Chronicle

1863 - 1980 TOP 
1863
Formation of the predecessor of Vorarlberger Nachrichten, the "Vorarlberger Landeszeitung". Initially being a weekly paper, Vorarlberger Landeszeitung transforms to a daily newspaper in 1887.

1919
Eugen Russ becomes editor of Vorarlberger Landeszeitung.

1922
Eugen Russ becomes publisher and editor of Vorarlberger Landeszeitung.

1945
On the 16th of November, the first issue of Vorarlberger Nachrichten is published. Eugen Russ is editor-in-chief.

1946
A rotary press allows in-house printing of the Vorarlberger Nachrichten.

1962
Eugen Russ dies. With Vorarlberger Nachrichten he leaves behind the regions most influential newspaper with the highest circulation. His son DDr. Toni Russ takes over the management. Under his reign, Vorarlberger Nachrichten assume market leadership.

1969
Toni Russ dies. His wife Rosa Russ becomes publisher, Richard Kempf becomes commercial manager, and Dr. Franz Ortner becomes new editor-in-chief.



1980 - 1990 TOP 
1983
Eugen A. Russ becomes managing director of the Vorarlberger Medienhaus group of companies, as well as editor-in-chief of Vorarlberger Nachrichten.

1984
Acquisition of weekly paper "Wann & Wo", published on Thursdays.

1988
The MAN Roland UNIMAN-printing press is put in operation. This results in a change from letterpress printing to offset printing.

1989
Since 1989 Wann & Wo is published on Sundays.


1990 - 2000 TOP 
1990
Acquisition of NEUE Vorarlberger Tageszeitung. NEUE was founded as early as 1972. On the 31st of August 1990 NEUE is published for the first time in its new layout with a blue heading, issued from Tuesdays to Sundays.

1992
The first Gerber LE55 direct-to-plate imaging system is put in operation. Thus, Vorarlberger Medienhaus is the first newspaper worldwide to use the computer-to-plate technology in daily practice.

1993
In September the assembling of GEOMAN No. 1 from MAN Roland with 4 printing towers starts. This printing press is revolutionary: Vorarlberger Nachrichten is the first end-to-end four-colour newspaper worldwide.

1995
Teleport Consulting & Systemmanagement GmbH is founded. With Vorarlberg Online, Teleport has significantly contributed to the development and dispersion of the Internet in Vorarlberg. Vol.at is the first regional newsportal in Austria. One of the outstanding achievements is that the local portal VOL, develops into a mass medium.

Verena Daum becomes editor-in-chief of youth newspaper Wann & Wo.
 
1997
Teleport cooperates with all cable TV providers and becomes the first private provider for broadband-Internet via TV cable in Vorarlberg.

On the 1st of July, Kurt Horwitz is appointed to the editorship at Vorarlberger Nachrichten. 

1998
On the 1st of June Antenne Vorarlberg goes on air, being the first regional private radio station in Vorarlberg.



ab 2000 TOP 
2000
Wann & Wo is now additionally published on Wednesdays, including the print version of the .com sites.

In March, Teleport launches 1036hallo! as a private telephony provider.

2002
Reorientation of NEUE as a "boulevard family newspaper" under editor Robert Thoma.

Dr. Christian Ortner follows Kurt Horwitz as editor-in-chief of Vorarlberger Nachrichten. Horwitz remains chief editor and moves to the editorial office in Vienna.

2003
5 year anniversary of Antenne, celebrated by a two-day rock and pop event.

2005
Vorarlberger Medienhaus acquires a 100% stake in Germany-based Quoka, a publishing house headquartered in Lampertheim, near Mannheim

At the end of May, Vorarlberger Medienhaus presents the new business and lifestyle magazine "kontur".

In June the VN-insert "Immobilien" is transformed to small format and is renamed as "Leben & Wohnen".

On the 20th of July, the glossy magazine WEEK Vorarlberg is published for the first time. The magazine, with an editorial focus on people, lifestyle and trends, is published every two weeks with a circulation of 134.000 copies delivered to almost all households in Vorarlberg.
The regional infotainment web portal VOL celebrates its 10th anniversary in early October.

On the 16th of November, Vorarlberger Nachrichten celebrates its 60th anniversary. Readers of the VN get insight into the newspaper "today and yesterday" through an anniversary issue and a very successful open day.

2006
Quoka acquires publishing house AVIS. Thus, Quoka's strong growing classifieds web portal is expanded on a national scale.

Publishing companies Quoka, "Such&Find" and "das inserat" start an online operation to become Germany's largest classified website. The companies bundle their online activities and thus underline their claim to be a national player.

On the 7th of June, the company's flagship newspaper Vorarlberger Nachrichten was awarded "Newspaper of the Year" at the 59th world congress of newspapers in Moscow.

Mr. Helmar Hipp becomes managing director of Eugen Russ Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei GmbH. Mr. Hipp is responsible for the company's business in Germany as well as its online expansion.

Eugen A. Russ becomes a minority shareholder in Liechtensteiner Volksblatt AG, publisher of the "Liechtensteiner Volksblatt".

2007
On the 9th of September, Sunday newspaper "Neue am Sonntag" is published for the first time. The weekly newspaper is positioned in the market as a self-contained brand.

At the end of 2007, VM Group launches the wholly owned investment subsidiary VM Digital in order to speed up the increase of its online businesses.

2010
With VOLmobil, the Vorarlberger Medienhaus is the first regional provider of mobile telephony and reseller for the Apple iPhone.

VOL is the first german-speaking newsportal-App for the Apple iPad and is released even before the iPad is officially available in Austria.

2011
For the first time, the Vorarlberger Nachrichten are published multimedia on the iPad.




print