Radio France Internationale

**Radio France Internationale** is French public radio station owned by **France Médias Monde**. This station broadcasts in Paris and all over the world.

## History

In 1930, it was decided to create an audible station all over the world, at the request of the populations overseas and the French colonies.

On May 6, 1931, the radio station, **Le Poste colonial**, was launched during the international colonial exhibition in Paris for the 100 million listeners of the French colonial empire. It is broadcast on short waves via two 12 and 15 kW transmitters located in Pontoise on three frequencies for **Africa**, **Asia** and **America**. The programs are broadcast from the studio of the exhibition, in the **Cité des informations**, until in December, the station is installed at 98 bis **boulevard Haussmann** in Paris. It then broadcasts 13 to 24 hours of French-language daily programming as well as 15-minute information sequences in English and Spanish.

In 1933, radio became a means of propaganda, especially for the **Third Reich** of **Adolf Hitler**, who poured out his racist discourse throughout the world. France must reply in as many languages ​​as possible. On 1 April 1935, a foreign-language program was set up for the French-speaking world. But the **Popular Front**, which came to power in 1936, has other priorities, notably social ones, than the development of radio, and is no longer sufficiently able to do so. Despite this, on March 23, 1938, a new more powerful transmitter of 25 kW is inaugurated at Les Essarts-le-Roi.

In April 1938, **Le Poste colonial** was renamed **Paris-Mondial** after having briefly called **Paris Ondes Courtes**. The studios are located in the **Avenue de Ségur in Paris**. In February 1939, a "permanent center of general information" was established under the authority of the Presidency of the Council, on which broadcasts of foreign languages ​​on large-scale and medium-wave channels depend. On the eve of the Second World War, the radio spoke in 30 languages.

On September 1, 1939, **Germany** invaded **Poland**, prompting the **United Kingdom** and **France** to declare war, and thus triggered the **Second World War**. At the beginning of 1940, the radio broadcast in 21 languages: **Arabic**, **Bulgarian**, **Czech**, **Danish**, **Dekanian**, **Dutch**, **English**, **German**, **Greek**, **Italian**, **Japanese**, **Norwegian**, **Polish**, **Portuguese**, **Romanian**, **Russian**, **Serbo-Croatian**, **Slovak**, **Spanish**, **Swedish** and **Turkish**. On May 10, 1940, the **Germans** entered French territory, and on June 14, 1940, they occupied **Paris**. On 17 June 1940, **Paris-Mondial** broadcast Petain's speech calling for an end to the fight and demanding an armistice, and then the radio ceases broadcasting.

During the **German** occupation, **France** was divided in two, between the occupied zone to the north, under **German** rule, and the free zone to the south, under the authority of the **Vichy** regime. The latter will conduct a "war of waves" with the radios of the **Allies**, broadcast in French from abroad.

As early as July 18, 1940, the **Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich** usurped the denomination of **Radio-Paris** to make it an instrument of **Nazi** propaganda in **French**. Radio broadcasts throughout **Europe**, **North Africa** and **French Equatorial Africa** (**AEF**) and **French West Africa** (**AOF**).

On 1 August 1941, the **Vichy** regime launched **La Voix de la France**, which was responsible for broadcasting to the colonies. In November 1942, the **Allies** landed in **North Africa** and took control of local radio stations. **Vichy** launched a new radio station called **La France Fidèle**, which broadcasts in **French** and **Arabic** to the region. Later, in April 1944, a third shortwave radio was created: **Muslim France**. It is responsible for broadcasting to the **Muslim** populations of **North Africa** and countering the **Gaullist Radio-Alger**.

The free France of **General de Gaulle** speaks first on the BBC in the program Radio Londres. On December 5, 1940, Radio Brazzaville began broadcasting from a transmitter of fortune. It later became more powerful transmitters and on June 18, 1943, **Charles de Gaulle** inaugurated it. On 22 June 1944, he signed an order to requisition all public and private radio stations.

On August 17, 1944, the **Germans** destroyed the transmitter of **Allouis** during their retirement, which prevents the diffusion of the French programs.

