Zürichsee Medien Take Over Capital FM

Press Release 

Berne and Stäfa, 12 December 2011 - Zürichsee Medien AG is taking over the Berne capital city radio Capital FM from Medienhaus Espace Media. Together with Radio Zürisee, a strong station network is thus being formed in the regions of Berne, Winterthur and Zurich under the umbrella of Zürichsee Medien AG. Capital FM and Radio Zürisee reach about 285,000 listeners each day (RadioControl Public Data, 2nd Quarter 2011) in the network.

The anchoring of Capital FM in the Berne region is to be maintained; at the same time, the Berne station is intended to profit from an intensive exchange with Radio Zürisee in the areas of programme, technology and sales. Zürichsee Medien AG is taking over all the employees of Capital FM as well as the employees of the advertising market of audiovisual media who were until now primarily active in radio. A total of 28 employees (22.4 full-time positions) will go to Zürichsee Medien AG, to which the magazine marketer Zürichsee Werbe AG belongs as well as Radio Zürisee.

The parent company of Espace Media, Tamedia, is thus also separating from its radio station in Berne following the sale of TeleBärn and TeleZüri to AZ Medien at the end of August. The enterprise had decided in April of this year, within the framework of the merger with Edipresse Suisse, to consider a sale of its radio and TV stations as well as its specialist media.
The transition of the license from Capital FM must be approved by the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (UVEK) in accordance with the radio and TV law. It was agreed upon to maintain silence concerning the details of the sale that is subject to the proviso of this agreement through the supervisory authorities.