Culture

SRG SSR sees culture as integral to its radio and television programming and also contributes to Swiss cultural life through subsidies and event partnerships.

The Concession states that SRG SSR’s radio and television programmes and other media offerings should contribute to cultural development and strengthening Switzerland’s cultural heritage, with a particular focus on Swiss literature, music and film. For SRG SSR, however, culture is more than just a duty imposed on it – it plays a proactive role in cultural events across a broad front extending way beyond the scope of its radio and television programming.

Culture in radio and television

SRG SSR brings culture to its audience on a daily basis through its 18 radio stations and eight television channels. In radio, the second stations in particular – DRS 2 in German-speaking Switzerland, Espace 2 in French-speaking Switzerland and Rete Due in Italian-speaking Switzerland – give special attention to cultural reporting with background programmes on music, film and literature.

The share of cultural programme content on the radio was around 6% in 2008, although it must be borne in mind that actual music broadcasts are not included in this figure. By way of comparison, news and current affairs is the most important subject area, having accounted for around 16% of radio airtime in 2008.

SRG SSR also devotes a respectable share of airtime to culture in television with special programmes that are firm fixtures in its weekly schedules. Special mention must be reserved here for unique television productions such as La Traviata at Zurich’s main railway station in September 2008 and La Bohème amid apartment blocks in Berne in September 2009 – both of which turned culture into must-see television. The national television series “PHOTOsuisse”, “LiteraTour de Suisse” and “ArchitecTour de Suisse”, meanwhile, showed culture from a variety of different angles on SRG SSR channels.

The share of cultural programme content on television in 2008 was just under 14%. By way of comparison, news and current affairs is the most important subject area, accounting for around 28% of television airtime in 2008.

Pure music radio

Most of SRG SSR’s radio stations feature a mix of spoken word and music. DRS 4 News, in fact, is a 24-hour spoken-word station. At the same time, however, SRG SSR also provides pure music radio stations and music platforms, which serve in part to promote and raise the profile of Swiss music:

• Swiss Satellite Radio 2008:
• Radio Swiss Classic: 112,000 listeners a day
• Radio Swiss Jazz: 64,000 listeners a day
• Radio Swiss Pop: 170,000 listeners a day

• www.mx3.ch: The Swiss Music Portal is a joint platform of DRS 3, DRS Virus, Couleur 3, Rete Tre and Radio Rumantsch. It allows musicians to present their work to the general public, and some is chosen to be broadcast on the aforementioned radio stations. In autumn 2009, music from around 12,200 bands was available on the platform, with an average of 100,000 people visiting every month.

• www.vxm.ch: The Swiss Folk Music Portal, a joint venture of DRS Musikwelle, La Première, Rete Uno and Radio Rumantsch, is a platform that brings together musicians, experts, fans, promoters and clubs in the world of folk music. In autumn 2009, music from over 630 groups was available on the platform.

Film promotion

Film is an excellent means of conveying cultural and linguistic diversity, which is why promoting film is a cornerstone of SRG SSR’s cultural activities. It created the Pacte de l’audiovisuel in 1996 together with partners from the film industry. From 1998 to 2008, it invested almost CHF 220 million in promoting film under the pact. The 2009 figure was CHF 21.3 million, CHF 1.5 million more than in 2008. Some CHF 21.8 million is to be invested in the pact in 2010, CHF 22.3 million in 2011. Over 1,000 cinema, television, documentary, short and animated films have been released in the past decade thanks to the pact. Over the last three years, the SRG SSR television companies have coproduced the following cinema, television, documentary, short and animated films: 

SRG SSR supports the following key Swiss film festivals in various genres through its media partnerships:    

• Solothurn Film Festival (January)
• Swiss Film Prize (March)
• Visions du Réel, Nyon (April)
• Locarno International Film Festival (August)
• Cinéma Tous Écrans, Geneva (September)
• Short Film Festival Winterthur (November) 

Music promotion

Music is to radio what film is to television. As with film, SRG SSR set down its collaboration with representatives of the music industry in 2004 in the Swiss Music Charter, which has the aim of promoting the image of Swiss music as well as the country’s talented musicians. Under the Charter, SRG SSR is committed to including a fair share of Swiss music productions in its radio programmes. Swiss music is defined as recorded or live music featuring Swiss composers, performers or producers as well as recordings with a significant Swiss involvement. SRG SSR’s partners set guideline figures annually for the presence of Swiss music in programming. In recent years, SRG SSR has not only met these yardsticks but in fact exceeded most of them.

Every two years, the Label Suisse music festival takes place in Lausanne under the aegis of Radio Suisse Romande (RSR). The festival, first held in 2004, serves to promote Swiss music. RSR has also organised the biennial Schubertiade since 1980, a major classical music festival held at different locations in French-speaking Switzerland.

SRG SSR additionally promotes pop, rock, jazz and classical music with concerts and events. There were more than 50 music-oriented media partnerships for this purpose in 2009, including Rock’n’Roll & Edelweiss, the Swiss Music Award, Zoogä-n-am Boogä, Cully Jazz, Musikantenstadl, the Festa da chant districtuala (Regional Song Festival), the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Open Air Lumnezia, Alpentöne and the AVO Session Basel as well as musicals such as Mamma Mia, Moulin Rouge and West Side Story.

Literature promotion

• Radio and television: SRG SSR regularly promotes literature in its radio and television programming, for example with programmes such as “Buchzeichen” (Bookmark) and “Hörbar” (Audible) on DRS 1, “Literaturclub” on SF, “Entre les lignes” (Between the lines) on Espace 2, “Furbo chi legge” (Clever people read) on Rete Uno and “Preziosa litterara” (Precious literature) on Radio Rumantsch. Programmes like these, together with radio plays and readings, encourage people to read and also have a positive effect on Swiss book sales.

• Solothurn Literary Days: As part of a media partnership, SRG SSR has supported the Solothurn Literary Days – the most important forum for Swiss literature – since autumn 2007.

• Salon du livre: TSR awarded the fourth Prix TSR literature Ados – the only prize for Swiss literature aimed primarily at the 14-16 age group – at the 2008 Salon du livre book fair (www.liredelire.ch).