On January 1, 1945, the **100 kW Allouis** transmitter was put back into service. **Émissions vers l'étranger** (**EVE**) service was created under the direction of **Philippe Desjardins**, appointed by **General de Gaulle**. The radio is broadcast on long waves and medium waves in 21 languages ​​to 48 countries by three transmitters of 150 kW4,13. The **German** section is trying to demoralize the enemy troops while the **Spanish** section faces **Franco**, still in power. The **North American** section is relayed by American networks and has met with some success. On 23 March, Radiodifussion Nationale (**RN**) was replaced by Radiodifussion Française (**RDF**). At the end of the year, the radio employs nearly 300 people. The station no longer emits in **Russian** and **Turkish**, but adds **Hungarian** and **Slovene** and, in 1946, **Finnish**.

In 1946, **General de Gaulle** resigned as **President of the Council**, marking the end of the revival of the radio. On February 9, 1949, Radiodifussion Française (**RDF**) became Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (**RTF**).

For three decades, the successive **French governments** will no longer put the necessary resources into external broadcasting. While it has some experience in this field, **France** will gradually be caught up by the other countries. In the 1960s, it will only occupy 17th place in the list of international radio stations.

During the Cold War, radio played an important role in the confrontation between the eastern bloc of the **Soviet Union** and the western bloc of the **United States**. In 1947, a so-called "ax commission" removed seven languages: **Slovene**, **Swedish**, **Norwegian**, **Danish**, **Serbo-Croatian**, **Bulgarian** and **Romanian**. The last three were re-established in 1949, and **Italian** and **Dutch** were abolished, 8 just as **Esperanto** was launched two years earlier. In 1951, emissions to the **United States** and **Latin American** countries were halted, and in 1954 it was the turn of those in **Finnish**. In 1956, during the **Budapest** insurrection, the volume of programs in **Hungarian** increased for a few weeks.

During the **Algerian War** from 1954 to 1962, programs were broadcast from **Paris** and **Algiers** in **Arabic**, **Kabyle** and **French** to cope with **La Voix des Arabes** and **La Voix de l'Algerie libre** issuing from **Cairo**. Given the importance of these programs, a specific branch is created under the name of **Émissions en langues arabe et kabyle** ​​(**ELAK**) and broadcasting schedules are expanded.

During the crisis of May 1958, **Charles de Gaulle** returned to power. Some observers then hope to see a revival of external radio action but this is not the case. If a program in **Yiddish** was launched for **Soviet Jews**, it was not until October 1960, in the midst of the **Berlin** crisis, that the **Russian** was broadcast. The programs are presented by **Russian** immigrants from 1920 and adopt a diplomatic tone, as the **Foreign Ministry** does not want to participate in the radio battle between **Anglo-Saxon** and **Soviet** so as not to disrupt the fragile **Franco-Soviet** relations

At the beginning of 1962, the international activities of the RTF were grouped together in the **Directorate of External Relations**. In 1963, budgetary restrictions led to the abolition of **Vietnamese** programs launched in July 1961, to **Germany** and **England**, and to the reduction of programs for **Spain**. Moreover, following the independence of **Algeria**, the programs in **Arabic** and **Kabyle** are reduced.

In 1963, **Édouard Balladur**, then Master of **Applications to the Council of State** and adviser to the Director of the RTF, **Robert Bordaz**, was in charge of making an inventory of the external broadcasting of **France**. It recommends the creation of a permanent service in **French** and the construction of new transmitters. But the **Department of Foreign Affairs** still considers external broadcasting to be too expensive and nobody listens to it. In 1964, **Émissions vers l'étranger** (**EVE**) organized a survey called ***La Rose des Vents***, the purpose of which was to test the effectiveness of available technical means. The operation is a success because more than 45,000 letters and a hundred sound recordings are received from more than 110 countries. Despite this, no stimulus plan is envisaged and the budget is still reduced.

After settling in the new **Maison de la Radio** on 14 December 1963, the RTF became Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (**ORTF**). In 1965, **the Ministry of Labor** financed the creation of foreign language programs for immigrant workers living in **France**: **Spaniards**, **Italians** and **Portuguese** in 1966, **Arabs** and **Serbo-Croats** in 1972, **Turks** in 1974, **Francophone Africans** in 1975, the **Cambodians**, **Laotians** and **Vietnamese** in 1976. During the student and worker revolt of May 1968, the ORTF trade unions complained of the political tutelage which made it difficult to cover events. Finally, on June 3, 1968, programs abroad went on strike. Subsequently, several dozen employees were sent back, transferred to the provinces, sent abroad or taken into early retirement.

