SRG SSR idée suisse
Encyclopedia
SRG SSR is the Swiss
public broadcasting
organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR. Headquartered in Bern, SRG SSR is a non-profit organisation, funded mainly through radio and television licence fees (70%) and making the remaining income from advertising
and sponsorship.
Switzerland's system of direct democracy
and the fact that the country has four official languages (German
, French
, Italian
and Romansh) mean that the structure of Swiss public service broadcasting is rather complicated. The actual holders of the broadcasting licences that enable SRG SSR to operate are four regional associations: SRG idée suisse Deutschschweiz (SRG.D), SSR idée suisse Romande (RTSR), Società cooperativa per la radiotelevisione nella Svizzera italiana (CORSI), and SRG SSR idée suisse Svizra Rumantscha (SRG.R). These four associations, which are to a large part run by the listeners and viewers in each region, maintain SRG SSR as a joint central production and broadcasting company.
SRG SSR is the business name of the association
, while its official name is Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG, formerly "Schweizerische Rundspruchgesellschaft") in German, Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision (SSR, formerly "Société suisse de radiodiffusion") in French, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione (SSR, formerly "Società svizzera di radiodiffusione") in Italian, and Societad svizra da radio e televisiun (SSR, formerly "Societad svizra da radio") in Romansh. The names altogether are shortened to SRG SSR. In English, the organisation is known as the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation; it often uses the abbreviation "SBC". The moniker "idée suisse" (French: Swiss idea), which refers to the public service mission of the organisation, was adopted in 1999 and was removed from the name in May 2011. Although the logo had already been updated in 2010 to reflect this upcoming change.
in 1922, from the start based on a licence fee system. 980 licences were bought in 1923. Within a few years radio cooperatives working along the same principles had started throughout the country. In 1930 it was decided that radio was an important public service that should not be allowed to become a money maker for private interests, and that it needed to be structured on a federal basis. In 1931 SRG-SSR was founded (see original names above), as a co-ordination organisation for the regional broadcast associations, and received the only licence to broadcast from the Federal Council
. The same year it was agreed that all news reports in the new medium had to be provided by the Swiss news agency SDA
, a decision that remained unchanged until 1971.
The first national transmitters began operating in 1931: Radio Sottens
for French, Radio Beromünster
for German, and 1933 (Radio Monte Ceneri
for Italian. In 1938 Romansh was recognised as the country's fourth national language, and the Zürich
studios began broadcasting programmes in Romansh in between those in German. During the Second World War, SRG-SSR filled an important function as a neutral, unbiased supplier of news, reaching far outside Switzerland's borders through shortwave
transmissions. Radio Beromünster became known as the only free German-language radio station in Europe.
In 1950 SRG-SSR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union
. In 1953 television test transmissions started in Zürich – one hour per evening, five days a week – immediately attracting 920 early TV licence buyers. In 1958 regular TV transmissions started in German (from Zürich) and French (from Geneva). For the Italian-speaking region, the programmes were re-transmitted with Italian subtitles
. 50,000 TV licences were bought the first year.
In 1960 the company was renamed Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (and the equivalent names in the other languages - see above) to reflect the addition of television services. In 1964 the Federal Council allowed television advertising, as a means of keeping licence fees down. In 1966 the three main languages were each given a second radio channel, in order to counter the effects of new commercial broadcasters outside the country, whose strong signals were reaching the Swiss population. In the same year a dedicated Romansh broadcasting unit was created in Chur
, using some of the new German-language second channel's broadcasting time. In 1968 colour television was introduced, and the number of licence fee payers passed one million.
In 1978 the radio channels started stereo transmissions. In 1983 the Federal Council relaxed the Swiss media legislation to permit local private and commercial radio channels. SRG-SSR countered this threat by launching its third set of channels, aimed at a younger audience. In 1991 SRG-SSR underwent a wide-ranging restructuring. The enterprise organised itself as a private industry association, structured as a holding company under Swiss company law. The current name, SRG SSR idée suisse, was introduced. In 1992 Radio Rumantsch was separated from the German-language radio broadcaster, that had housed the Romansh broadcasting activities since 1938, and in 1994 the Romansh TV activities were moved over as well and the Romansh company renamed itself Radio e Televisiun Rumantscha.
