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RTL is a French commercial radio network owned by the
RTL Group RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France ...
. Founded in 1933 as Radio Luxembourg, it broadcast from outside France until 1981 because only public stations had been allowed until then. It is a general-interest, news, talk and music station, broadcasting nationally (" category E" as classified by the CSA) in France, French-speaking Belgium, and Luxembourg. RTL also broadcasts on
long wave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...
frequency 234 KHz from Beidweiler which can be picked up in large parts of the continent. It has a sister station called
Bel RTL Bel RTL is a commercial radio network broadcasting in Brussels and Wallonia (French-speaking Belgium). The station is owned by the Radio H holding company, which is part of the Luxembourg-based RTL Group. It is now owned by DPG Media and Groupe ...
tailored for the
French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (french: Communauté française; ) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (french: Fédé ...
. As of 2018, RTL is France's most popular radio station with an average of 6.4 million daily listeners that year.


History


Radio Luxembourg

On 19 December 1929 the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg established a
state monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopo ...
on broadcasting, but the law provided for possible concessions to private companies who wanted to use radio bandwidth, with the state charging a fixed amount for private use of radio. The ''Société Luxembourgeoise d'Études Radiophoniques'' (SLER) was founded on 11 May 1929 with the aim of obtaining an eventual broadcasting contract from the Luxembourg government. This company was run by Luxembourger François Anen, French publisher Henry Etienne, and French engineer Jean le Duc representing the ''Compagnie des Compteurs de Montrouge'', which possessed 84% of the project's capital and had signed a secret agreement to work with the group CSF, the main stockholder in
Radio Paris Radio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in Vichy France during World War II. Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called Radiola, founded by pioneering Fren ...
. Radio Paris wanted to set up a powerful peripheral radio station in Luxembourg, outside of the strict French regulations that only allowed public stations. An agreement between the SLER and the Luxembourg government signed on 29 September 1930 with a duration of 25 years ensured the Luxembourg government a fee of 30% on future profits of the station. The agreement also set up a committee for programming and a technical committee which allowed the government to regulate the private station. The
Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France an ...
(CLR) was founded on 30 May 1931, officially replacing the SLER. On 14 January 1933 experimental broadcasts by Radio Luxembourg began at 1191 mètres (200 kW), an unauthorized wavelength, from the longwave transmitter at
Junglinster Junglinster ( lb, Jonglënster) is a commune in central Luxembourg, which draws its name from its principal town, Junglinster. It is one of six communes in the Luxembourg canton of Grevenmacher. The 18th-century St Martin's church is a nationa ...
. The official opening of broadcast was on 15 March 1933 at 19:00 with a pre-recorded concert of light music. Radio Luxembourg broadcast each evening from 19:00 to 23:00, in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and Dutch and was therefore the only French-language private broadcaster available in France and Belgium. Programmes in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
débuted on 3 December 1933 under the editorial guidance of Stephen Williams. The station closed down at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, but it resumed service after the War. Beginning in 1946, it could be heard easily in France. Until the 1980s, only the French public radio networks could transmit from France itself. Radio Luxembourg was one of private "peripheral" networks transmitting from abroad. Radio Luxembourg quickly gained a large audience in France. In the 1960s, it was faced with the success of another peripheral network from Germany, Europe 1, which adopted a modern tone and attracted a young audience.


RTL

Radio Luxembourg's changing environment led to the station being renamed "RTL" on 11 October 1966, less obviously mentioning its connection with Luxembourg (the acronym being short for ''Radio Télévision Luxembourg''). During the
May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) * CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. *RAF Strike C ...
crisis, the French public radio networks were on strike and TV was not independent from the government. RTL and Europe 1 were the main ways of obtaining independent information for the French people. They were nicknamed "barricades radio". Unlike the British government's treatment of the Luxembourg English service, which was never allowed to have a landline from London, the French service has long had its main studios in Paris, with a landline from there to the transmitter. Consequently, it appears to the listener as simply a big French national radio station, as the Luxembourg connection is downplayed. In 1981, under president François Mitterrand, privately run radio stations were allowed to broadcast in France. RTL, now broadcasting in France mostly at 104.3 MHz, was the radio network with the most listeners from 1981 to 2002. Whereas Luxembourg's English service was always centred on light entertainment and popular music, RTL France is a mixed station. About 50% of its broadcast is information and talk focusing on news and current affairs with a large team of respected journalists. Radio Luxembourg's two main national competitors are Europe 1 (another out-of-country commercial station, broadcasting from Saarland, again with Paris studios) and the state-owned France Inter. All three stations have very high-powered transmitters occupying long-wave frequencies that date back many decades. The French service has called itself RTL for many years. It still broadcasts on 234 kHz long wave using the Beidweiler Longwave Transmitter, but nowadays also utilizes a network of FM transmitters throughout France, as well as the internet, cable and satellite. In October 2022, RTL announced it would end its longwave broadcasts on January 1, 2023, in an effort to reduce the company's energy use. In 1991 a separate RTL Belgian service in French, called Bel-RTL, was established. Intended for the French-speaking part of Belgium with studios in Brussels, this station is licensed (along with many competing commercial stations) by the Belgian Government with a network of FM transmitters covering Brussels and Wallonia. It has no particular connection with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg other than its ownership by the RTL parent company. , RTL was the second-most listened to channel in France, behind France Inter, according to the Médiamétrie Étude Audience Radio survey. In the November–December 2021 survey period, RTL had about 6 million daily listeners.


