Oüi FM

**Oüi FM** is French private radio station owned by Groupe 1981. The station broadcasts rock music.

## History

The station was born in the fall of 1986, mutation of **Ça bouge dans ma tête** the radio of **SOS Racisme**, after a quarrel with the association. It was launched by **Pierre Raiman**, **Philippe Maziere**, **Bertrand Jullien**, **Eric Mettout** and **Agnes Bonnet**. It was then a radio with the programming rather underground. His slogan was **Le son qui a du sens.** She sprinkled rock-solid musical programming with topics on literature, film, painting or photography.

**Oüi FM** was one of the first FM stations to use computer-assisted programming, called **Régis**, an aid to program management but also to broadcasting. Among the first journalists we can mention, **Emmanuelle Debaussart**, **Nicolas Saada** or **Rémi Bouton**. On the first logo in black, gray and white of **Ouï FM**, the umlaut was more clearly on the "I" than today.

In 1991, the station was bought by **Polygram**. **Bruno Delport** takes the lead. The programming of automated titles is abandoned for a more traditional broadcast with animators and directors. In the 1990s, **Maurice** animates ***C'est la nuit***, **Melanie Bauer** presents **Ketchup et Marmelade**, **Kad** and **Olivier** meet on the radio and together design the show ***Rock'n Roll Circus*** that will make them famous. The current radio logo was created in 1991 by **Yan Leuvrey** of the Bronx agency.

The new music programming is much more commercial, though still focused on rock. **Oüi FM** is for example one of the first French radios to broadcast **Nirvana** which will explode a few months later. In 1999, the group **Muse**, stadium filler, was known in France thanks to **Oüi FM**.

In 1997, **Virgin** bought a stake in **Polygram**, and radio became part of the company. During this period, **Frederic Martin** animates during five years ***Le Monde de monsieur Fred*** in the evening and DJ Zebra the ***Zebramix*** 100% bootlegs.

In September 2006, **Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel** (**CSA**) accepts that the station is renamed in Virgin Radio, provided that the new logo of the station is different from that of the mark **Virgin**, that the emissions do not make reference to **Virgin** products and do not organize sponsorship transactions with these same products.

However, the situation has evolved with the right of Lagardère SCA to operate the **Virgin TV** and **Virgin Radio** brand for its Lagardère Active division for a renewable period of ten years for France, Andorra, Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland.

The **CSA** has authorized Lagardère to rename Europe 2 as Virgin Radio and Europe 2 TV as Virgin 17. The change took place on January 1, 2008, which logically led to the abandonment of the adoption of the Virgin Radio brand by **Oüi FM**.

After the sale of the brand **Virgin** to Lagardère SCA, **Richard Branson**, seeing no interest in keeping the station, resells **Arthur** in December 2008.

**Arthur** says he wants to wake up a sleeping beauty. For this, a new management team arrives with, at its head, **Emmanuel Rials** but also **Jean Isnard** and **Bruno Witek** who are all experienced professionals of the radio, they are for example all passed by Skyrock and Fun Radio; the former director **Michael Gentile** remains, he, as adviser to **Arthur**, while the Director of Music, **Jean-Patrick Laurent**, who had helped to revive the radio with **Michael Gentile** at the resumption by **Virgin**, remains at his post and continues to give his musical identity to **Oüi FM**. The animation team is also reworked with the departure of **Sandrine Vendel**, **Adrien Viot**, **Gibé** and **Christophe Crénel**, the latter stops the *Sputnik* to join Le Mouv'.

**Princess Jade**, **Arthur**'s former accomplice on Skyrock, Europe 1 and Europe 2, arrives in the morning and **Sacha** takes care of the evening with a show called ***Le buzz du net***. The concept of interaction between internet and radio is developed and **Bob**, another former of Skyrock and Fun Radio, is called for an interactive show, ***Oüi Love MySpace***, where independent artists from the **MySpace** community site are presented to the public but also with ***Oüi Love Deezer*** animated by **Julien** where the playlists created on the online music site **Deezer** by the audinautes are broadcast on the airwaves. According to **Arthur**, this concept will be further developed to reach the 50% of the grid of the radio.

Other changes are made: on April 3, 2009, the writing is totally suppressed, journalists and columnists like **Philippe Audoin** or **Peter Fondu** are dismissed, the newspapers, the press review and the chronicles video games or comics are removed from the wire rack. In the morning, ***Service après-vente des émissions*** of **Omar** and **Fred** is broadcast, the morning is renamed ***La Grande Chpougnette*** and reworked with the arrival of new animators and columnists around **Josquin**, so the cinema chronicle is entrusted to **Paolo** and the point circulation to **Manuel** from ***Lilichcoptere***. The afternoon of the best of ***Rock'n Roll Circus*** and the ***Baston à la maison*** are broadcast for one hour for two months. In May 2009, **Arthur** managed to return to the station the host **Maurice** for a free station. No more animator takes care of the station, between the departure of **Mauritius** and 6 hours, the radio remains however without advertising on this time slot. Contests and sponsorship of films are developed. Finally, the slogan of the radio is changed to "Plus libre, plus rock", the hosts also often repeat soon number 1 in **Paris** which corresponds to the declared wish of **Arthur**. During the summer of 2009, a rock radio cult program, ***L'Odyssée du rock*** presented by **Gilles Verlant**, disappears from the grid after more than eight years on the air.

