Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD), formerly known as RMC Moyen-Orient ( en, Radio Monte Carlo Middle East), is a French public radio service that broadcasts across the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. It was founded in 1972 and, like

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

(RFI) is part of

France Médias Monde France Médias Monde is a French state-owned holding company which supervises and co-ordinates the activities of the major public media organizations broadcasting or publishing internationally from France. The company's subsidiaries are the rad ...

, the French state-owned

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. It produces

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

programmes in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, and airs 24 hours per day to audiences in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

over local FM transmitters,

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 m ...

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

and on its

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

History

Building on the fame of the french private radio station

Radio Monte Carlo Radio Monte Carlo (RMC) is the name of radio stations owned and managed by several different entities: *RMC (France) is a French language, French-speaking station, broadcasting in France and Monaco owned by NextRadioTV. **RMC Sport, a French bou ...

(RMC), the French and Arabic-language service targeted at listeners in the Near East and northern Africa started broadcasting in 1972 as RMC Moyen-Orient, and was created by Sofirad. At the end of 1996, Sofirad sold RMC Moyen-Orient to

(itself owned by the

French government The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, wh ...

). RMC Moyen-Orient changed its name to Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD) in 2007. Since 1972/73, the powerful 600 kW

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the dayt ...

transmitter in Cape Greco,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

was used. In 2019, medium wave transmission were terminated for financial reasons and declining use of medium wave propagation. The antennas at the Cap Greco transmitter site have been torn down in early November 2021.

References

External links

* 1972 establishments in France Arabic-language radio stations Radio France Radio stations established in 1972 {{Asia-radio-station-stub