to mobilize its followers, the management is launching a campaign with the air of déjà vu

To counter the decision not to renew the TNT frequency by Arcom and save its channel, the group set up a major advertising operation. A strategy that his boss had already deployed… forty years ago. But will it also pay off?

LIt’s been a long time since we’ve seen NRJ do such an advertising campaign. Liberation, Le Figaro, Les Echos, The Parisian, The World… The national dailies all today display a full page in the group’s colors, in this case a photo which shows a crowd brandishing the logo of the NRJ 12 channel. The photo is crossed out by two sentences: ” More than 32 million of you watch NRJ 12 every month. And yet, do you know that NRJ 12 risks being deleted in 2025? » The channel’s usual logo is diverted, the top of the “j” ending in the shape of a fist, like a symbol of resistance. What, actually? The decision of Arcom, which did not renew the TNT frequency of the channel (and C8) from next March. A choice which, according to NRJ, could call into question the sustainability of its TV division, where we also find Chérie 25. The group has also filed an appeal with the Council of State.

This somewhat DIY poster brings back some memories. It was in 1984, and the episode marked the history of NRJ. Following a decision by the High Authority (the ancestor of Arcom) to suspend its antenna for a month, for having increased the power of its transmitters too much (they were jamming the frequencies of airports, firefighters or SAMU, etc.), the radio hosts then launched an appeal to listeners to oppose this decision. Hundreds of young people rush to NRJ headquarters. Support committees are being created almost everywhere, artists, like Johnny Hallyday, say they are in solidarity. On December 8, 1984, NRJ organized a large protest demonstration against the closure, which brought together nearly 300,000 people in the streets of Paris! Never seen before. Result: François Mitterrand, who had liberalized FM waves three years earlier, ordered the government to postpone the decision of the High Authority, and NRJ never stopped broadcasting. A true stroke of genius from the very young boss of NRJ, Jean-Paul Baudecroux, then aged 38. Will he repeat this coup forty years later, with messages broadcast on all the group’s channels, radios and social networks, and the creation of a dedicated site? Not so sure…