Liechtenstein's public radio station ceases broadcasting after voters withdraw funding

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VADUZ, Liechtenstein (AP) — Tiny Liechtenstein's public radio broadcaster is to disappear from the airwaves on Thursday after voters decided to pull state funding and the government was unable to find a way to privatize it.

Radio Liechtenstein said on its website that it would cease broadcasting at 6 p.m. Thursday. “After nearly 30 years as a radio station in the principality, the voice of Liechtenstein is bowing out of the ether,” it said.

In a referendum in October, 55.4% of those who voted decided to scrap legislation that granted state funding to Radio Liechtenstein at the end of 2025.

The initiative came from a small opposition party, which argued that the station was swallowing more than 70% of state funding for the media, giving it an unjustified advantage against private media, and that it should be privatized. It had been slated to get public funding totaling 3.95 million Swiss francs (nearly $4.5 million) over a four-year period.

The government, which had argued before the referendum that the chances of privatization were questionable because a private radio station in the tiny country would struggle to generate enough advertising income, said on Tuesday it had become clear that it was “not feasible” to privatize the station by the end of the year.

There was no “concrete takeover offer from private investors with all the associated commitments,” it said, and no political agreement to extend the deadline for the end of public funding, so the station would likely have to close in the year's first half.

Radio Liechtenstein had an average 11,400 daily listeners in 2021, the last year for which figures were available.

Liechtenstein is a principality of about 39,000 people that borders Switzerland and Austria.