France Bleu
Encyclopedia
France Bleu is a network of 43 local and regional radio stations in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. National programming from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 is relayed by local and regional stations supplemented with local news and content. It is part of the public broadcaster Radio France
Radio France
Radio France is a French public service radio broadcaster.-Mission:Radio France's two principal missions are:* To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and...

. It is somewhat comparable to the BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio is the BBC's regional radio service for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 40 stations. They cover a variety of areas with some serving a city and surrounding areas, for example BBC Radio Manchester; a county, for example BBC Radio Norfolk; an administrative region for...

 network in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, in that it has a public service mission to serve local audiences.

Stations typically carry the name France Bleu, followed by its coverage area, as defined by a département, région or city. In Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, it is called France Bleu 107.1 after its main frequency (originally called La Cityradio (de Paris), then France Bleu Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

).

The director of the France Bleu network is Anne Brucy, since 17 May 2010.

Les locales de Radio France

In 1980, Jacqueline Baudrier, Chief Director of Radio France created three new experimental local radio stations. Fréquence Nord, Radio Mayenne and Melun FM were created to cover a region, départment and a town respectively. These stations were in complement to those already existing under the management of FR3 since 1975, following the break-up of the state broadcaster ORTF
Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française
The Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française was the national agency charged, between 1964 and 1974, with providing public radio and television in France.-Post World War II:...

. Radio France assumed control of all stations in 1982, with the amount of stations reaching 40 by by the 1990s.

Its programming was essentially local except for music (which usually came from sister station FIP, or national programming by satellite, called Programme Modulation France), combined with news bulletins from France Inter
France Inter
France Inter is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and intelligent spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of...

. These stations were individually called Radio France_____ followed by its coverage area, but were grouped under the name Les locales de Radio France.

Radio Bleue

Similarly in 1980, Baudrier also launched a new network, this time aimed at the over 50 population, called Radio Bleue. It started as a morning-only service which used a national mediumwave network, shared with educational programming. By the nineties it expanded its schedule, broadcasting until the evening. By the late nineties it had secured three FM frequencies from the radio regulator the CSA
Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel
The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel is a French institution, created in 1989, whose role is to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television, including through eventual censorship...

 in three cities: Cannes, Valence and in Paris.

Le Plan Bleu (The Blue Plan) (2000 - 2010)

In 2000, following a review of all radio services, Radio France director, Jean-Marie Cavada, initiated its Plan Bleu, essentially a vast re-organisation of its radio frequencies. Under the plan the local radio stations (Les locales de Radio France) were to be syndicated with Radio Bleue to form one network. France Bleu launched on 4 September 2000 at 5:00am CET. Its network of 38 local radio stations were all renamed France Bleu ______ , followed by its broadcast area, to bring the network closer to the Radio France family of stations. Expanding its coverage, local FM frequencies in small to medium-sized towns were reattributed to France Bleu. Under the same plan frequencies in bigger markets switched to youth network Le Mouv' and FIP
FIP (radio station)
FIP is a French radio network, founded in 1971. It is part of the Radio France group.-Concept:The concept behind FIP has scarcely changed since its founding: music interrupted by traffic updates and cultural information with a short news broadcast at 10 before the hour, with no advertising...

 stations were drastically cut back to five locations.

News bulletins from France Inter were gradually replaced with its own service, and journalists for the local stations now supply rolling news station France Info
France Info
France Info is a major French public news radio station, part of the Radio France group. The station is available across the country broadcasting world news 24 hours...

 with news items, having previously relied on its bigger sister stations for news.

Paris region
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

 

2002 marked the arrival of a dedicated local service for the Paris region, with the launch of La CityRadio de Paris, using the 107.1 frequency from the previous Radio Bleue FM network. Conversely the France Bleu network handed over the totality of its mediumwave
Mediumwave
Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...

 network to France Info.

In 2005 Radio France chief Jeal-Paul Cluzel wished to create a regional station, finding the CityRadio name limited to Paris itself, therefore nearby France Bleu Melun
Melun
Melun is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Located in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, Melun is the capital of the department, as the seat of an arrondissement...

based sixty kilometres away was slated for a merger, signalling closure on 16 December 2005 after over 25 years on-air. France Bleu Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

launched on 2 January 2006, renaming itself France Bleu 107.1 in September 2009.

Expansion and validation (2010 - present)

The value of France Bleu was starting to be more widely recognised. In April 2000, the network achieved its record audience, achieving a 7.5% share and 330,000 new listeners, putting the national listenership at under 4 million.
In 2010 at the request of French Prime Minister
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...

 François Fillon
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...

, France Bleu Maine, covering Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...

 and La Sarthe
Sarthe
Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...

was created on 1 June. Mr Fillon is a native of Le Mans.
In 2011 it was confirmed that local public radio is to appear in Toulouse. France Bleu Toulouse launched on 23 February and marks a return of local public radio to the city after a 14 year absence. Its previous outlet, Radio France Toulouse was closed in order to make way for national youth station Le Mouv'. Le Mouv' has since relocated to Paris.

Regional stations and FM frequencies

  • Alsace – 101.4
  • Armorique – 103.1
  • Auxerre – 101.3
  • Azur – 100.7, 103.8
  • Basse Normandie – 102.6
  • Béarn – 102.5
  • Belfort Montbeliard – 94.6, 106.8
  • Berry – 93.5, 95.2
  • Besançon – 102.8
  • Bourgogne – 98.3

  • Breizh Izel – 93.0, 98.6
  • Champagne – 95.1
  • Corse Frequenza Mora – 88.2, 101.7
  • Cotentin – 95.0, 100.7
  • Creuse – 94.3
  • Drôme Ardèche – 87.9
  • Gard Lozère – 90.2
  • Gascogne – 98.8, 100.5
  • Gironde – 100.1
  • Haute-Normandie – 100.1
  • Hérault – 100.6, 101.1

  • Île-de-France (France Bleu 107,1) – 107.1
  • Isère – 102.8
  • La Rochelle – 98.2
  • Limousin – 103.5
  • Loire Océan – 101.8
  • Lorraine Nord – 98.5
  • Maine – 91.7, 96.0, 105.7
  • Mayenne – 96.6, 100.0
  • Nord – 87.8. 94.7
  • Orléans – 100.9
  • Pays Basque – 101.3

  • Pays d'Auvergne – 102.5
  • Pays de Savoie – 103.9
  • Périgord – 91.7, 94.6, 99.0
  • Picardie – 100.2
  • Poitou – 87.6, 106.4
  • Provence – 103.6
  • Roussillon – 101.6, 102.8
  • Sud Lorraine – 100.5
  • Toulouse - 90.5
  • Touraine – 98.7, 105.0
  • Vaucluse – 100.4


External links

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