PRESS RELEASE

AER ELECTS DANISH PRESIDENT AT EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN WARSAW

At an Extraordinary General Assembly celebrated in Warsaw (Poland) on May 5th 2006, members of the Association of European Radios (AER) elected as their new President Mr. Carsten Warming, Chairman of KOMM, the Danish Association of Commercial Broadcasting.

After his two-year mandate was confirmed, Mr. Warming commented: “The audiovisual landscape in Europe is changing rapidly and Radio has some fundamental challenges ahead. Whereas the copyright and advertising debates will continue raging, the main challenge today for our medium is technological. Radio is preparing its second Revolution – a digital evolution – and with it many fundamental questions are being raised. How will the radio industry take advantage of the available technological possibilities? What will the radio industry look like in 15 to 20 years? In a globalising world, what will the place and role of local and regional commercial broadcasters be? Will there still be a place for free-to-air radio?

AER is the only organisation in Brussels which speaks exclusively about radio to the institutions of the EU but also to other related organisations. As AER’s new President, I hope that our association will develop and grow so as to continue offering its support and services to current and future member organisations and participating in any policy discussion of relevance to the commercial radio industry in Europe.”

The AER Executive Committee is now composed of:

• Mr. Carsten WARMING (KOMM – Denmark) President 
• Mr. Frederik STUCKI (VSP – Switzerland) Secretary General
• Mr. Alfonso RUIZ DE ASSIN (AERC – Spain) Vice-President
• Mr. Hans-Dieter HILLMOTH (VPRT- Germany) Vice-President
• Ms. Leena RYYNANEN (SRryL- Finland) Vice-President
• Mr. Martin BANGA – (NVCR – Netherlands) Member
• Mr. Paul BROWN (CRCA-United Kingdom) Member
• Mr. Christer JUNGERYD (RU – Sweden) Member
• Mr. Sergio NATUCCI (RNA – Italy) Member
• Ms. Anne KACKI (SRGP-France) Member
• Mr. Christophe SABOT (SRN - France) Member 
• Mr. Petros KOSTOPOULOS (EIRA-Greece) Member
• Mr. George CHIRITA (ARCA – Romania) Associate Member

Created in 1992, the Association of European Radios (AER) represents the interests of 11 national private radio associations in 10 EU Member States, Romania and Switzerland. Its combined membership is over 4,500 private/commercial radio stations broadcasting to millions of listeners every day. AER represents the interests of private and commercial broadcasters to the institutions of the EU and serves as a platform of information and exchange of expertise for its membership.

ENDS
16/05/2006

NOTE TO EDITORS: AER Manager Christina Sleszynska. Telephone: +32 2 736 9131 Fax +32 2 732 8990 - email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  For more information about AER : www.aereurope.org