radio 1 in Zurich, Roger Schawinski also wants to go on air in the canton of Aargau: With "Radio AG", he is planning to launch a new local radio station in Aargau. He is applying for a license with the station; the application must be submitted to the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) by next Wednesday. The new station is aimed at listeners aged between 14 and 60. As Schawinski announced on Sunday, Radio AG will place a strong emphasis on spoken word programs such as talk shows, background programs and radio plays. Two people from Aargau are on board at Radio AG: Heinz Lang, former program director of Tele M1 and member of the editorial board of RTL/ProSieben Schweiz, and Christoph Bürge. The latter was head of entertainment at Swiss Television and TV 3, and is now head of a radio and television group in Romania. As Bürge told the Sonntagszeitung, Radio AG should not be a "Zurich station for Aargau residents". Schawinski wants to make the employees of Radio Argovia a takeover offer if he receives the license from the federal government.
Radio Argovia is also the station that is being directly attacked by Schawinski's new plans. According to the former radio pioneer himself, he is directly targeting the radio, TV and newspaper monopoly of Peter Wanner's AZ Medien Group. "Aargau is one of the last multimedia monopolies in the world that is controlled by a single person," says Schawinski. He now wants to break this monopoly: "I have dedicated my entire professional life to the fight against monopolies," the former Sat.1 boss told the Sonntagszeitung.
Radio AG is to offer a journalistically independent and qualitatively better product than Radio Argovia, Schawinski further announced. The financial, professional and personnel resources are available for this. The federal government will only award one license in Aargau. There is no doubt that Radio Argovia will also apply for this. According to the new RTVA, in the event of equal applications for a radio license, the provider that most enriches the diversity of opinion and offerings should be awarded the license. The Sonntagszeitung concludes from this that the federal government would have to award the license to Schawinski if Radio Argovia and Radio AG submit equivalent applications.
Schawinski's attack puts Wanner under further pressure: from next Wednesday, he will have to live with stronger competition from the daily newspapers: Tamedia will then launch the free newspaper News, which will be published with a large circulation in the Mittelland.
Radio Argovia is also the station that is being directly attacked by Schawinski's new plans. According to the former radio pioneer himself, he is directly targeting the radio, TV and newspaper monopoly of Peter Wanner's AZ Medien Group. "Aargau is one of the last multimedia monopolies in the world that is controlled by a single person," says Schawinski. He now wants to break this monopoly: "I have dedicated my entire professional life to the fight against monopolies," the former Sat.1 boss told the Sonntagszeitung.
Radio AG is to offer a journalistically independent and qualitatively better product than Radio Argovia, Schawinski further announced. The financial, professional and personnel resources are available for this. The federal government will only award one license in Aargau. There is no doubt that Radio Argovia will also apply for this. According to the new RTVA, in the event of equal applications for a radio license, the provider that most enriches the diversity of opinion and offerings should be awarded the license. The Sonntagszeitung concludes from this that the federal government would have to award the license to Schawinski if Radio Argovia and Radio AG submit equivalent applications.
Schawinski's attack puts Wanner under further pressure: from next Wednesday, he will have to live with stronger competition from the daily newspapers: Tamedia will then launch the free newspaper News, which will be published with a large circulation in the Mittelland.
