Faq

We have compiled an FAQ list of questions we frequently receive on similar topics grouped by subject. You may find the answer to your question here.

Music Programme

When choosing the tracks to play, our music programmers observe strict format requirements, which we have drawn up on the basis of countless listener surveys and auditorium tests. Our format concentrates on the Music of the past 40 years, with an emphasis on melodic, catchy pop music, and a schedule made up of 50% Swiss music. Of course, we also consider classics from the 60s and 70s, although they tend to be played a little less often.
The programme is balanced throughout the year and – with the exception of the Christmas programme during the Advent period – does not take special account of topical events such as birthdays, anniversaries of deaths, celebrations, public holidays or seasons.

We play new tracks in the programme more often for the first few months and then every one to two weeks on average after that. There are over 4,500 different songs in Radio Swiss Pop’s current programme. This guarantees that the programme has a good mix.

Our station doesn’t have any presenters or advertising, so the way in which we identify the station on air tends to stand out more. Here, too, we have a large variety of different jingles, so that most of our listeners do not feel that they are being played too often.

Radio Swiss Pop is a licence-fee-funded radio station under public law that is run by SRG SSR. As such, part of its remit is to support Swiss music. The station fulfils this part of its remit by ensuring that around 50% of the music we play originates from Switzerland. Of course, when selecting Swiss songs, we make sure that each one fits in with our musical format, and that the recording meets our quality standards. It is also important to us to play a broad repertoire of Swiss productions, and thus enable our listeners to explore the diversity of Swiss pop music.

«CH» indicates that the piece played has a link to Switzerland. This may relate to the performer or the composer.

We’re always happy to receive non-binding suggestions in writing at the email address info@radioswisspop.ch. Owing to the large number of requests and tips, we cannot respond to all the enquiries that we receive.

We do not offer a requests show. Our music editors regularly select new, suitable titles in line with our programme philosophy, in order to include them in the programme.

The number of sound storage media orders via our playlist and delivery by corresponding trade partners has fallen significantly in recent years. In addition, an increasing number of titles in our range are no longer available on physical sound storage media. The detailed information on the titles and albums on our website (including label and order number details) are so comprehensive that available sound storage media can be directly ordered from online retailers.
At the same time, the number of music download providers has significantly increased in recent years. We have therefore decided not to favour a particular supplier by including a direct link.

For copyright reasons we are not permitted to produce copies of pieces of music. This also applies if the piece is no longer available.

Reception

If you click on «Start the radio» or listen via the external player on our website you will receive Radio Swiss Pop in mp3 format and at a quality of 128 kbps. If you use the app, you will activate the aacPlus stream at 32 kbps as standard. However, if you click on «HQ» at the bottom of the app, you can switch to the aacPlus stream at 96 kbps and thus enjoy a higher level of quality.

You can use our own app to listen to the station on an iPhone, or iPad, or a smartphone or tablet using the Android operating system. The app is available from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. If you use an iPad, you may have to remove the «iPad» search filter in the App Store before the app will be shown.
In view of the low market share occupied by the Microsoft operating system (as at September 2014), we do not offer a dedicated app for Windows Phone. We recommend the «TuneIn» radio app as an alternative for Windows Phone users.

To listen to our station in the car, you need a DAB+ car radio, or a car radio with internet reception. In Switzerland, more and more vehicles are being equipped with DAB+ radios. There are also various options for retrofitting VHF radios with DAB+ technology. Please ask your dealer or garage mechanic. Please note that our station is available via DAB+ in cars only in Switzerland and in border areas of neighbouring countries. For more information, please visit www.dabplus.ch.

The best thing is to do an automatic station search on your radio, which will update the list of all available stations. It sometimes helps to change the location of the radio whilst the station search is running.

Our station is not broadcast via FM, but rather on the digital DAB+ network. With DAB+, stations are not allocated a frequency in the conventional sense. After an automatic station search on your radio, you’ll find us under the name «Swiss Pop+».

We are aware of the problem. When updates are carried out to the operating systems of smartphones and tablets, all app providers need a certain amount of time to update their apps accordingly. This is unfortunately also the case with us and is unavoidable.

Our iPhone app will also work on your iPad, but to find the app itself, you will have to remove the «iPad» filter in the App Store.

In view of the very rapid pace of technical progress, a gradual increase in streaming quality is likely in the medium term, but no definite plans have yet been made. Improving streaming quality means that we will need more bandwidth for each station, and that means much higher costs. However, only a small proportion of our listeners – those with the corresponding hi fi equipment – will be able to benefit from the marginal improvement in sound quality. Our 96kbps AAC+ stream offers a slightly better-quality sound, if you would like to try it.

From 2016, in order to receive our programme via Eutelsat Hotbird satellite, you need a DVB-S2-compatible receiver. Otherwise reception will unfortunately no longer be possible. Our programme has not been broadcast via the Astra satellite for some time.

Various

We are a music programme of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR and are financed by the licence fees paid by Swiss tax payers.

This is basically permitted, and we do not demand remuneration. On the other hand, you are obliged to follow your country’s rules for licence fees in public areas in order to protect the artists’ copyrights.

We do not accept direct applications. Any vacancies will be published on the SRG SSR website. Internships are unfortunately not possible at our station.