PERSONALITY. Get up at dawn, go to the station, do a quick press review to keep up with the latest news, start your morning show with a smile and help your audience start the day off on a good note foot. During his radio career, Jean Moreau repeated and repeated this procedure when he was behind the console. But on August 22, the morning host at M105 hung up his microphone after 31 years, including the last 21 years at the rue Principale station. The time has come for him to discover new horizons as content director. Portrait of our masculine personality.
Like many people of his generation, radio has always been part of Jean Moreau's DNA. At a very young age, he recorded his own shows, went on air and hosted live with the help of his recorder which served as a working tool. Beautiful moments lived in the comfort of the family basement. A first experience which would later lead him to take his first steps in the real world of radio in New Brunswick and then in Matane. And one good morning, the host invites himself to the people of Haute-Yamaska and Brome-Missisquoi by becoming the co-host of the wake-up show on M105. A long radio ride which ultimately lasted more than 20 years. But now, after three decades, the presenter feels the need to hand over his chair as morning presenter to another collaborator. A carefully considered decision, he assures.
“Over time, you simply have a taste for new challenges and the time slot is still demanding when you reach your fifties. To be on the air from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., that means you arrive at work at 5 a.m. so you get up at 4 a.m. And a few years ago, I had already started a transition to management as a product coordinator. I already had programming responsibilities and I enjoyed it. And the timing was perfect, M105 needed a content director,” says Jean Moreau.
For our male personality of the year 2024, the scenario is perfect. A new mandate within the same radio cooperative that has employed him for 20 years and the wake-up show is now in the hands of Martin Désilets; a presenter who has studied at M105 in recent years.
This end of his radio career also marked the conclusion of a collaboration with his on-air partner of the last 15 years, Marie-Ève Dupré.
“I was a little afraid of his reaction, but Marie-Ève called me into her office. We closed the door and then chatted. She was very happy for me while feeling sad. The relationship of a duo in a radio morning show is unique (…). She was my wife in the morning and I was her husband in the morning,” confides the ex-host.
The radio is changing
In recent years, the media universe has experienced its share of significant upheavals with the omnipresence of GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) and the proliferation of listening platforms. A new order with which the M105 station must work to ensure its future.
“The media is changing, the radio is changing. M105 is still a broadcaster, but the station increasingly defines itself as a producer of audio products. This aspect of audio production is starting to take up more space than before and someone needed to take care of traditional radio and the digital side that we are developing like podcasts.”
Making your place in an industry led by big players with strong financial means is no easy feat, but M105 is staying the course to the great satisfaction of Jean Moreau. According to him, the “local” side of the station has something to do with it.
“We are lucky, because we operate in an environment where local purchasing and consumption of local media are important for the population. We have a much greater support for the media here than what we see in the major centers. But you shouldn't just rely on that. You have to stay relevant otherwise people will look elsewhere,” says the content director.
His wishes for 2025
Away from the microphone for almost four months, Jean Moreau says he is having fun in his new role at M105. “In my new role, things are going well. There is just my body which does not yet know that I am no longer morning man“, he said jokingly.
For the next year, Jean Moreau wishes himself a good one within the beautiful M105 family. A group of exceptional individuals that he is very fond of takes care to slip during the interview. “Above all, I wish myself good health to help keep M105 relevant in people’s lives. Without health, we can't do any of this. And sleep a little more in the morning,” he concludes.
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