The General Assembly of the IAB Switzerland Association took place once again on August 27 at the Razzia restaurant in Zurich. In his welcoming address, IAB Switzerland President Martin Radelfinger spoke positively about the past year and the association's current course. One of the major highlights of his review of 2023 was the sold-out DEX23 digital conference.

However, IAB Managing Director Urs Flückiger also pointed out how competitive the market for training providers has become, which has had a direct impact on the IAB Academy's income. Although revenue in 2023 slightly exceeded that of the previous year, the association is currently revising all training courses. The Executive Leadership course will be the first to be launched with a new concept in 2025.

Relaunch for Advisory Board, new Next Generation Circle

The Annual General Meeting also voted on various proposals from the Board of Directors. For example, the IAB Advisory Board will undergo a relaunch and will now have an external head as the Advisory Circle. The Honorary President of the IAB, Ueli Weber, has made himself available for this position. The Board of Directors has also focused on the future and announced the Next Generation Circle, a forum for the younger generation.  Under the leadership of Peter Tschachtler from Publicis, this will soon begin its work.

Elections were also on the agenda. Roger Baur stood for the newly created position of Vice President. He was elected unanimously, as was Martin Radelfinger, who stood for re-election as President. There were also two departures to report. Both Christian Hermle and David Burst stepped down from the Board after many years. Their work was thanked accordingly.  A succession plan is in the works.

The majority of complementary licensed radio stations are leaving their association Unikom. The reason is that Unikom has opened its doors to local radio stations without a license. The latter meanwhile took over the majority in the association and voted out all representatives of the complementary radio stations from the board. The voting out and the rejection of all proposals of the complementary, non-profit licensed radios took place at the delegates' meeting at the end of April, as six radios jointly announced on Monday.

Since nothing can be done about the new majority situation, they no longer see a future for Unikom. The relationship of trust with the board of directors no longer existed. Therefore, Kanal K (Aarau), Radio 3fach (Lucerne), Radio Rabe (Berne), Radio Rasa (Schaffhausen), Radio Stadtfilter (Winterthur) and toxic.fm (St. Gallen) announced their resignation on September 30. In doing so, they followed Radio X, which had already left at the general meeting. With Radio X, they want to reorganize in order to have a common representation of interests.

Take minorities into account

Complementary, non-profit radios in agglomerations have a mandate to take particular account of the linguistic and cultural minorities in their broadcast area. In return, they receive a right of access: operators of DAB+ platforms and cable networks must broadcast their programs. Unlike the complementary ones, radio broadcasters subject to registration do not have a performance mandate and do not need a license. (sda)

Co-President Nicole Döbeli, Larissa Gerhard and Simone Züger did not stand for re-election. After several years on the Board, they would now like to devote more time to other projects. The association would like to thank them for their passionate commitment.

New members of the board are 28-year-old Nina Thöny, editor of Regionaljournal Zürich Schaffhausen, SRF, 33-year-old Hanna Widmer, freelance journalist for the culture magazine Coucou, 42-year-old Giulia Cresta, program director of Radio 24, and 32-year-old Nadia Kohler, Teamlead Content Product Team, Tamedia. Kohler will also take over the co-presidency.

Co-President Nadja Rohner, 33, head of the Aargauer Zeitung department, CH Media, and 28-year-old Linda Walter, freelance graphic designer, art and cultural mediator, MA Cultural Studies ZHdK, were re-elected.

From network to industry association

Medienfrauen Schweiz was founded as a network in 2015. In 2017, the network became an industry association. The aim of Medienfrauen Schweiz is to promote the exchange between women in the media world across all sectors, to make their talent visible to the outside world and to give them a voice as an association. Contributing to a more equal and diverse media industry is a central concern of Media Women Switzerland. The new board will determine the main areas of focus after its constituent meeting. The association currently has 89 members.