Anniversary 30 years ago, "TeleZüri" was the first private TV station to go on air
Media pioneer Roger Schawinski launched the first private TV station in Switzerland. TeleZüri" went on air for the first time on October 3, 1994. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Roger Schawinski (left) and Hugo Bigi (right) on the first broadcast day of "TeleZüri".
Image: Keystone
Media pioneer Roger Schawinski launched the first private TV station in Switzerland. TeleZüri" went on air for the first time on October 3, 1994. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Roger Schawinski (left) and Hugo Bigi (right) on the first broadcast day of "TeleZüri".
Image: Keystone
On October 3, 1994, 30 years ago, "TeleZüri" was the first Swiss private television station to go on air. A successful model that media pioneer Roger Schawinski set up. VJs were used for the first time in Switzerland.
03.10.2024, 09:01
SDA
On the first day, the local television station had 148,000 viewers and achieved a reach of 12% in the broadcasting area. The very next day, managing director Roger Schawinski announced that the viewing figures had exceeded his expectations by 50 percent. Today, the station says it reaches almost twice as many people every day: around 297,000 people.
Just one month after the launch, the station boss announced the expansion of TeleZüri; he was looking for four new video journalists, so-called VJs, to join the existing 15. And: The program was to be enriched with more entertainment.
The use of VJs, who were alone with a camera, was new in the Swiss television landscape. At the beginning of the 1990s, the private television station New York 1 was the first to rely exclusively on video journalists. Practically all regional television stations later copied this simple concept.
In-house productions in Swiss German
The "TeleZüri" program was broadcast via a cable network in the greater Zurich area. Even today, all in-house productions are presented in Swiss German.
Schawinski did not want to make a "second Swiss television" with "TeleZüri", as he always emphasized. Schawinski said that the channel would focus on Zurich. However, he was also toying with the idea of bringing "TeleZüri" to Schaffhausen, Zug, Lucerne and Rapperswil SG. In addition to local and regional events, the station would also broadcast information about Switzerland and the world, albeit without its own correspondents.
The journalistic responsibility lay with Managing Director Schawinski. The two partners Ringier and TA- Medien AG, each with a one-third stake, were to operate in the background.
According to Schawinski, a total of "between eight and nine million Swiss francs" was raised by the three partners for the studio and other preliminary costs. 2.5 million alone had been invested in state-of-the-art technology.
In 2001, Schawinski sold the station together with Radio 24 to Tamedia for 92 million francs. In 2011, Tamedia passed the station on to Peter Wanner's AZ Medien and CH Media for an undisclosed sum.
Almost unchanged program structure
The program structure has remained almost unchanged for years since the start of broadcasting. One of the best-known and most-watched programs on "TeleZüri" was the dating show SwissDate; this program, then known as ZüriDate, was first broadcast in 1994 and was hosted by Patricia Boser until 2003.
TalkTäglich, the discussion program with personalities - previously also hosted by Schawinski, among others - and LifeStyle are also legendary.
Numerous well-known television personalities started their careers on "TeleZüri". For example, Arena presenter Sandro Brotz, presenter Eva Wannenmacher and former 10 before 10 presenter Daniela Lager.
