A new Swedish radio channel replaces Yle Puhe’s frequency

The channel is owned by the Swedish company Mad Men Media. It was founded by people who have worked in the radio industry for a long time Mattias Gustavsson, Robert Persson and Henrik Vibeck.

“We had a reunion in 2012. We drank a lot of wine that night and talked about how much we love radio. That’s where it all started,” Gustavsson tells HS by phone.

The trio started calling each other Mad Men, which also gave rise to the name Mad Men Media. Gustavsson clarifies that the name has nothing to do with the American hit series of the same name.

New the channel is in no way related to Yle, but replaces the radio frequency freed up by Traficom.

The country’s largest commercial radio company Bauer Media and a radio veteran also sought the channel position Leena Puntilan founded by Radio 55. Puntila said in October Kauppalehti for Optionthat Yle’s frequencies should be given to existing domestic operators.

However, the State Council granted a business license to the Swedish company on Thursday. There was a Finnish media entrepreneur in the application process with the Swedish men Taina Roth.

Swedish the working name of the channel is Aivo FM. According to the founder Gustavsson, it focuses on “independent news in Finnish aimed at listeners”. According to Gustavsson, the channel’s focus on news also distinguishes it from its Finnish competitors.

“This is not just a channel that plays some type of music,” says Gustavsson.

In the application submitted to Traficom, the Swedish company describes its future channel as “a modern and listener-oriented music-focused channel that values ​​high-quality content instead of traditional, entertainment-based formats”.

Gustavsson does not reveal what kind of audience the channel is aiming for. In Sweden, the company says it has reached listeners who would otherwise not end up listening to the radio.

The company has, among other things, the Arabic-language channel Yalla FM. According to the company, the channel in Malmö and Kristianstad is Sweden’s first Arabic-language radio channel. It also broadcasts news in Arabic.

Mad Men Media’s other channels include the national Rockklassiker and local radio channels Retro FM, Radio Topp40 and Relax FM.

Correction 7.11. at 10:15 p.m.: Robert Persson’s last name was previously mistakenly Presson in the article. Also, Mad Men Media is no longer a startup, as the article erroneously stated earlier.