20 years of One-O-Five: Radio 105 became my105

Unbelievable! The time has come: One-O-Five celebrates its 20th anniversary. Who would have thought. When the operating company of Radio 105 had to file for bankruptcy in January 2014 because the new investor pulled the plug on us two weeks before Christmas, a world came crashing down for us. My wife and I then went through the worst time of our lives.

At that time, we would never have thought that one day we would stand there and celebrate together with our audience. But life sometimes goes crazy, and our program director and morning show star at the time, Jan Müller, had a premonition. When we had to leave our beloved studios - our second home, where we virtually spent day and night - accompanied by the bankruptcy officer, Jan told me: "I'm convinced that the story of 105 won't end here". And he was right: the story could not end like this. We had built up too much in all those years, achieved too much. We had simply come too far for a former cable radio station from the industrial district of Muttenz (BL). We had also touched too many people's hearts for that. Three times in a row we received the industry award "Radio Of The Year". Record!

The story of 105 is also a story of dreams lived. Not just for me as the founder, who, without knowing exactly what was in store, had the vision of a radio station for young people. When I told my parents about this idea at the age of 24, they were horrified. But the will was always greater than the resistance. I had a very specific sound in my ear, how a modern radio should sound, which did not yet exist in Switzerland. We followed this concept through consistently and were pioneers in many areas. For example, we were the first to hire a sound layouter and DJs, or to specifically make "personality radio". In terms of content and technology, we were and still are at the cutting edge. As early as 2005, we launched the first special-interest web radio stations and ten years later - in 2015 - the cutting-edge music app "my105", which offers radio in the Spotify age.

Likewise, we brought a completely new style of moderation to Switzerland. Over the years, we have discovered and trained many young talents. They were able to live their dream of making radio with us, and went on to achieve top performances. Many of those who started their careers at Radio 105 are now working for the biggest media outlets in the country. It was this very special spirit that you can't really describe to outsiders, but which the audience has always felt. And how! Even in our first few months as a cable radio station, we had a great deal of listener feedback. Unbelievable, but at that time the Internet was still in its infancy and the main channels for communicating with our listeners were telephone and fax (!). The success of Radio 105 did not go unnoticed by the media - and of course the omnipotent SRG. The largest media group in the country copied us after only one year with its youth radio station Virus. Although the SRG station had three times the budget and almost three times as many employees and could profit from its big sister station SRF3 (then DRS3), Virus never really got off the ground. At times, we had almost four times as many listeners.

But the history of 105 is also marked by the struggle for FM frequencies and thus for fair distribution opportunities (hardly imaginable today). Together with our listeners, we simply did not want to see why such a successful cable program could not also be broadcast on FM so that everyone could hear it on the road. For 10 years we fought for our FM frequency with all legally available means - even with court cases against DETEC/ OFCOM and competitors, all of which we won. Actually, I "only" wanted to do radio, but suddenly spent more time with lawyers and paperwork than with music and programmatic content. And then we suddenly found ourselves with not one, but two FM frequencies! There had never been anything like that before in Switzerland.

Radio Energy of the Ringier Group came away empty-handed in the frequency allocation process and was on the brink of the abyss in terms of radio. For this reason, Ringier held talks with us about selling the second license. I had the greatest reservations about this, because it was clear to me that Energy (with the Ringier Group behind it) could push us to the wall. Ringier, on the other hand, assured us that this would not happen and that, on the contrary, they wanted to work the market in partnership and together. There was even talk of joint radio studios or a joint radio house. But that was not all: Ringier also offered to sell our advertising and pay us an annual guarantee sum. In short, all this was a very good prospect for us, which we secured contractually watertight. So I could agree to this deal with a clear conscience. It's crazy: if I hadn't agreed to it back then, Energy wouldn't exist today. Nevertheless, after the first year of "cooperation" it became clear that Ringier or Energy were not sticking to the marketing contract. The guarantee sum was paid, but the partnership cooperation and marketing did not take place at all or was torpedoed by Ringier/Energy. Only much later did it become clear why.

Interview with Roger Schawinski, Tages-Anzeiger: "Every serious observer sees it as I do".

Article: "Five Rescuers and a Gravedigger."

Energy's behavior led to us getting into financial difficulties. As a result, Daniel Hartmann, an ex-advertiser from Bern, took over the operating company of Radio 105 as an investor in the summer of 2013 and wanted to massively expand the company. Six months later, the courage left him and he no longer wanted to know about his contractual obligations. So he steered the company straight into the abyss.

After the bankruptcy, Roger Schawinski presented himself in the media as the savior of Radio 105. However, he had overlooked the fact that he had only bought the FM license from the bankruptcy estate, but not the trademark rights to "105". Since he was unable to reach an agreement with the trademark owners and they forbade him to continue calling the station "Radio 105," he came up with the mischievous idea of simply renaming the station "Planet 105. A label swindle along the lines of: It's only a number. But the emotions were and are solely associated with the original brand and its history. And that is far more than a simple number - both for the makers and the listeners.

When we had passed through the valley of tears, it was clear to me and my wife, who had already helped build Radio 105 from the beginning, that we would get back up and start again from scratch. At that point, we were offered the original 105 brand, so we didn't have to think twice. We knew: We're competing again. So in May 2015, Radio 105 became the music app my105 with various music channels curated by music editors for every taste and mood.

Article Tages-Anzeiger: "The Comeback of Mr. 105"

Even back in my days as a cable radio broadcaster, I always told myself that I would only do all this as long as listeners remained loyal to us. And that was the case from the very first minute and was repeated when we relaunched the music app my105 in May 2015. Since then, the my105 community has grown by around 40% every year.

Website: my105 - Best Music App

The story of 105 is therefore also a story of passion and lifeblood. A story of ups and downs, of falling down (wicked tongues would call it failure) and getting up again. Passion for a cause can release undreamt-of forces. Do it with love or don't do it at all!

There are so many moments from these 20 years - beautiful and, as in every life, also less beautiful - whose description would fill an entire book. Perhaps I will write one. Overall, however, the good moments clearly outweigh the bad. Even the bitter experience of bankruptcy has brought us forward and enabled a new beginning, which soon turned out to be a great opportunity. Technology is changing, but music is still at the center of our lives. It is stronger everything else. The Best Music First!

As a representative of the many recordings and broadcast highlights, here is a short "Best Of" of the legendary morning show with Jan Müller and his morning crew:

These 20 years would never have been possible without people who believed in this vision. I would like to thank my family, my circle of friends, my business partners, customers and employees. And of course a big thank you goes to all 105 fans and listeners. my105 - One Love!

The story is not over yet. We still have a lot to do.

Giuseppe Scaglione

Note: This article reflects the opinion and view of the author. This is not necessarily the same as that of Werbewoche.