Classic 21 hit the airwaves on April 1, 2004. But the idea had been in your head for much longer, right?
“It's something I've wanted to do for a very long time, already in 1981, when I wasn't yet at RTBF. I'm in Los Angeles recording an album, and I'm listening in the hotel room and in the car a radio calls to me It's called KLOS Los Angeles and it plays classic rock. It's an absolutely indescribable joy and I say to myself, it's great, it would be good to have that in my house. us. But it stops. there I returned to Europe and in 1993, I was again in Los Angeles, and what was still only a success in 1981 in the United States became a tidal wave in the 90s. The classic rock stations are enjoying enormous success. I say to myself: I'll still take a little time to bring Classic 21 to the forefront, but I was convinced. That’s what we need to do.”
Was it easy to convince the RTBF leaders of the relevance of this project?
“Nothing is ever easy. At the time, I had been director of Radio 21 for a year and a half and RTBF had asked each radio director to give their vision for the future. I, for one, had a bit of surprised everyone by saying that we had to stop Radio 21 and create two new radio stations, which would become Classic 21 on the one hand and Pure FM on the other. I was called crazy, crazy, a utopian. I Still, I wasn't too wrong in the end. The only one who really believed on April 1, 2004 at 6:30 a.m., when Classic 21 went on air, was me. “
Marc Ysaye: “Classic 21 is my baby. I believed in it and I was right”
It’s cheeky for a director to suggest tackling his own radio…
“I know, it may seem extremely strange, but I was so convinced that it had to work. I said to myself: it's not possible that a project like that wouldn't work for us. When I proposed that, Radio 21 doesn't work well. There were clans, baronies that didn't talk to each other too much. With Classic 21, I think I've solved that. A whole team absolutely has to be united around a project to succeed. .If you don't have getting everyone on board is very complicated. I had the opportunity, like the other radio directors, to be able to choose the people with whom I was going to work, and out of those 40 people. , there are only three that disappointed me, that’s a good proportion.”
Marc Ysaye recalls his most memorable memories: “I will never forget April 1, 2004”
Classic 21 opened its channel on April 1, 2004 – what a funny date! – with a title that was not classic rock. A surprising choice…
“It was 'Beautiful Day' by U2. I think that U2, over time, became a rock classic. But it's true that 'Beautiful Day' was not as classic as one might have imagined, like 'Smoke on the Water' or something like that At the same time, the message was so strong that we said we're going to play it because for us, 'Beautiful Day' was. the accomplishment of years of work and effort. It was difficult to put all this together, because I also had to continue to take care of Radio 21 until the last minute. while building Classic 21.”
Do you remember the emotion that reigned when the radio was launched on the airwaves?
“Absolutely. We were at the studio in Mons. It was a moment of extreme emotion. And straight away, what was great was that we got feedback by email, by phone, from people who said , it’s wonderful what you’re doing. It’s been something extremely powerful.”
Stronger than leaving the management of Classic 21 in February 2019?
“Yes, but there, I had no choice. I was reached by the age limit. There are rules. I was 65 years old, I could no longer be the director.”
Marc Ysaye: between music and motorbikes
For 20 years, Classic 21 has been a great success. But isn’t radio going to have to question itself? Because the age of listeners is advancing… Because music is also evolving…
“The team that is in place and that I know well is able to understand and feel the taste of the public, to see how it changes, how it evolves. Not long ago I read an article which was very interesting. It was clearly explained that in terms of podcasts, for example, we have to face the facts that we are in 2025 and the 60s are really starting to get old. foot on it to return perhaps already in the 2000s. A guy who was 20 years old in the year 2000, he is 45 today, you have to be attentive to all that said, I think that the eternals will remain: the Beatles,. the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd… That’s really the basis and it will remain.”
At the end of your book, you thank a lot of people, notably RTBF. And you add: that leaving her was a mistake that you bitterly regret…
“There, there is nothing else to add. RTBF was… It is still my home. I explain in the book the few reasons why I left it. I had the impression that they no longer wanted me, that they no longer loved me. Every time I asked for something, I ended up being told that I was being treated like a freelancer. arrives and at that moment, so. At the same time, I had an offer from RTL. I said to myself, well, they don't want me here anymore. OK, they asked me, well, it was done on a whim. . I didn't think about it for 6 months, but I realized that even if all those people there, at RTL, were kind and very welcoming, it was still not my home, philosophically speaking. It was complicated. I was a year old. do it, I did it.
Marc Ysaye arrives on Bel RTL: “I am arriving at a time when there is a challenge to win back an audience. It is not meant to displease me”
If RTBF comes knocking on your door, will you sign?
“I don't think that will happen. Because I know that Jean-Paul Philippot, who is someone I like, is very angry with me for having left RTBF to go to RTL. Now, if they proposes it, of course, I say yes straight away But I don't think it will happen But it doesn't matter I'm not unhappy, let's be clear. suicide But it's true that I had. maybe a few more good years to go. With Les Classiques, I had established a 35-year appointment. It's not forgotten like that.”
Is radio definitely over?
“Radio is in my heart. I gave 40 years to my professional life. I had a very rich and very full professional life and now I have nothing, no more radio. I don't know if I'm going to do it again one day But it would be a lie to say that I miss it terribly. I don't particularly miss it but I would be very happy to do it again.
The day Sttella reformed Machiavelli at the Francos de Spa 96
You still have Machiavelli, your group. What is going on there?
“We are going to celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2025. We are going to do an event concert at the Cirque Royal on November 10, 2025, with guests and lots of stuff to celebrate that. That’s an incredible longevity. If we had been told that, we would wouldn't have believed it. There are two of us still present since the first day, bassist Roland Degreef and my modest self. And there is a new album which will also arrive in 2025.
