Contact FM

**Contact FM** is French private radio station owned by **Groupe La Voix**. The station broadcasts stalls for more specific information in different geographical areas, and also stalls at the time of advertisements.

## History

First called **Radio Contact**, it was created by **Jean Vandecasteele** and **Didier Rigot** in 1982. It knew its first success in the early 1980s before experiencing difficulties in the middle of those same years. In 1985, it was superseded by Radio Metropolys. This is the beginning of a difficult period for the station, which is not sold to the NRJ Group at the end of the 1980s. **Jean Vandecasteele**, who has always been in charge of the programs, invents a new format: "all smooth "Which is experiencing a shudder of hearing before it lands in the Chérie FM region. The national radio much more powerful on this audience, led **Jean Vandecasteele** to change format in 1993.

It was at this time that he created the current format "the music of others before others". **Radio Contact** becomes **Contact FM**, a program entirely devoted to dance music. At that time, no major commercial, regional or national radio, other than community radio stations, chose to fully format the format. This is an innovation that marks the beginning of a new era in programs. The change of antenna policy is paying since **Contact FM** is then very successful (source **Médiamétrie**).

100% owned by **Contact Groupe**, FM is the owner of **Radio-Quinquin** (in **Douai**) in 1997, Opalis (in **Hesdin** and **Le Touquet**) and Fugue (**Picardie**) in 1999. In 2002, **Contact FM** thus at the gates of Paris. The CSA also attributes to it the frequency of **Boulogne-sur-Mer** in 2005.

**Jérôme Delaveau** joins the **Contact Groupe** in 1999 to initially raise Fugue's audience (which goes from 20,000 listeners to more than 70,000) and then with his team of animator, **Will**, **Olive Sam** and **Axel** (from 250,000 to more than 400,000). He will leave the group in 2004.

**Eric Carpels**' return to radio in 2003 and the hard work of his communication and promotion department certainly contribute to this audience growth. In the summer of 2007, **Contact** achieved its historic record by reaching the national target of 519,000 listeners (source **Médiamétrie** September 2006-June 2007).

**Contact** publishes most of the techno compilations between 1998 and 2005 because of its popularity and its relevance in the choice of dance/techno/trance music. Among the best known are **Teckno.com**, **Puissance Techno**, **Indépendance Techno, no 1****Techno** and **Référence Techno**.

**Contact Groupe**, which also owned the Sport MX radio, sold the sports station to the Lagardère Active in February 2008.

On December 24, 2008 at 00:00, three new webradios arrive on the site of Contact. The three webradios are **Contact Story**, **Maxximum** and **Manhattan City**.

On 10 February 2010, **Contact** launches a new concept, ***La Nuit De la Prod!*** with **Joachim Garraud** took up the challenge of creating a tube during the night from 20:00 and picked it up very well, the next day the title was already available on the download platforms and reached the 7 position during the weekend . This program was broadcast live on **mycontact.fr** in video. Tom Snare participated in the second edition of ***La Nuit De la Prod!***, where he created the title **The Way To Love** with singer **Nieggmann**.

On May 25, 2012, the **CSA** validates the acquisition of the station by the **Groupe La Voix** (**Rossel**). On August 31, 2012, the **Groupe La Voix** announced its entry into the regional network of **Contact**, of which it becomes majority shareholder (52.2%), **Didier Rigot** retiring and **Jean Vandecasteele** (co-founder and historical shareholder) 8% of the shares. On January 29, 2014, the **CSA** authorized the capital change, the Groupe La Voix increased to 69.69% of the capital while **Mr. Vandecasteele** retained 30.31% of the capital of the station

On April 8, 2014, **Contact** launches a bouquet of 10 webradios in partnership with **Radionomy**. This bouquet is available on the radio website as well as mobile applications (iOS + Android).

On May 12, 2014, **Jean Vandecasteele** announced his resignation as President of Radio, which he co-founded 33 years ago. In order to succeed him, the General Meeting appoints **Jacques Hardoin**, Chief Executive of the **Groupe La Voix** as Chairman and **Nicolas Pavageau** as Deputy Chief Executive Officer. It seems that **Jean Vandecasteele** decided to sell his participation in the **Groupe La Voix** in order to free himself from the company he created in 1981 and thus give a different impulse to his professional career.

On September 1, 2014, **Contact** again became **Contact FM** with a new slogan **Le Mix du Grand Nord**. A new logo and a new visual identity are then proposed to the listeners. From now on, in the morning, ***Le Réveil du Grand Nord***. In June 2016, the **Contact FM** site is getting a new look. More aesthetic, the dominant color is blue, whereas until now it was orange. The webradios are then deleted.

Between the middle of June and the end of June 2016, the **RDS** broadcast is modified, it is now displayed CONTACT FM - [city] - LE MIX DU GRAND NORD - [artist] - [title]

In August 2016, the station gained an additional 60200 listeners: with 333,500 listeners / day, it is a record audience since 2010.

On 31 March 2017, the RDS broadcast is shortened. Now, the slogan **Le Mix du Grand Nord** is no longer displayed. This shortens it to "CONTACT FM - [City] - [Artist] - [Title]".

## More...

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