It’s historic. This Friday, January 17, 2025, French private radio stations announced in a joint press release that they were uniting for the first time to speak with one voice. They are now part of an association called the Radio Alliance.to promote the power and relevance of the media to economic, institutional stakeholders and the general public“Whether private, local, national, general or thematic, there are more than 170 radio stations that are part of this coalition.
RTL, NRJ, Nostalgie, Europe 1, Radio Classique and Skyrock join forces
Several groups have joined it: M6 (with RTL, RTL 2 and Fun Radio), NRJ (with NRJ, Nostalgie, Chérie FM, Rire et Chansons), Lagardère Radio (with Europe 1, Europe 2 and RFM), RMC BFM ( with RMC and BFM Business), Les Echos – Le Parisien (with Radio Classique) and Nakama (with Skyrock). This collaboration takes place in a context where uses are transforming and in which public service is performing particularly well. The press release from the Radio Alliance recalls that “radio is an essential media, a daily reflex, for the French with nearly 51 million listeners per month“. And to insist on its necessity: “It plays a crucial role for the pluralism of currents of thought and opinion” especially since it is the media in which the French have the most confidence.
“Not in an anti-Radio France logic”
-Régis Ravanas, current general manager of the audio activities of the M6 group, was appointed president of this agreement. He was interviewed on this subject in “Le Figaro” dated January 17. “We are not at all in an anti-Radio France logic. This alliance brings together radio stations which make their living exclusively from advertising, which is not the case for public service“, he confided. “We are in a positive and unifying approach”, assured the president of the Alliance, who estimated in the press release that “in the current context of transformation of uses, uniting and working together to address changes in the sector and regulatory or technological developments is essential“.
One of the struggles of private radio stations will concern the reduction of legal notices, these information messages broadcast at the end of advertising spots. “They ruin our lives and those of the listeners“, denounced in “Le Figaro” Christophe Schalk, President of SIRTI and General Director of Top Music in Alsace, and vice-president of this agreement. For online betting, it is “12 seconds of legal notices, that no one hears! An advertiser does not buy 30 seconds of advertising to pay for half of it dedicated to the legal notice“, he added. “These legal notices create an inaudible and counterproductive hubbub“, concluded Régis Ravanas on the subject.