Broadcasting is handled by seven business units:
In addition, there are six subsidiary companies which produce TV programmes, teletext pages
, book publishing, TV commercials, and audience research.
Terrestrially, the only television channels available in the whole of Switzerland are SF 1
, TSR 1
, and La 1, but the other channels are all available via every cable network in the country, as well as DTH satellite. As 97% of Swiss households have access to either cable or DTH , this means that all the radio and TV channels are available to nearly all listeners and viewers, wherever they live in Switzerland.
s and others interested in Switzerland. In October 2004 SRI ceased broadcasting on short-wave and satellite, and instead concentrated its efforts on its Swissinfo
'multimedia internet platform', which now takes most of the SRI resources. The Swissinfo website is produced in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese.
Nevertheless, SRI remains an international broadcaster as Swiss Satellite Radio operates under the SRI umbrella. Founded in the 1980s and based in Berne, it consists of three trilingual radio channels for different types of music, available on satellite and the internet as well as terrestrially in Switzerland: Radio Swiss Pop Radio Swiss Classic Radio Swiss Jazz.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
public broadcasting
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR. Headquartered in Bern, SRG SSR is a non-profit organisation, funded mainly through radio and television licence fees (70%) and making the remaining income from advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and sponsorship.
Switzerland's system of direct democracy
Direct democracy
Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
and the fact that the country has four official languages (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
Swiss French
Swiss French is the name used for the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. Swiss French is not to be confused with Franco-Provençal/Arpitan or Romansh, two other individual Romance languages spoken in areas not far from Romandy.The differences...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Romansh) mean that the structure of Swiss public service broadcasting is rather complicated. The actual holders of the broadcasting licences that enable SRG SSR to operate are four regional associations: SRG idée suisse Deutschschweiz (SRG.D), SSR idée suisse Romande (RTSR), Società cooperativa per la radiotelevisione nella Svizzera italiana (CORSI), and SRG SSR idée suisse Svizra Rumantscha (SRG.R). These four associations, which are to a large part run by the listeners and viewers in each region, maintain SRG SSR as a joint central production and broadcasting company.
Name
Voluntary association
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...
, while its official name is Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (SRG, formerly "Schweizerische Rundspruchgesellschaft") in German, Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision (SSR, formerly "Société suisse de radiodiffusion") in French, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione (SSR, formerly "Società svizzera di radiodiffusione") in Italian, and Societad svizra da radio e televisiun (SSR, formerly "Societad svizra da radio") in Romansh. The names altogether are shortened to SRG SSR. In English, the organisation is known as the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation; it often uses the abbreviation "SBC". The moniker "idée suisse" (French: Swiss idea), which refers to the public service mission of the organisation, was adopted in 1999 and was removed from the name in May 2011. Although the logo had already been updated in 2010 to reflect this upcoming change.
History
Europe's third public radio station started broadcasting from LausanneLausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
in 1922, from the start based on a licence fee system. 980 licences were bought in 1923. Within a few years radio cooperatives working along the same principles had started throughout the country. In 1930 it was decided that radio was an important public service that should not be allowed to become a money maker for private interests, and that it needed to be structured on a federal basis. In 1931 SRG-SSR was founded (see original names above), as a co-ordination organisation for the regional broadcast associations, and received the only licence to broadcast from the Federal Council
Swiss Federal Council
The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....
. The same year it was agreed that all news reports in the new medium had to be provided by the Swiss news agency SDA
Schweizerische Depeschenagentur
Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG is the national press agency of Switzerland, founded in 1894. The SDA is a non-profit organization, but is owned privately....
, a decision that remained unchanged until 1971.
