Classic 21 is a Belgian public FM

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

, part of the

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

broadcasting organisation. The station, based in Mons, was the only

Classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

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 ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

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's version of Hallelujah and a snatch of the Beatles'

The End The End may refer to: Film * The End (1953 film), ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * The End (1978 film), ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1995 film), a List of Canadian films of 1995, Cana ...

with the message ''the love you take is equal to the love you make''. Ysaye, great-grandson of composer-violinist 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 music since 1994 - every show starting with a track by

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American blues rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists. It was launched 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, Belgium Radio stations established in 1983