Swiss Radio International

Swiss Radio International
Radio station ( public service )
Program type	Information and culture
reception	Shortwave , satellite , live stream
Reception area	Switzerland
Start of transmission	August 1, 1935
Broadcaster	SRG SSR
List of radio stations
[Swissinfo.org website]

Schweizer Radio International (SRI) was the international service of the Swiss Radio and Television Company ( SRG SSR idée suisse ). The station's task was to convey a comprehensive picture of Switzerland abroad. On October 30, 2004, the radio broadcasts were completely discontinued in favor of a media presentation on the Internet on swissinfo .

history

Pause sign from SRI

In the 1930s, Switzerland started its first regular broadcasts on shortwave . Initially, programs in the national languages German, French and Italian were broadcast from the domestic program. SRI expanded its program and was soon producing its own programs. The foreign language programs were expanded to include English and Arabic, and later Romansh, Spanish, Portuguese and Esperanto were added. The target group of the programs were around 570,000 Swiss abroad and listeners abroad interested in Switzerland. The programs were broadcast via shortwave from transmitters in Schwarzenburg , Beromünster , Sottens , Sarnen and Lenk .

In 2001 it was decided to part with shortwave as an information medium. The future lies with the Internet and satellite radio . The operation of shortwave broadcasting is too uneconomical and technically outdated. Austria , for example, also shared this view, and in 2003 it discontinued its international service, Radio Austria International , amid great protests from listeners. A short time later, some of the larger international broadcasters, such as the BBC World Service , also stopped shortwave broadcasts for the destinations Europe and North America. However, it turned out that many former listeners did not switch to the Internet as an information medium. The Internet does not offer the flexibility of a transistor radio that can be operated anywhere without great technical effort. The dial-up costs and flat rates are also significantly more expensive than operating a radio.

When Schweizer Radio International was discontinued on October 30, 2004, the www.swissinfo.org website was continuously expanded. This website offers information in German, French, Italian, English, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

program

In Central Europe, the frequency 6165 kHz was used. During the day, programs from all public domestic channels in Switzerland were broadcast on shortwave: French in the morning, Italian in the afternoon and German-language programs from the early evening. Among other things, the Echo der Zeit was recorded live by Swiss radio DRS. In addition, there were own productions by SRI in the morning, noon and evening in all national languages ​​as well as in English, each lasting 30 minutes.

literature

• Thomas Järmann: Swissness via shortwave. Music as an element of identity politics using the example of Fritz Dür's tape collection. Dissertation, Zurich 2016.

Web links

• Edzard Schade: Swiss Radio International. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .