Par
Maxim T’sjoen
Published on
Oct. 19 2024 at 12:42 p.m
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Today, it may be the voice that wakes you up in the morning, the one that takes you to work or takes you home. Will local community radio stations still be on the airwaves on January 1, 2025?
When the 2025 Finance Bill was announced, those responsible for these local radio stations were choked up. Let’s talk numbers: the Radio Expression Support Fund (FSER), which represents between 30 and 40% of the budget of community radio stations, is being slashed by the Ministry of Culture.
From 35 million in 2024, it would increase to 25 million in 2025. “We are cutting the budget by a third,” enrages Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac, co-president of Locales, bringing together the National Confederation of Associative Radios (CNRA) and the National Union of free radios (SNRL), from d’actu.fr
For him, this decision is “cataclysmic”. “It’s a real guillotine move by the government: 70 to 80 of these radio stations could disappear. »
What is this FSER?
Concretely, the Radio Expression Solidarity Fund is a fund allocated to community radio stations. They have very specific constraints: “Our turnover linked to advertising revenue cannot exceed 20%.” A way for the government at the time (1982) to “protect commercial radio and the local written press”, recalls Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac. Enough to offer the media landscape great diversity, from Parisian sets to the local bistro.
Already very fragile economies
This announcement comes at a time when “the FSER has not increased since 2002” according to Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac, who recalls that energy costs have skyrocketed.
With a turnover of 120,000 euros on average. The radio stations are already in deficit. This represents 10% of the budget!
And if we can say that it is not “much”, for many of these radio stations, it is assured death.
Concrete consequences
But the Barnier government is trying by all means to make savings, including at the end of its budget, on the 60 billion to be found by the executive. And this decision to undermine community radio stations is incomprehensible.
First, because the choice made in the fall of 2024 is contradictory with the announcements of the Culture and Rurality plan last July. “This should allow new radio stations to set up, it was a good signal,” recalls, withactu.fr, Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac.
Also, if we owe these 750 community radio stations to numerous volunteers, there are generally 4 to 5 employees per station, or 2,800 employees.
As of January 1, 2025, we are on the order of 800 job cuts.
Important missions
In addition to these jobs, it is a part of local life that could collapse, as Radio Clapas explains to our colleagues from Metropolotain.
Community radio stations have an important indirect role: they support local artists, encourage the development of territorial initiatives, such as operations with middle and high school students, and offer training to volunteers and employees.
Local initiative and actions, therefore. Also, far from the Parisian plateaus, on these radio stations, we talk about people’s lives, about policies close to the inhabitants. “Peaceful debates, far from the buzz,” insists Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac. “It’s dramatic, because in certain territories, these radios remained the last reliable means of information. »
The environmentalist deputy for Morbihan, Damien Girard, is one of the rare parliamentarians to have stepped up to the plate. “These radio stations are ramparts while Vincent Bolloré, the far-right, buys media to print a political message,” asserts the elected official from Lorient.
Finally, it was often community radio stations that went to middle and high schools for media education. Essential in the age of social media and fake news.
How to explain?
Given their missions and their importance, it is difficult to understand this cut in credits to the support fund. “It’s very minor in the budget balance,” estimates Damien Girard. “But it’s a major issue. »
For Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac, it is either a “misunderstanding of Bercy on the issue, or it hides something”.
Contacted by actu.fr, the Ministry of the Budget explains that “the Ministry of Culture is responsible for the distribution of its credits and manages its budget in complete autonomy, while respecting the envelope allocated to it”.
Understand, the person responsible for the FSER cup is Rachida Dati. Questioned on several points, the Ministry of Culture said it was “sensitive to this subject and to the difficulties raised by these budgetary perspectives”.
And the service is pressing to inform us that “the minister’s office will receive the main community radio unions to discuss the consequences of this reduction”. Actual in fact, the desire to lower the budget.
MPs step up to the plate
Nearactu.frMP Damien Girard announces “that he will table, with Steevy Gustave, an amendment to increase the resources allocated to the radio expression solidarity fund”. A second will also be deposited to maintain the fund at its 2024 level (35 million euros).
Afterwards, even if one of the two amendments is adopted, there is all the uncertainty around the finance bill and the risk of a 49.3 which would sweep away the voted amendments.
In the meantime, the environmentalist parliamentarian is reasonably confident: “In committee, we manage to put the government in the minority. On community radio stations, it is possible that we will reach a majority. »
A necessity. Because Jean-Marc Courrèges-Cénac warns: “The teams are already exhausted. They will prefer to sabotage themselves rather than suffer. » In the meantime, the radio stations will watch, stressed, the debates on the budget.
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