In contrast to the printed media, the Swiss national radio and television stations clearly monopolise the scene.299 This phenomenon can be explained if we take a look at the
history of radio and television in Switzerland.
The very first attempts at broadcasting took place in 1911; at the same time, the first radio reception licences were issued. In 1922, Europe’s third public radio station (after England and Germany) started broadcasting from Lausanne. Initially, this technical achievement was reserved for the use of the military and aviation authorities. It was only gradually that radio gained significance as a broadcasting medium. In 1930, the first steps were taken towards establishing a national radio station. As it was – in those days – out of the question to leave such an important service to the mercy of market forces, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (Schweizerische Rundfunkgesellschaft
SRG) was founded in 1931, structured similarly to an organisation constituted under
private law. All the regional radio organizations were united under the umbrella of the SRG, whereby (in traditional Swiss federal manner) the individual organisations wielded a great deal of power, for example in planning programmes and appointing editors. The same year, the Swiss Federal Council granted the SRG an exclusive charter to broadcast in Switzerland. However, there were certain strings attached: from the outset, news reports had to be obtained exclusively from the Schweizerische
Depeschenagentur (SDA)300 and these reports had to be faithfully reproduced, almost
word for word. This stipulation was due to the influence of newspaper publishers, who saw the radio as serious competition that needed to be kept in check by all possible means. As was the case in a number of other countries – like Germany or Austria – Swiss radio had to surmount considerable difficulties at the beginning. On the one hand, it had to withstand the opposition of the press and, on the other, its own decentralised, federal structure gave rise to a good deal of inner tension and friction.
299 See chapter 11: Print Media, p.144
300 Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG SDA, founded in 1894 by Swiss newspaper publishers is Switzerland’s “national” news agency.
Swiss radio played a key role during the Second World War301. In its programmes, the
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation supported the government’s strategy of intellectual and ideological defence of the nation ("Geistige Landesverteidigung")302. However,
people listened to Swiss radio not only in Switzerland but also abroad – hailing it as the voice of neutrality. These short-wave programmes, which were primarily conceived for Swiss people living abroad, continued to be broadcast until 1998, when they were discontinued for financial reasons and replaced by more varied, multilingual Internet programming.303
SRG took further steps to buttress its position in taking over the Telefonrundspruch service from the Post Office. With this service, which in those days was unique in the world, the Post Office was the non-licensed provider of a range of radio programmes produced by the SRG and broadcast through the telephone network. Launched at the end of 1931, the Telefonrundspruch was a commonly-used wired radio system for the broadcasting of programs by means of carrier frequency oscillations in the long wave range using telephone lines. Until the advent of VSW radio it was a major source of information in remote alpine regions. During the 1970s, 400,000 households were connected. Telefonrundspruch broadcast the three national SRG programs, plus the programs of three other radio stations in Switzerland’s neighbouring countries. For various reasons, Telefonrundspruch was finally discontinued in 1997. For one thing, the harmonic waves of the new ISDN and ADSL technologies disrupted the signals of the Swiss Telefonrundspruch. Another reason was that, during the 1990s, people living in remote areas began to buy satellite antennas. As a result, there was a deficit of ten million Swiss francs.
Nowadays, it is clear that one of the most important milestones in the history of the electronic media – and one which boosted the monopoly status of the SRG still further – was the advent of television. In 1953 the SRG launched an official pilot television service. The fact that only 920 television licences were issued at that time reflects
301 At the time of general mobilisation in 1939, the SRG’s licence was withdrawn and the radio was placed under the direct command of the government and the army. The radio functioned as a strategic communicator of information between the government and the population. The government also made use of the cinema: from 1940 onwards, the cinemas agreed to show newsreels (www.drs.ch, consulted 18.März 2006).
302 See chapter 4: The Origins and Evolution of Media Freedom in Switzerland, p.50 303 See chapter 13: The Internet – progressing by fits and starts, p.176
public scepticism towards this revolutionary technical invention. While the radio was already firmly established, with 1.2 million people owning a licence, very few Swiss believed in the future of television. In 1957, the Federal Council granted the SRG a television broadcasting charter which came into effect on 1 January 1958.
In 1964, a new, joint charter was issued for both radio and television and, at the same time, the SRG underwent radical restructuring. The same year, the Federal Council authorised advertising on television and a joint stock company was founded to handle television advertising. Finally, in 1969, the Schweizerische Rundspruchgesellschaft was renamed Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft – but the abbreviation SRG remained unchanged.