Radios before the broadband age
Swiss broadcasters are not blinded by the euphoria about accelerating data transmission
Swiss broadcasters are not blinded by the euphoria over accelerating data transmissionBy Clemens HörlerPoor internet connections and an uncertain legal situation regarding streaming: the starting situation for radio stations on the web was certainly not ideal. But now people are dreaming of the broadband age, but only a little.
The websites of Swiss radio stations (www.cx.unibe.ch/imw /liradio-ch.htm) are certainly not among the Internet wonders. This is no surprise: the current infrastructure of Internet users has not allowed radio stations to play to their greatest strengths for a long time. And logically, this does not lie in text and images, but in audio.
However, a considerable proportion of internet users now have sufficiently good connections and the appropriate hardware and software to listen to radio via the web. Most Swiss radio stations have taken this into account: live streaming via the web is now part of their standard offering.
Nevertheless, the proportion of those who listen via the internet is still negligible compared to the remaining listeners. At home in particular, it makes little sense to listen to the radio via the web if the online and offline offerings are the same and the stereo system is next to the PC. "It's mainly people at work and regular listeners who are outside the broadcasting area who use our web radio," explains André Moesch, Editorial Director of Radio Basilisk in Basel.
For listeners in the broadcasting area, the majority of the existing web offerings are primarily to be understood as an accompanying and secondary medium to radio. Here, listeners find an alternative channel to the program guide or the telephone (for example, to take part in request concerts). Only a few radio stations exploit the special features of the Internet, for example through audio archives, e-commerce offerings or even personalizable programmes.
Some stations such as Radio Basilisk, Radio 32, Radio Zürisee, Radio Aktuell and Radio DRS have already set up archives. These offer clear added value to the program over the airwaves. After all, anyone who has missed something in the live broadcast can still listen to the program in question on the web.
Some radio stations only offer this service for their own productions, as the storage of music is not yet legally regulated. The few radio stations that also offer music for listening on the web are
in a legal gray area. However, discussions with the Swiss Society for the Rights of Authors of Musical Works (www.suisa.ch) are currently underway.
Personalization is still in its infancy
Personalization options are even less widespread in Switzerland than audio archives. The first approaches can be found at Radio DRS. Visitors can set up their own start page and customize the selection of radio broadcasts from the five DRS stations as well as news and online discussions according to their personal preferences.
However, Mein.drs.ch does not offer a real world of experience like many American web radio stations and has not yet been optimally implemented. "We are at the first stage of personalization," admits Charles Liebherr, Head of drs.online.
Whether personalizable radios will ever become a killer application is debatable: "There are always limits to interactivity because people are lazy," says Giuseppe Scaglione, Delegate of the Board of Directors of Radio 105. Scaglione is convinced that one of the strengths of radio is that it surprises and does not have to be pre-programmed. For many private radio stations, such an offer is not worthwhile for other reasons. As individual stations, they have too few in-house productions for personalization to make sense.
Web soup is still being cooked on a low flame
Radios therefore prefer to hold back a little with their web presences. Scaglione: "We definitely don't want to lose huge amounts of money on the web, and the competition obviously doesn't want that either." For Scaglione, who is still fighting for an FM frequency for Radio 105, the web is not yet a viable means of arming himself with the same length of spit as the competition, and certainly not a replacement for FM.
Peter Scheurer, Managing Director of Radio 32, which operates one of the broadest web offerings among Swiss radio stations, also wants to keep the costs for the website as low as possible: "With a sophisticated content management system, we manage to keep our website up to date with 40 percent of our staff."
The Internet will probably only become a real issue for most radio stations once the number of broadband connections has increased significantly. Radio operators could then also become sought-after content suppliers for portals that have so far been primarily text-based. Mobile portals may also soon become potential customers. After all, why shouldn't people listen to music on their cell phones? Be that as it may, there is probably no way to make a fortune in this business either.
Growing visitor numbers on their own websites open up additional sources of income for radio stations in the form of advertising, for example with
E-commerce. The first tentative attempts to sell fan merchandise online are underway on numerous radio sites. Radio DRS operates a respectable online store: the radio kiosk offers audio books, clothing, videos, books and music, among other things. Admittedly, the contents of the individual music CDs presented in the store could not be more sparse.
In the music sector in particular, however, radio stations would be able to persuade many of their online listeners to make spontaneous purchases. Visitors to www.radioaktuell.ch can already make use of such an offer and order the CD with the song currently being played with just a few clicks. Radio Aktuell is cooperating with the online store CeDe.ch for this purpose. Other providers such as Radio 32 are also already planning to become more involved in the
e-commerce. Scheurer: "After all, this is also interesting for the music industry."
In order for such transactions to be worthwhile for the radio stations, the web offers would have to be used more than before. Until then, spontaneous ordering via SMS is an alternative to e-commerce via the website. 13 private radio stations are also taking part in the MobileSound m-commerce project launched last year. MobileSound enables radio listeners to enquire about the title of a piece of music being played and order it via SMS. According to Peter Scheurer, Radio 32 processes around 100 requests per day via MobileSound. The order rate is around eight percent.
