Classic 21 is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

public FM

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

, part of the

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Com ...

broadcasting organisation. The station, based in

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. ...

, was the only

Classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

radio in Belgium until 2008 when they switched to adult-contemporary and pop. The station plays predominantly B-side and obscure Anglophone music of the 1960s to 1990s for a French-speaking audience across

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and beyond.

History

Classic 21 was created in 2004, at the same time as Pure FM, in replacing Radio 21. Marc Ysaye, once best known as the drummer with Machiavel and Burning Plague, was the controller of the station from its creation until an emotional last broadcast on 18 December 2022, playing out with

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

's version of Hallelujah and a snatch of the Beatles' The End with the message ''the love you take is equal to the love you make''. Ysaye, great-grandson of composer-violinist

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Legend of the Ysaÿe violin Eugène Ysaÿe ...

, had become an established feature on Radio 21 with his Sunday morning's Show "Les Classiques du dimanche matin", a show which continues on Classic 21 featuring 1960's-1980's music. Another Radio 21 show to have been carried across to Classic 21 is Walter de Paduwa's 'Doctor Boogie' which has been featuring upbeat blues, boogie and

zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. ...

music since 1994 - every show starting with a track by

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and ...

Market Share

Classic 21 reached 9% of the Belgian Francophone market share in 2016

References

External links

Classic 21 web site
{{RTBF 1983 establishments in Belgium Classic rock radio stations French-language radio stations in Belgium Mass media in Mons Radio stations established in 1983