Radio France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radio France is the French public service radio broadcaster. Radio France took over the activities of the radio division of ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française) in January 1975. RFI (Radio France Internationale) was originally part of Radio France but in 1986 a new law passed by the French Parliament allowed RFI to operate independently of Radio France.
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[edit] Mission
Radio France's two principal missions are:
- To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and
- To assure the development and the management of the following four orchestras and choirs:
- l'Orchestre National de France (National Orchestra of France)
- l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra)
- Le Chœur de Radio France (Choir of Radio France)
- La Maîtrise de Radio France (Choir School of Radio France with a choir of children and teenagers)
[edit] Stations
Radio France has seven major national stations:
- France Inter [1] (music, news and entertainment)
- France Info [2] (news)
- France Culture [3] (culture)
- France Musique [4] (classical music and jazz)
- France Bleu [5] (regional stations network)
- FIP [6] (a wide range of music - classical, hiphop, jazz, chanson, rock, blues, world etc.). It has a cult following in Brighton, England where can be received on 91.0 and 98.5 FM.
- Le Mouv [7] (pop music).
The international station, Radio France Internationale (RFI) has been independent of Radio France since 1986. Its funds are completely covered by the French Foreign Affairs ministry. On September 17, 2002, former president of Togo Gnassingbé Eyadéma tried to stop the broadcast of an interview of one of his prime opponents, Messan Agbéyomé Kodjo, by phoning directly to the Elysée Palace. The interview was not censored by Jean-Paul Cluzel, RFI's CEO at the time, due to the coordinated intervention of the journalists' trade-unions [1].
[edit] History timeline
1897 A year after Marconi’s experiments, Eugène Ducretet begins his trials of radio broadcasting from a mast on the 3rd level of the Eiffel Tower, and the TSF - la Télégraphie sans fil - wireless - begins in France.
1921 A member of the 'sapeurs-pompiers' reads the weather forecast and the Stock Market (Bourse) prices from a studio in the Eiffel Tower.
1922 6th November (8 days ahead of the BBC) Radiola, the first French private radio transmitter, begins regular broadcasts (it changes its name to Radio Paris in 1924). It is followed by Radio Toulouse and Radio Lyon, and in 1932-3 by Radio Luxembourg. Pre-war, 14 commercial and 12 public sector radios operate in France.
1939 the French population of 41 million owns 5 million radio sets.
1940 From 18th June, General de Gaulle, as self-proclaimed leader of the Free French resistance, begins broadcasting his messages to France from London..
1940-44 In both the German Occupied zone and under the Vichy regime in the south, radio is taken over by the State.
1942-3 With the agreement of Vichy, Radio Monte Carlo and its financial holding company la SOFIRAD are born..
1944 At the Liberation of France, the state broadcasting monopoly is retained for practical and ideological reasons. Public service radio broadcasting is ensured by the RDF, soon to be called the RTF, then the ORTF in 1964.
1955 The commercial station Europe No 1 begins broadcasting from across the border in the Sarre region of Germany, freed from French occupation in that year.
1965 Under the management of Roland Dhordain, the 4 French radio stations are re-organization:
France I and II are merged to RTF Inter than renamed France Inter
France III renamed RTF Promotion than France Culture
France IV renamed RTF Haute d'Fidelite than France Musique.
1975 As the ORTF is broken up into separate TV channels, technical services, and radio, Radio France gains its independence from other media institutions as the state controlled public service radio broadcaster.
1981 Following pressure from the independent and commercial radio lobbies and pirate broadcasters, the newly elected President Mitterrand allows the licensing of radios libres, to become radios locales privées, initially with a state subsidy and then financed by commercial advertising (1984), and finally to group themselves into national networks (1986). A private radio sector broadcasting from within French borders is reborn.
1999 The daily radio audience (reach) is 83%. They listen on average for over 3 hours a day. 99% of French homes have a radio. 80% of French households have a car radio, and 26.8% a walk-man ('baladeur').
2000 Radio France re-organises its radio network. France Bleu becomes a regional-only network, primarily on FM (the national AM radio network was re-attributed to France Info) and several FIP stations in large cities were closed down and replaced with youth station Le Mouv'.
[edit] Location
Radio France is located at the Maison de Radio France (or Maison de la Radio), a round building situated in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris. The house was designed by Henri Bernard and inaugurated in December 1963 by then President Charles de Gaulle. Aside from the central services of Radio France and the services and studios of several of its channels, the building houses a museum of radio, television and their recording techniques.
[edit] Reference
- Information from Geoff Hare, Newcastle University
- ^ "Une « CNN à la française » - Parrain privé, chaîne publique", Le Monde Diplomatique, January 2006. (also available in Persian.here)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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Radios : France Inter · France Info · France Bleu · France Culture · France Musique · FIP · Le Mouv’ |
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