Internet stereo system
The websites of Swiss radio stations (www.cx.unibe.ch/imw /liradio-ch.htm) are certainly not among the Internet wonders. This is no surprise: the current infrastructure of Internet users has not allowed radio stations to play to their greatest strengths for a long time. And logically, this does not lie in text and images, but in audio.
However, a considerable proportion of internet users now have sufficiently good connections and the appropriate hardware and software to listen to radio via the web. Most Swiss radio stations have taken this into account: live streaming via the web is now part of their standard offering.
Nevertheless, the proportion of those who listen via the internet is still negligible compared to the remaining listeners. At home in particular, it makes little sense to listen to the radio via the web if the online and offline offerings are the same and the stereo system is next to the PC. "It's mainly people at work and regular listeners who are outside the broadcasting area who use our web radio," explains André Moesch, Editorial Director of Radio Basilisk in Basel.
For listeners in the broadcasting area, the majority of the existing web offerings are primarily to be understood as an accompanying and secondary medium to radio. Here, listeners find an alternative channel to the program guide or the telephone (for example, to take part in request concerts). Only a few radio stations exploit the special features of the Internet, for example through audio archives, e-commerce offerings or even personalizable programmes.
Some stations such as Radio Basilisk, Radio 32, Radio Zürisee, Radio Aktuell and Radio DRS have already set up archives. These offer clear added value to the program over the airwaves. After all, anyone who has missed something in the live broadcast can still listen to the program in question on the web.
Some radio stations only offer this service for their own productions, as the storage of music is not yet legally regulated. The few radio stations that also offer music for listening on the web are
in a legal gray area. However, discussions with the Swiss Society for the Rights of Authors of Musical Works (www.suisa.ch) are currently underway.
Personalization is still in its infancy
Personalization options are even less widespread in Switzerland than audio archives. The first approaches can be found at Radio DRS. Visitors can set up their own start page and customize the selection of radio broadcasts from the five DRS stations as well as news and online discussions according to their personal preferences.
However, Mein.drs.ch does not offer a real world of experience like many American web radio stations and has not yet been optimally implemented. "We are at the first stage of personalization," admits Charles Liebherr, Head of drs.online.
Whether personalizable radios will ever become a killer application is debatable: "There are always limits to interactivity because people are lazy," says Giuseppe Scaglione, Delegate of the Board of Directors of Radio 105. Scaglione is convinced that one of the strengths of radio is that it surprises and does not have to be pre-programmed. For many private radio stations, such an offer is not worthwhile for other reasons. As individual stations, they have too few in-house productions for personalization to make sense.
Web soup is still being cooked on a low flame
Radios therefore prefer to hold back a little with their web presences. Scaglione: "We definitely don't want to lose huge amounts of money on the web, and the competition obviously doesn't want that either." For Scaglione, who is still fighting for an FM frequency for Radio 105, the web is not yet a viable means of arming himself with the same length of spit as the competition, and certainly not a replacement for FM.
Peter Scheurer, Managing Director of Radio 32, which operates one of the broadest web offerings among Swiss radio stations, also wants to keep the costs for the website as low as possible: "With a sophisticated content management system, we manage to keep our website up to date with 40 percent of our staff."
The Internet will probably only become a real issue for most radio stations once the number of broadband connections has increased significantly. Radio operators could then also become sought-after content suppliers for portals that have so far been primarily text-based. Mobile portals may also soon become potential customers. After all, why shouldn't people listen to music on their cell phones? Be that as it may, there is probably no way to make a fortune in this business either.
Growing visitor numbers on their own websites open up additional sources of income for radio stations in the form of advertising, for example with
E-commerce. The first tentative attempts to sell fan merchandise online are underway on numerous radio sites. Radio DRS operates a respectable online store: the radio kiosk offers audio books, clothing, videos, books and music, among other things. Admittedly, the contents of the individual music CDs presented in the store could not be more sparse.
In the music sector in particular, however, radio stations would be able to persuade many of their online listeners to make spontaneous purchases. Visitors to www.radioaktuell.ch can already make use of such an offer and order the CD with the song currently being played with just a few clicks. Radio Aktuell is cooperating with the online store CeDe.ch for this purpose. Other providers such as Radio 32 are also already planning to become more involved in the
e-commerce. Scheurer: "After all, this is also interesting for the music industry."
In order for such transactions to be worthwhile for the radio stations, the web offers would have to be used more than before. Until then, spontaneous ordering via SMS is an alternative to e-commerce via the website. 13 private radio stations are also taking part in the MobileSound m-commerce project launched last year. MobileSound enables radio listeners to enquire about the title of a piece of music being played and order it via SMS. According to Peter Scheurer, Radio 32 processes around 100 requests per day via MobileSound. The order rate is around eight percent.
Internet stereo system
In order to make web radio more user-friendly, various companies are developing stereo systems that are operated like hi-fi systems but are connected directly to the Internet. Such devices from HP and Compaq are due to be launched on the market in a few months' time.
