ThoseChange of frequencies –
RTS would have lost a third of listeners by stopping the FM
Although not consolidated, the figures for the hearings at the start of the year marked by the transition to DAB+ are disturbing for public radios.
Posted today at 5.55 p.m.
It is for cars that the transition from analog radio (FM strip) to digital (DAB+) can be expensive.
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- Since January, the SSR has abandoned FM frequencies for the DAB+.
- Public radio hearings have dropped, enjoying private stations.
- Current results are based on non -validated preliminary data. It will take three months for consolidated figures.
- The transition to the DAB+ poses a problem with the old equipment in the cars.
From the 1stis January, the SSR radio channels left the FM waves. This transition to DAB+technology, more modern, was supposed to allow savings. It remains to be seen if the latter will not be translated in the end of a massive loss. However, this would seem to be the case.
Indeed, the hearings of the first two weeks of the year are displayed in negative compared to the summer of 2024. The three main channels of the RTS (the first, space 2 and color 3) would have lost a good third of shares market, or nearly 130’ooo listeners.
The proportion is a bit lower (-23.5%, for almost half a million listeners) in German-speaking Switzerland, reveals An article from “Tages-Anzeiger(Tamedia property, which publishes “24 hours” and the “Tribune de Genève”).
On the French side, the biggest broth is observed on the color 3 side, which would lose almost half of its 109,100 listeners. In absolute figures, it is almost as much as the first, whose audience is three times wider.
-Not yet significant figures
The Zurich daily has obtained these Mediapulse figures, an independent company responsible for measuring the hearing of the radios. However, this indicates that they are not yet significant. By agreement, statistics can only be validated until a minimum sampling for three months.
This specified, one cannot help but see that this drastic decrease in January coincides with the abandonment of FM frequencies in favor of the DAB+digital standard. Moreover, private radios – which obtained authorization to issue FM frequencies until the end of 2026 – would clearly benefit from the place left by the public service.
The FM smiles at private radios
Media One Group – which owns One FM, Radio Lac, LFM and Red – did not wait 1is January to see his hearings progress. A few days ago, the group communicated figures increasing for each of the four channels in 2024. Do they surf this trend at the start of the year? Managing director and managing director, Alexandre de Raemy will not say anything.
On the other side of the Sarine, however, there is no mystery of the profit recorded by private stations. According to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, audience increases are +50% for radio 1, +20% for Radio Pilatus and 16% for Radio 24.
In the absence of confirmation, Alexandre de Raemy still explains that the frequencies released by the public service channels offer the opportunity to foreign channels to pass their waves. A bit like a speaker that would work at a higher volume than its neighbor, the RTS waves saved emissions that now pass the border without obstacle.
Two networks to maintain
The boss of Media One Group does not trigger faced with the proclaimed setbacks of the RTS. While his stations emit both in FM and DAB+, his participation in the interview of these two technologies costs him half a million francs per year. “We will continue to do pedagogy, because it is in your interest in the transition going well at the end of 2026,” says Alexandre de Raemy.
Was not this transition precipitated on the side of the RTS, in a hurry to save on these costs? In the RTS offices, there will be no comments on the broadcasting of these figures. “It is still far too early to measure the impact of the FM stop on the hearing of our channels,” says spokesperson Christophe Minder. And to recall the period of three months necessary for significant sampling. “We are expecting short-term audience movements, with listening reports to Streaming on Play RTS in particular, while the population ends up equipping themselves,” he said.
As for knowing where RTS loses its audience, the eyes point to the road a little. Because if it is easy to get a small DAB+ radio station for the kitchen, it can cost a good thousand francs to adapt a ten -year -old car. Diverses solutions Are available commercially to find “forum” while driving, coming back from work. The least expensive is to launch a radio application on your smartphone, coupled on radio by Bluetooth. RTS recalls however a study which showed that the car represented only 13% of the radio listening time.
Alain Detraz is a journalist at the Vaudoise section of “24 hours” since 2005. After having covered the various domains of local news, he has been in charge since 2022 on the Vaud Economy page.More info
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