Programming

RTL features a popular daily talk show named ''
Les Grosses Têtes Les Grosses Têtes (; ("The Big Heads" or "The Big Brains" in English) is a daily comedy radio programme on the French language RTL radio network. Broadcast since 1 April 1977, the current host since 2014 has been Laurent Ruquier. Presently br ...
'', which has been broadcast since 1977. Other past or current programmes on RTL include: * '' RTL Matin'', the morning news session * ''Ça peut vous arriver'' * ''La Tête dans les étoiles'', game with a star * ''RTL Soir'', the evening news * ''Les Nocturnes'', night-time broadcast on US music * ''Stop ou Encore'', a musical broadcast * '' Le Journal Inattendu'' (the Unexpected News Bulletin), which consists of a news bulletin followed by a magazine conceived by a guest; was created in 1967; current anchor since 2011 is
Marie Drucker Marie Drucker (born 3 December 1974) is a French journalist, author, television and radio personality. Early life The daughter of Jean Drucker, a French television executive, and a niece of Michel Drucker, a television journalist, she was educat ...
* '' Le Grand Jury'', a political broadcast * ''Malice'', a cultural game * ''Hit Parade'', a musical chart * ''La Valise RTL'', a game


Station slogans

* 1977–1979: « ''RTL, c'est vous'' » * 1990–: « ''Les infos, c'est comme le café, c'est bon quand c'est chaud et quand c'est fort'' » * 1991–: « ''RTL, L'information en capitales'' » * 1990s–: « ''RTL, La vie en trois lettres'' » * 1996–: « ''RTL, Essentiel'' » * 2001–2005: « ''RTL, Vivre ensemble'' » * 2006–2007: « ''RTL, c'est vous'' » * 2007–2008: « ''Le plus RTL'' » * 2008–2009: « ''100 % RTL » ; « RTL, c'est vous'' » * 2009–2011: « ''RTL, première radio de France'' » * 2011–: « ''Qui vous connait mieux que RTL ?'' » * Since 2012: « ''RTL, toujours avec vous'' » * Since 2014 : « ''RTL Première radio de France'' »


Administration

List of RTL/Radio Luxembourg presidents: * 1933–1953: Jacques Lacour-Gayet * 1965–1975: Jean Prouvost * 1975–1979: Christian Chavanon * 1979–2000: Jacques Rigaud * 2000–2005: Rémy Sautter * 2005–2009: Axel Duroux * Since 2009: Christopher Baldelli List of director-generals/heads of programming: * 1933–1934: Jehan Martin * 1934–: René-Louis Peulvey * 1966–1978: Jean Farran * 1978–1985:
Raymond Castans Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...
* 1985–2000:
Philippe Labro Philippe Labro (born 27 August 1936) is a French author, journalist and film director. He has worked for RTL, '' Paris Match'', TF1 and Antenne 2. He is a laureate of the Prix Interallié, a French literary distinction founded in 1930, whic ...
* 2000–: Stéphane Duhamel * 2001–2005: Robin Leproux * 2005–2006: Axel Duroux * 2006–2010: Frédéric Jouve ** 2007–2008: Deputy head of programming: Jean-Marc Dorangeon * 2010–2012:
Yves Bigot Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 Fren ...
* 2012–2018: Jacques Expert * Since 2017: Gauthier Hourcade * Since 2017: Ghislain Thomas List of ''directeurs de l'antenne'': * 2005–2006: Jean-François Latour * Since 2006: Jean-Yves Hautemulle


See also

*
RTL Group RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France ...
* Jacques Danois, RTL reporter


External links

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rtl (French Radio) Radio stations in France Radio stations in Luxembourg French-language radio stations International broadcasters Mass media companies of Luxembourg RTL Group 1933 establishments in Luxembourg Radio stations established in 1933 Longwave radio stations News and talk radio stations