Schawinski beats the competition and receives a new concession: “That is an absolute satisfaction”

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It is a victory for media pioneer Roger Schawinski (78). The Zurich resident receives the license for a local radio in Graubünden, Glarus and the St. Galler Oberland. His new radio will be called Radio Alpin.

On Thursday, the Federal Council granted the licenses for local radio and regional television from 2025 to 2034. Licensed broadcasters receive money from the fee pool – in return they must meet certain requirements. The federal government awards the permits for ten years.

Until now, Somedia’s Radio Südostschweiz had the license for this area. The station, formerly known as Radio Grischa, is now empty-handed. In concrete terms, this means that he will no longer receive money from the federal government from 2025.

Schawinski had previously competed in Graubünden. In 2013, after years of wrangling, Bakom awarded the contract to broadcaster Somedia. The radioman from Zurich is even happier with the award today, he says in an interview with Blick.

Mr. Schawinski, congratulations on the license for Radio Alpin.
Roger Schawinski: Thank you. That was a victory from start to finish. What makes me particularly happy is that we received more points in the assessment than Radio Südostschweiz. And this despite the fact that our entry is only a project and not an existing radio.

Tell us: why do you want to launch a new radio in the middle of the media crisis?
I have always fought for more diversity of opinions and against media concentration. And one of the worst monopolies is in Graubünden. This is contrary to democracy.

It was not the first time that you applied for the Graubünden radio license. You participated more than 15 years ago, but lost. Now the tide has turned. A satisfaction?
An absolute satisfaction. We should have won then. But at the time no change was desired.

What has changed since then?
Media concentration has increased enormously in recent years. Now there was clearly the political will to optimize. And Article 45 of the Radio and Television Act clearly states: the project that guarantees a greater diversity of opinions and offers must be commissioned.

What can Graubünden’s radio listeners look forward to in the future?
On a great 24-hour radio program in three languages: German, Romansh and Italian. We plan to start with 20 employees. Now we have time for programmatic refinement.

Source:Blick