On January 1, 1969, the ORTF **Émissions vers l'étranger** absorbed the **OCORA** **Office de coopération radiophonique** (formerly **SORAFOM**) and established **Direction des Affaires Extérieures et de la Coopération** (**DAEC**). However, the whole is heterogeneous and is placed under different tutelages: the programs and the cooperation activities are financed by the **Ministry of Foreign Affairs**, while the programs for the immigrant workers are paid by the **Ministry of Labor**. At the same time, **the Department of Foreign Affairs** understands that it is possible to make better use of the transmitters without increasing production: the other **French** public stations will provide their programs to **French** external broadcasting. In September 1969, **Bulgarian**, **Slovene** and **Portuguese** are suppressed, while the volume in **Russian** and **Romanian** increases.

In 1972, the broadcasting of **Arabic** programs in the **Middle East** was transferred to **Société Monégasque D'Exploitation, D'études et de Radiodiffusion** (**SOMERA**), 55% controlled by RMC and 45% by the ORTF. That same year, **France** loses the possibility of using the relay of **Radio Brazzaville**, nationalized by the new power. The following year, it commissioned the first 500 kW short-wave transmitters at **Allouis** and **Issoudun**.

In 1973, **Syndicat National des Journalistes** (**SNJ**) noted the bankruptcy of the **DAEC** in a white paper, **La Voix de la France**. Members of **Assemblée Nationale** are divided on broadcasting to the outside world. In 1974, the newly elected **President of the Republic** **Valéry Giscard d'Estaing** put an end to the debate by deciding to dismantle the ORTF in seven companies. The service of programs abroad is affected by new directives: it loses 14 of its 17 languages, 21 retaining only **French**, **English** and **German**. In addition, two thirds of journalists, 100 out of 157, are dismissed.

On 6 January 1975, **Radio France Internationale** (**RFI**), an entity of the new Radio France group, was born. Radio is financed by the audiovisual fee and the **Ministry of Foreign Affairs**.

**RFI** is resolutely turning to **Africa**, a choice that can be seen in the launch of the **Chaîne Sud** in 1975. The latter broadcasts 16 hours of programs in **French** and 1 hour in **English**. Several programs are created, such as ***Carrefour, 24 heures en Afrique*** or **Mondial Sport**, but a good part of the programs come from the other stations of Radio France. Radio quickly met with the support of listeners, mostly **Africans** and not **French** expatriates.

On February 16, 1976, **Chaîne Ouest** was created for francophones on the west coast of **North America** and **Central America**. But it only relays 5 h of programs of France Inter every day. On 7 March 1977, **Portuguese** made its return to the air at the rate of one hour a day.

On 1 April, **Chaîne Est** was created for **Central and Eastern Europe**. It relays the programs of France Inter or France Culture, providing only two hours of specific programs, over the fifteen hours of daily broadcasting. At the same time, **RFI** continues to produce programs for immigrants living in **France** on a **Ministry of Labor** budget.

On February 1, 1981, **RFI** leases four **Africa No. 1** transmitters in **Gabon** to improve its coverage. In September, it set up a new schedule of programs, half of which were broadcast by France Culture and France Inter. On 13 December, the establishment of the state of siege in **Poland** led the radio to relaunch the **Polish** section in just three days. In January 1982, **Michèle Cotta**, president of Radio France, chose **Hervé Bourges** to run the station. The latter wants to make the development of the station irreversible. The government has adopted a five-year development plan to create a world-wide French-language service and foreign-language editing. On 1 May, **RFI** is diversifying by launching an agency for African newspapers: **Médias France Intercontinentale** (**MFI**).

The **Audiovisual Law** of 29 July 1982 makes **RFI** a national company, a subsidiary of Radio France. The station is continuing its development by re-opening editorial offices in **Russian** in September 1983, **Romanian** in June 1984, **Creole** in September 1985 and **Serbo-Croat** in 1986. Starting in October 1982, the radio broadcasts its programs in **Spanish**, **Portuguese** and **French** to **Latin America**. On February 22, 1985, the transmitting center of **Montsinéry-Tonnegrande** in **Guyana** was inaugurated. On September 29, **RFI** began to broadcast on average in the Paris region.

