Radio 1 wins bidding war for Radio 105

In the final round of bidding, he had to beat out the youth channel Joiz and the youth portal Toasted.ch, both of which had outbid him. But Schawinski won with his last offer, which he said he had submitted in an envelope to bankruptcy trustee Thomas Rüegg at 11 am.

No information about the price

The Radio 1 operator did not want to reveal how much he paid for Radio 105. However, his second offer was considerably higher than the first.With the announcement of the distress sale in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce a week ago, Schawinski had offered 784'534 francs for the youth station.

Now the new Radio 105 owner, together with the bankruptcy trustee, must submit the license transfer application to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). The bankruptcy of a licensed private radio station is a precedent. Among other things, the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek) must check whether the application meets the licensing requirements and whether the performance mandate is being complied with. It has a maximum of three months to do so, Bakom spokeswoman Deborah Murith told SDA.

Previous team remains in place

Radio 105 plans to start regular broadcasting already on Thursday with the "Morning Show". Until then, a non-stop program with music, enriched with some information, will run successively. Jan Müller will remain program director. He and the entire Radio 105 presenter team have already signed employment contracts with their new employer, Radio 1 AG. Schawinski is taking over a total of eleven program staff and one advertising salesperson from the bankrupt station. The programs of the new Radio 105 will be produced and broadcast from the premises of Radio 1 near the Zurich Schauspielhaus. The name Radio 105 will remain, the Zurich private radio pioneer assured.

Price too high for Energy

The takeover of Radio 105 has been the subject of tough wrangling in recent days. Radio Energy was considered another promising contender until Monday evening. However, the station, which belongs to Ringier, took itself out of the running shortly before the bidding closed. It no longer made sense to outbid the unreasonably high bids, Energy CEO Dani Büchi told SDA. The 105 brand had been severely damaged in recent days, and listeners and advertisers were unsettled. It is more than questionable whether one can still be successful with this starting position.

On Saturday, a big 105 Forever party will be held at Zurich's in-place Aura to celebrate the station's resurrection.