The first national transmitters began operating in 1931: Radio Sottens
Sottens transmitter
The Sottens Transmitter is the nationwide transmitter for French-speaking Switzerland. The transmitter is located at Sottens, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. It is run on 765 kHz with a power of 600 kilowatts and is easily receivable during the night throughout the whole of Europe...
for French, Radio Beromünster
Blosenbergturm
The Blosenbergturm is a transmitting tower in Beromünster, Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, built in 1937 for the German language radio station DRS and radiating at an AM frequency of 531 kHz marking the bottom end of the official mediumwave broadcasting range. The Blosenbergturm has a height of...
for German, and 1933 (Radio Monte Ceneri
Transmitter Monte Ceneri
The Monte Ceneri transmitter is the nationwide transmitter for Italian speaking Switzerland, working on 558 kHz, located on Monte Ceneri in Ticino, Switzerland.-1933 tower:...
for Italian. In 1938 Romansh was recognised as the country's fourth national language, and the Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
studios began broadcasting programmes in Romansh in between those in German. During the Second World War, SRG-SSR filled an important function as a neutral, unbiased supplier of news, reaching far outside Switzerland's borders through shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
transmissions. Radio Beromünster became known as the only free German-language radio station in Europe.
In 1950 SRG-SSR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...
. In 1953 television test transmissions started in Zürich – one hour per evening, five days a week – immediately attracting 920 early TV licence buyers. In 1958 regular TV transmissions started in German (from Zürich) and French (from Geneva). For the Italian-speaking region, the programmes were re-transmitted with Italian subtitles
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
. 50,000 TV licences were bought the first year.
In 1960 the company was renamed Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft (and the equivalent names in the other languages - see above) to reflect the addition of television services. In 1964 the Federal Council allowed television advertising, as a means of keeping licence fees down. In 1966 the three main languages were each given a second radio channel, in order to counter the effects of new commercial broadcasters outside the country, whose strong signals were reaching the Swiss population. In the same year a dedicated Romansh broadcasting unit was created in Chur
Chur
Chur or Coire is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:The name "chur" derives perhaps from the Celtic kora or koria, meaning "tribe", or from the Latin curia....
, using some of the new German-language second channel's broadcasting time. In 1968 colour television was introduced, and the number of licence fee payers passed one million.
In 1978 the radio channels started stereo transmissions. In 1983 the Federal Council relaxed the Swiss media legislation to permit local private and commercial radio channels. SRG-SSR countered this threat by launching its third set of channels, aimed at a younger audience. In 1991 SRG-SSR underwent a wide-ranging restructuring. The enterprise organised itself as a private industry association, structured as a holding company under Swiss company law. The current name, SRG SSR idée suisse, was introduced. In 1992 Radio Rumantsch was separated from the German-language radio broadcaster, that had housed the Romansh broadcasting activities since 1938, and in 1994 the Romansh TV activities were moved over as well and the Romansh company renamed itself Radio e Televisiun Rumantscha.
Organisation
SRG SSR is located in Bern. It is governed by a Board of Directors, appointed by a central council consisting of representatives of the four parent organisations.Broadcasting is handled by seven business units:
- Schweizer Radio und FernsehenSchweizer Radio und FernsehenSchweizer Radio und Fernsehen is a Swiss broadcasting company, created on 1 January 2011, through the merger of radio company, Schweizer Radio DRS and television company, Schweizer Fernsehen . The new business unit of SRG SSR, became the largest electronic media house of the German-speaking...
: handles German-speaking radio and television- Schweizer Radio DRSSchweizer Radio DRSSchweizer Radio: Radio der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz is a company of SRG SSR idée suisse. - Broadcasting :SR DRS own six radio stations, which in German-speaking Switzerland has a market share of over 60 percent....
: handles German-speaking radio - Schweizer FernsehenSchweizer FernsehenSchweizer Fernsehen is the German language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in German for German-speaking Switzerland...
: handles German-speaking television
- Schweizer Radio DRS
- Radio télévision suisseRadio télévision suisseRadio Télévision Suisse is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation, part of SRG SSR idée suisse. RTS handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programming in French for Switzerland...
: handles French-speaking radio and television- Radio Suisse RomandeRadio Suisse RomandeRadio suisse romande is an enterprise unit within public-broadcasting corporation SRG SSR. It is responsible for the production and transmission of French-language radio programmes in Switzerland...
: handles French-speaking radio - Télévision Suisse RomandeTélévision Suisse RomandeTélévision Suisse Romande is a TV network with 2 channels: TSR 1 and TSR 2. They are the main French language channels in Switzerland, part of SRG SSR idée suisse...
: handles French-speaking television
- Radio Suisse Romande
- Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italianaRadiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italianaRadiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programs in Italian for Switzerland...
: handles Italian-speaking radio and television - Radio Television RumantschaRadio Television RumantschaRadiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha is a Swiss broadcasting company which offers programming to Romansh-speakers in Switzerland and around the world.-History:...
: handles Romansh-speaking radio and television - Swiss Radio International / SwissinfoSwissinfoswissinfo is a nine-language news and information platform produced by SRG SSR, the Swiss public broadcasting corporation. Its content is Swiss-centred, with top priority given to in-depth information on politics, the economy, the arts, science, education and tourism. Switzerland's international...
: handles external services and the web portal swissinfo.ch
In addition, there are six subsidiary companies which produce TV programmes, teletext pages
Teletext
Teletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
, book publishing, TV commercials, and audience research.
Terrestrially, the only television channels available in the whole of Switzerland are SF 1
SF 1
SF 1 is a Swiss television channel run under the public SRG SSR idée suisse broadcasting group. It is the first of the three national German language channels in Switzerland ....
, TSR 1
TSR 1
TSR 1 is a Swiss public television channel owned by Télévision Suisse Romande.- History :Launched on 1 November 1954 to succeed Télé Geneva, TSR 1 is the first channel of the two French Swiss networks of television group TSR ....
, and La 1, but the other channels are all available via every cable network in the country, as well as DTH satellite. As 97% of Swiss households have access to either cable or DTH , this means that all the radio and TV channels are available to nearly all listeners and viewers, wherever they live in Switzerland.
SRI - Swissinfo / Swiss Radio International
The abbreviation SRI originally stood only for "Swiss Radio International", which was SRG-SSR's international broadcasting arm, aimed at expatriateExpatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s and others interested in Switzerland. In October 2004 SRI ceased broadcasting on short-wave and satellite, and instead concentrated its efforts on its Swissinfo
Swissinfo
swissinfo is a nine-language news and information platform produced by SRG SSR, the Swiss public broadcasting corporation. Its content is Swiss-centred, with top priority given to in-depth information on politics, the economy, the arts, science, education and tourism. Switzerland's international...
'multimedia internet platform', which now takes most of the SRI resources. The Swissinfo website is produced in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese.
Nevertheless, SRI remains an international broadcaster as Swiss Satellite Radio operates under the SRI umbrella. Founded in the 1980s and based in Berne, it consists of three trilingual radio channels for different types of music, available on satellite and the internet as well as terrestrially in Switzerland: Radio Swiss Pop Radio Swiss Classic Radio Swiss Jazz.
Radio
- World Radio Switzerland (WRS) is the only English-language radio station in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Broadcast by Radio Suisse RomandeRadio Suisse RomandeRadio suisse romande is an enterprise unit within public-broadcasting corporation SRG SSR. It is responsible for the production and transmission of French-language radio programmes in Switzerland...
from the city of GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, it was founded (as World Radio Geneva, WRG) in 1996.
Television
- HD suisseHD suisseHD suisse is a Swiss high-definition television channel operated by the public service broadcaster SRG SSR. This is the 8th channel launched by SRG SSR, and currently the only Swiss television channel available in high definition....
is the first SRG SSR HDTV channel. Programming comes from the four language networks of SRG SSR.
External links
- SRG SSR
- SRG Deutschschweiz (SRG.D) - the German parent organisation
- SSR idée suisse Romande (RTSR) - the French parent organisation
- Società cooperativa per la radiotelevisione nella Svizzera italiana (CORSI) - the Italian parent organisation
- SRG SSR idée suisse Svizra Rumantscha (SRG.R) - the Romansh parent organisation