Media: The SSR renounces FM radio, not the French-speaking regional radios

The SSR will abandon ultra-short wave frequencies (OUC) for its radios from 2025, favoring DAB+ broadcasting. The Radio Régionales Romandes (RRR), which fears opening an avenue to French competitors in the event of a shutdown, will wait until the end of 2026.

SSR will turn off its 850 ultrashort wave broadcasting antennas on December 31, 2024 at midnight. She will save, according to her, 15 million francs per year.

Those who listen to the radio via an FM system will therefore have to use adapters. The TCS estimates the number of cars without DAB+ reception at around 1.8 million, or 38% of vehicles on the road.

Private French-speaking radio stations consider the risk of a shutdown still too great and will wait until the end of 2026. The deadline, initially set for the end of 2024, was extended by two years by the Federal Office of Communication (OFCOM).

French competition on the horizon

“We need more time to prepare,” declares Philippe Zahno, who heads the eleven private regional radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland. The president of RRR fears that French radio stations will take advantage of this to win over listeners who do not want to switch to DAB+. Around 10% of French-speaking people already listen to French radio regularly and 40% occasionally.

The risk that listeners will turn to foreign programs exists, concedes OFCOM. But experience so far has shown that consumers are generally very loyal to their favorite station, the office specifies.

In addition to the French-speaking regional radio stations, twelve transmitters in German-speaking Switzerland and two in Ticino will wait until the end of 2026 before giving up OUC. Around 10% of the Swiss population still listens to FM radio, according to OFCOM.