The 1986 legislative elections brought the right to power. Prime Minister **Jacques Chirac** and French Culture Minister **François Léotard** accuse **RFI** of being a leftist. They try to place the radio under the direct authority of the government by appointing its president in council of ministers. But the attempt fails and it is the media regulatory authority that must appoint the president from a list of four candidates proposed by the state.

On 1 January 1987, **Radio France Internationale** (**RFI**) became a national independent program company, no longer a member of the Radio France group, following the **Audiovisual Act** of 30 September 1986. **Henri Tézenas du Montcel** became first president. He wants to continue the development of the station by going beyond the **Francophonie** and opening it to **Asia** and the **Arab world**. Thus, **Arabic** programming was re-established in March 1988. **RFI** signed an agreement with the Japanese NHK in July and then with the Chinese Radio Pekin in November for broadcast in **Asia-Pacific** in exchange for a broadcast of **Asian** radio in **Europe** and in **America**. In September, it signed another agreement with **Africa No. 1** to use a new transmitter in **Gabon**. In parallel, the dressing of the station is modernized: new tricolor logo, new sound cover and abandonment of the accordion in the indicative. In the spring of 1989, demonstrations in **Tian'anmen Square** prompted the radio station to re-launch its Chinese-language version.

In November 1989, **André Larquié** was appointed president of **RFI**. On December 20, 1990, he signed a new five-year objectives contract with the **State**, which included the launch of new languages, the strengthening of the transmitter base and the modernization of broadcasting methods with the appearance of FM. The **Gulf War** from 1990 to 1991 led **RFI** to make information a priority. Moreover, the fall of communist regimes in **Europe** and the growing democratization in **Eastern Europe** and **Africa** led to the creation of independent media, competing with **RFI**. In response, the station launched in 1989 **RFI 2 Afrique**, a stall program specific to Africa, renamed **RFI Plus Afrique** in 1991. On 8 September 1991, **RFI** inaugurated its first FM frequency in **Dakar**, **Senegal**. New languages ​​appeared: the **Vietnamese** in 1990 and the **Persian** in 1991.

In 1992, **André Larquié** was re-appointed to his position. He continued to implement the 1989 target contract. In 1993, **RFI** opened **Khmer**, **Laotian** and **Albanian** newspapers and launched **RFI Bulgaria** and then **RFI Romania** in 1995. station opens two other FM frequencies in **Guyana**, **Cayenne** in 1993 and then in **Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni** the following year. In 1994, the radio was reorganized into three branches: **Africa**, **Europe** and **Paris/Ile-de-France**. It launches on the Internet and reinforces its FM and shortwave coverage.

In November 1995, **Jean-Paul Cluzel** was appointed President of **RFI**. He decides to make **RFI** a radio of continuous information.

On 16 September 1996, **Radio France Internationale** (**RFI**) launched its new information radio network in order to compete with other international stations. 10-minute newspapers every 30 minutes are interspersed with 20-minute news magazines. The radio now has two channels: **RFI 1**, the French-language global service that goes from 18 daily editions to 58, including 10 dedicated to Africa; and **RFI 2** which broadcasts in 17 languages ​​nearly 34 daily programs representing 230 hours per week. To mark this change, **RFI** adopts a new logo, red and white. At the same time, **SOFIRAD** sold RMC Moyen Orient to the group **RFI**.

In January 1997, the station created **RFI 3 Musique**, a channel that broadcasts a musical thread. In 1999, **Aeriel Hungary** was launched with 12 hours of programs produced by **RFI** and 12 others in English produced by the BBC. In 2000, it was **RFI Deutschland**.

In June 2004, **Antoine Schwarz** was appointed head of **RFI**. It sets several geographical priorities: **Africa**, where radio has the majority of its audience, the **Middle East**, via RMC Moyen Orient, and **Europe**. He also engaged in work on the broadcast languages ​​of **RFI** and continued the digitization process initiated by his predecessor. On 1 June 2005, **RFI** launched **RFI Marine** in collaboration with **Worldspace** and **Météo-France**. The programs consist of an international newspaper in French every hour, followed by weather reports interspersed with musical beaches. The station, broadcast via **Worldspace**'s **AfriStar** satellite, covers the Channel, the **Atlantic Ocean** and the **Mediterranean Sea**. On 19 December 2005, **RFI** launched its new website.

