killing of community radio stations with a €10M cut in the budget

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A drastic cut in the Radio Expression Support Fund -FSER- in the 2025 budget of the Finance Law proposal, arouses concern and anger among community radio stations. A death announced in the arena of these essential free radio stations.

The news was brutal and violent, particularly for Radio Aviva and also for Radio Clapaswhose studios and offices are located in the Prés-d’Arènes district, in Montpellier. “It is with astonishment that the association “Les Locales” and its representative organizations SNRL -National Union of Free Radios- and CNRA -National Confederation of Associative Radios- have just discovered the proposed Finance Law for 2025. Despite a budget of Culture maintained, the Support Fund for Radio Expression suffers a drastic cut of 35%, or more than 10 million euros! », confirms the association.

Prime Minister’s savings plan

“The 2025 Finance Bill, presented by the government, announces a 35% reduction in the Radio Expression Support Fund. This reduction, part of the savings plan desired by the new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier and his government, is not a simple budget cut. It hits hard a vital sector for the democratic and cultural expression of our country: community radio. Present throughout the country, our radios nevertheless play a fundamental role. They ensure a close link with citizens creating social bonds, they promote the diversity of opinions, they give a voice to those who are often deprived of it, they open their microphones to local actors and elected officials to inform residents of a dynamic and development of their territory”, reacts the Les Locales association, this Monday, October 13, 2024.

“Essential pillars of our democracy”

And to add that, “associative radio stations must not bear the weight of the savings imposed on the General Directorate of Media and Cultural Industries, the DGMIC.
Of the 12 million euros in savings requested, 10.4 million euros will be entirely borne by local associative radio stations, while the latter only represent 4% of the overall budget dedicated to the Media, Book Mission. and Cultural Industries. This choice questions the priority given to our radio stations, which are essential pillars of our democracy. Community radio stations are a tool for social and cultural inclusion, a vector of cohesion, which has always been able to evolve with few resources. However, today, our entire model is in jeopardy.”

At Radio Clapas, there is incomprehension: “the consequences of this sharp cut in the economic functioning of community radio stations will be clear: direct impact on employment, even though we are the second largest employer in the radio sector. More broadly, it is the very existence of our radio stations that is threatened. Local media, guarantors of the diversity and pluralism of the radio landscape, risk disappearing altogether. It would be an irreparable loss for local cultural life, for access to free and pluralistic information, and for thousands of citizens who find in our radios a different, alternative voice, rooted in their daily lives. They represent the local media par excellence, often nicknamed the last mile media. Thanks to the support of the FSER, they offer an unrivaled diversity of programs produced by animation professionals, journalists and passionate volunteers. How can we understand such a decision, which risks stifling local voices and diversity in our territories? “.

This budgetary measure is far from being understood and accepted: “it is all the more paradoxical that it is our sector, the most virtuous, which is the target of this reduction. Since 2002, we have had to face an unprecedented increase in operating costs, while experiencing the gradual disappearance of subsidized jobs. Despite this, we have never renounced our public service mission, nor benefited from an increase in individual assistance for the operation of our radio stations. By attacking one of the most vulnerable and economically modest sectors, the government seems to be denying its own commitments to diversity and proximity. Our radio stations, which are an indispensable pillar of local democracy and cultural life, find themselves today seriously threatened by this decision, in an already difficult context, at a time when the General States of Information are supposed to strengthen the freedom and pluralism of the press and that Arcom decides to accelerate the deployment of DAB+ of which community radios are an essential driving force, rurality and territories are at the heart of concerns, media and information education is recognized as a major societal issue, the Social and Solidarity Economy -ESS- and the fabric associations are crucial for citizen cohesion. This is not an economic plan, but a real guillotine move. Is this execution recorded, decided, desired and assumed? “.

These community radio stations represent a force in the territory, where they are close 750 including in rural, mountain, urban and peri-urban areas. These radio stations operate on a non-profit model, their main objective being to offer a local service, often educational or cultural. They generate around 3,000 direct jobs. They are an important reservoir of new talent and also rely on the work of numerous volunteers.

Soon the 50th anniversary of Clapas

“Association 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,” insist the managers and facilitators of Radio Clapas.

Bad news which comes almost 50 years after the birth on the Montpellier airwaves of Clapas – in 1978 – the most Montpellier radio station which has established itself as a key player in the local cultural scene on 93.5 FM. A beautiful party was organized for his 40th birthday. Everyone hopes to be able to celebrate 50 years.

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