In November 2010, **Oüi FM** is credited with a cumulative audience of 3.2% in **Île-de-France**, or 308,000 daily Parisians. According to the intermediate results of the 126,000 Radio Île-de-France survey of **Médiamétrie**, **Oüi FM** is one of the most listened local stations, in front of Voltage, Radio Nova, Radio FG, and heels Ado FM and Latina, credited with 3.3% cumulative audience. Radio Rock also points out that it is ahead of Virgin Radio, its main music competitor, on all criteria, and that it is getting closer to RTL 2, at 3.5%. Highlighting that it is "in great shape", **Oüi FM** also indicates that, with 19,000 listeners every moment, it records an increase of 90% of its average quarter of an hour on a wave, or 9,000 additional auditors. Its audience share stands at 1.6%, a 77.8% increase on a wave, achieving the 3rd best progression of musicals on a wave. On this criterion, **Oüi FM** is ahead of Virgin Radio, Ado FM and Voltage.

In August 2011, the audience of **Oüi FM** increased by more than 20% from the time when **Arthur** took over the radio, this increase is largely due to the obtaining of many new frequencies.

In September 2011, **DJ Zebra** returns to the air with a show of bootlegs every Friday for two hours. **Thomas Caussé** also returns to animate the big events present on the station's air as well as the 9:00-13:00 portion on weekdays on Radio de la Mer.

Between 2011 and 2014, the audience is eroding strongly, reaching 1.8% cumulative audience in January-March 2014, 2.1% in September-October 2014

**Arthur** wants to develop the radio on the FM band, for that he tries to buy back on March 24, 2009 Parenthese Radio which has a national network but for questions of respect of convention, it does not obtain the approval of the **CSA**. A file is filed to obtain frequencies within the framework of the **Radio numérique terrestre française** (**RNT**) in Paris, Lyon and Nice. In September 2009, **Arthur** still via **AWPG** decides to buy Nice Radio however the request for syndication with **Oüi FM** is refused by the **CSA**.

**Arthur** also said he wanted to "add a small TV studio and do a little more web". **Arthur** clarifies his thoughts in April 2009 about ***Oüi FM Rock TV*** a hybrid of web TV and filmed radio that could have been launched on January 1, 2010. In March 2014, **Emmanuel Rials**, president of **Oüi FM**, declares that 20% of the audience comes from Web.

In early March 2011, the **CSA** authorizes a resumption of the radio of the sea and its 8 frequencies in the west and the north of France by **Oüi FM** (**AWPG**) in the form of a syndication of the programs. **La Radio de la Mer** will retain its marine identity and a strong local program but will have to appear as **La Radio de la Mer programme Oüi FM**. The commissioning of transmitters scheduled for March 16, 2011 is postponed, it will finally take place on Friday, April 8, 2011, under its new name **La Radio de la Mer, programme Oüi FM**.

In April 2014, the **Council of State** canceled the syndication between **Oüi FM** and the **Radio de la Mer**.

In December 2014, **Arthur** sells Nice Radio to **Alexandre Tyunikov**.

In March 2015, the 8 frequencies of **La radio de la mer** were all repealed. **Oüi FM** solicited all the frequencies which were the subject of a call for candidatures of the **CSA**. It does not obtain the frequency of **Sables-d'Olonne**, which falls to RCA, but obtains the frequencies of **Brest**, **Cherbourg-in-Cotentin**, **Fécamp**, **Granville** and **Lorient**.

On March 16, 2016, the **CSA** authorizes the radio to emit on frequency 106.5 MHz in **Strasbourg**.

In October 2017, **Oüi FM** is put on notice by the **CSA** because of the non-respect, between December 2016 and February 2017, of the diffusion rates of French-speaking song.

On 18th April 2019, **Oüi FM** was acquired by Groupe 1981 and the radio's employees are likely to be transferred to other radio stations belonging to this group.

## Programmings

* ***Le Morning Rock***
* ***Josquin***
* ***Dom Kiris***
* ***Bob***
* ***Aurélie***
* ***Rock Non Stop***
* ***Julien***
* ***Saturday Night***
* ***100% Classique du Rock***

## Logos

First logo (1987-1991)Second logo (1991-2009)Third logo (2009-2011)Fourth logo (2011-2014)Fifth logo (2014)Current logo (2014-present)