On October 19, 2004, **Alain Ménargues**, Deputy Director General of **RFI**, was dismissed after the publication of his book **The Wall of Sharon** and the holding on Radio Courtoisie of polemical remarks calling **Israel** a "racist state" condemned by **RFI**'s editorial staff . In a ruling handed down on 9 March 2011, the **Court of Cassation** held that the dismissal was "devoid of real and serious cause" and ordered **RFI** to pay damages.

On March 26, 2006, **RFI** launched its new grid. Four **European** languages ​​(**Albanian**, **Polish**, **Romanian** and **Slavic**) ceased to broadcast in shortwave. At the end of the year, RMC Moyen Orient changed its name to Monte Carlo Doualiya. On 28 March 2007, **RFI** teamed up with the Serbian private news agency **Beta** to found the private radio station Beta RFI, broadcast 24/7 on the **Serbian** capital. In 2007, the station launched **RFI Instrumental**, a music library for audiovisual professionals. It gathers thousands of music from the five continents that can be used as a sound envelope for audiovisual productions. On 8 December, **RFI** launched a **Hausa**-based service in **Lagos**, **Nigeria**, in partnership with Voice of Nigeria (**VON**).

On April 4, 2008, **Audiovisuel extérieur de la France** (**AEF**) was created under the impetus of the President of the Republic **Nicolas Sarkozy** elected the previous year. It is a question of regrouping the activities of the audiovisual outside **France** under the same company, television channels TV5 Monde and France 24, and the radio **RFI**. **Alain de Pouzilhac** is appointed CEO and **Christine Ockrent** as Deputy CEO of the new entity and therefore the entities that compose it. They chose **Geneviève Goetzinger** to be the managing director of **RFI**.

On August 11, 2008, editor-in-chief **Richard Labévière** was dismissed for "serious misconduct" after interviewing **Bashar al-Assad** a few days before his visit to **Paris** as part of the **Union for the Mediterranean** summit. **Labévière** denounces a "closure of the Audiovisual outside France".

In January 2009, management announced an important social plan with the cancellation of 206 out of a total of 1,040. It confirms the plan presented in October, which consisted of the deletion of certain languages ​​due to lack of hearing: **Albanian**, **German**, **Laotian**, **Polish**, **Serbo-Croatian** and **Turkish** but also the development of others: **English**, **Portuguese** and **Swahili**. In addition, in the face of **RFI**'s financial and audience difficulties, the State is preparing a recapitalization of € 17.2 million. In response, the inter-union **RFI** calls for an unlimited strike from May 12, 2009. For several months, the antenna is disrupted by movements more or less followed, making this strike the longest in the history of **RFI**. On 28 September, the **Paris Court of Appeal** suspended the dismissal plan, deeming it "tainted with irregularities". Finally, at the end of the year, 270 employees initially volunteered, more than the plan envisaged.

At the end of 2009, in accordance with the plan of October 2008, **RFI** ceded all its subsidiaries (**RFI Sofia**, Rádio Europa Lisboa and Beta RFI) except Monte Carlo Doualiya and **RFI Romania**. On January 19, 2010, Monte Carlo Doualiya launches a new grid. On 31 October 2010, it was **RFI**'s turn to launch a new program schedule following the introduction of a single multi-lingual and multi-channel drafting. As of 5 July 2010, thanks to the success of **RFI** in **Hausa**, the radio broadcasts programs in 10 African countries in a new African language: **Swahili**.

In January 2012, **Audiovisuel extérieur de la France** (**AEF**) merged with its subsidiaries **RFI**, France 24 and Monte Carlo Doualiya (a subsidiary of **RFI**). This legal merger is effective on 13 February 2012. On October 7, **Marie-Christine Zaragoza**, formerly director general of TV5 Monde, is appointed president of the **AEF.** In February 2013, **RFI** and MCD left their studios at the **Maison de la Radio** in **Paris** to move to the **AEF** premises alongside France 24 in **Issy-les-Moulineaux**. On 27 June, **Audiovisuel extérieur de la France** (**AEF**) was renamed **France Médias Monde** (**FMM**).

On October 19, 2015, **RFI** began broadcasting programs in a third African language: **Mandingo**, spoken by nearly 40 million people. On February 7, 2016, **RFI** launched a series of 52 programs on the history of **Africa** in partnership with **UNESCO**. This program, presented by the historian **Elikia M'Bokolo**, is based on the project **General History of Africa** initiated by **UNESCO** in 1964 and which resulted in a publication in 8 volumes.

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