Radio Humor: 120 Seconds on Abandoning FM Airwaves

FM: The two Vincents light up the SSR with a torch

Thursday morning on RTS Première was a laugh riot… except perhaps for the management of the SSR. In «120 seconds», Vincent Kucholl and Vincent Veillon dismantled, piece by piece, the brilliant in-house idea: burying FM to rush headlong towards DAB+.

Kucholl played a fictional deputy to the head of operations, Markus Brignola, who proudly announced that if some people lost their signal, all they had to do was… buy a new radio. Or, at worst, a new car. Simple, right?

When Veillon dared to mention the discontent of listeners and even staff, the response was swift: "We don't care about the employees' opinion, they know nothing about radio." A sentence one can almost imagine in the next annual report.

As for the audience losses – down to 49% for Espace 2 – there's no need to panic. Management, explains Brignola, isn't there to admit its mistakes. Admitting a blunder? What a ridiculous idea!

The highlight of the show: Kucholl argued that Parliament should also force private radio stations to fail. "Otherwise it would be unfair. Besides, FM is good for the poor and the hicks." That should delight the remaining listeners.

And while the SSR was praising itself, the real guest of the day, National Councillor Philippe Nantermod, summed up the situation succinctly: "Just because the SSR has decided to jump off the cliff doesn't mean others have to follow."«

Moral of the story: in 120 seconds, the two Vincents managed to do more public service than many management meetings.