Le Mouv'

Le Mouv'

City of license	Paris
Broadcast area	France
Slogan	Mon époque, ma radio
Frequency	92.1 MHz (Paris) 95.2 MHz (Toulouse) 96.4 MHz (Marseille) Frequencies
First air date	17 June 1997
Format	Alternative rock, French music, electronic dance
Language(s)	French
Owner	Radio France
Website	www.lemouv.fr

Le Mouv' is a French youth-oriented radio station which began broadcasting on 17 June 1997. As part of Radio France, it is a public radio station. The station primarily plays alternative rock. Initially based in Toulouse, it moved to Paris in December 2001. The radio station does not claim to be a rock music station but rather a station with L'Esprit Rock (the rock spirit). L'Esprit Rock being a way of life and a style as well as a type of music.^[1]

History

Radio 7 (1980-1988)

Le Mouv' is Radio France's second attempt at serving a young audience. Its first, Radio 7 was created on 2 June 1980.^[2] Radio 7 was launched to counteract the numerous radios libres and pirate stations which heralded the opening of the FM band to private operators initiated by former President François Mitterrand in 1981. Radio 7 had a commercial-free rock-based format. It closed down in 1988, with its Paris transmitter converted into a rolling news format, the first of its kind in Europe, called France Info.

The new project (1997-2000)

A second attempt was to be launched in 1997. Michel Boyon, then President of Radio France, remarked that the average age of the public radio audience was progressively getting older. Enlisting the help of Olivier Nanteau,^[3] on 17 June 1997, Le Mouv' launched, in place of Radio France Toulouse which closed down. At the same time it also signalled the end of local public programmes as Le Mouv' aimed to become a national station. The launch of a public youth station was criticised by private radio groups, which stated that Radio France had no business entering commercial markets.

At the start of programmes, Le Mouv' initially had an eclectic format, mixing pop, rock and electronic dance music mixed with practical information for its young audience. By 1998 the media regulator CSA attributed 21 new FM frequencies to the network in small to medium-sized towns (such as Angers, Poitiers, Valence).

1999 saw Radio France President Jean-Marie Cavada give Le Mouv' six months to improve the audience share, which in Toulouse, remained static at 0.6%.^[4] However other stations within the Radio France group were threatened with closure, especially several FIP stations outside Paris, for example FIP Lyon.^[5] Station manager Marc Garcia changed strategy by installing a new, stable schedule with a new musical format, centered around the new rock music scene, adding a new slogan - L'esprit rock (The spirit of rock), with the result of gaining a 1.8% share in the Toulouse area.

Out of the towns, into the cities (2000-2002)

Radio France put in place a vaste re-organisation of its frequencies for the year 2000. In its Plan Bleu it outlined, amongst other things, that Le Mouv' would be heard in larger markets, with significant university populations.^[6] Le Mouv's coverage area in the smaller towns of France were to be handed over to the France Bleu network of local stations, whilst FIP stations in the bigger cities were to be closed for Le Mouv'. Le Mouv' thus appeared in Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, as well as Ajaccio, Brest, Rennes and Valence.^[7] This suscitied a number of protests in the cities concerned.^[8][9] Audience share in Toulouse reached 3.4% by 2001. A new frequency for Clermont-Ferrand came on-air in November 2001, followed by strong protests from private radio groups.^[10] However Radio France announced the arrival of Le Mouv' in Paris, backed up by a visible marketing campaign.^[11] TDF Transmitter work aimed at improving Radio France network stations on FM made it possible to re-utilise a frequency already used by France Musiques.^[12] Le Mouv' started broadcasts in the Paris region on 6 December 2001 with its first private concert held in March 2002.^[13] This gave the station a potential coverage of 16 million people, with 100,000 listeners in its first set of results in 2003.^[14]

Going digital (2002–present)

October 2002 marked the station's fifth birthday, a new logo for the network was unveiled. However after five years at the helm Station manager Marc Garcia left in 2002 to take another role within Radio France. A new frequence in the Lozère region was re-activated after indignation of the network being removed infavour of France Bleu Gard Lozère. Frédéric Schlesinger took over the running of Le Mouv' in 2003. In 2004 the station achieved its first national audience share of 1.1%, which is close to 550,000 listeners.^[15] The figure rose in 2005 with 650,000 national listeners and a 1.3% share.^[16] In Paris-Île-de-France it achieved a 1.3% share.

New frequencies for the station were opened in Montpellier in 2006, Bordeaux and Lorient 2007, Besançon and Rouen in 2008 and in Tours in 2010. Future frequencies have been cleared for Amiens, Grenoble, Annecy and Saint-Étienne.^[17] Le Mouv' launched its first La Mouv'Party tour, which took place in Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille and Bordeaux before ending in Paris 7 March 2008. In 2009 le Mouv' launched its current website, offering for the first time audio on-demand.

Facing falling audience share (0.7% nationally by 2009^[18]), Le Mouv' reduced its music quota from 90% to 70%. Station director Hervé Riesen declared that Le Mouv' was "no longer a music station, but musically dominant", adding it is moving away from its previous 18-25 demographic, now aiming to target 18-30 year olds with more speech and discussion programmes.^[19]

In June 2010 Radio France President Jean-Luc Hees addressed in an open letter to staff in Toulouse plans for Le Mouv' to relocate to Maison de la Radio in Paris, home of Radio France network operations.^[20] The move was completed in December, bringing an end to 14 years of broadcasting from Toulouse, and ending the policy of national public broadcasting outside the French capital. Meanwhile rumours of an expansion of the France Bleu local network in the Toulouse area were rife, after Mr Hees addressed staff in Toulouse three days after the launch of France Bleu Maine in Le Mans. The rumours were confirmed in February 2011, when France Bleu Toulouse launched, with ex-Mouv' station manager Vincent Rodriguez named station director. Mr Hees additionally wanted Le Mouv' to double its audience, stating it rarely climbed above the 1% national mark,^[21] remarking that after 13 years, it "isn't addressing the audience it is aiming for".^[22]

Frequencies

Current Le Mouv' Podcasts^[23]

See also

• BBC Radio 1 British equivalent, aimed at 18-30 year olds.
• CBC Radio 3 and Bande à part Canadian equivalents, featuring Canadian content.
• BBC 6 Music British station with an Adult Album Alternative format.
• DRS Virus, Couleur 3 and Rete Tre Swiss public stations aimed at a young audience.
• Triple J Australian equivalent.
• FM4 Austrian radio station with an alternative rock format.
• Studio Brussel Belgian Dutch station.
• 5fm South African equivalent.

References

External links (in French)

• (French) Site officiel Le Mouv'
• (French) mms://viptvr.yacast.net/encoderlemouv (Le Mouv' WMA Live Stream)
• (French) Le Mouv' Ogg Vorbis Live Stream.
• (French) Le Mouv' Podcasts

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