France rejects English radio on FM band in Paris

Paris Live Radio (PLR), along with two other English language radio broadcasters, the BBC World Service and World Radio Paris, have all been rejected in taking further part in the “shortlist of candidates” in the tender process conducted by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (the “CSA”) for frequency positions on the FM band in Paris. The decision was made by the plenary committee of the Conseil Supérieur de l’audiovisuel “the CSA” on 10 May 2007 and published on 14 May.

Ian de Renzie Duncan, the Director and Founder of PLR, said in response to the decision: “It is unknown in the developed world for a major city to not have at least some local radio in English and after 5 years of hard work beginning with satellite and cable broadcasting here in France –  the CSA have just said NO ENGLISH RADIO on our turf. The decision is extraordinary. It just lacks any comprehension of Paris’ place in the world today as the world’s most visited city. What about the 20 million English speaking tourists (around 70% of them speak English in preference to French) who visit Paris every year? Do they mean nothing to the French tourist and government authorities?”

PLR is targeted primarily to listeners in the Paris region. These listeners include expatriates and tourists who understand English better than French, as well as French listeners interested in listening in English to improve their language skills or simply having an alternative to the existing French stations. The target audience is 18 to 45 years old.

There are 400 000 English speaking non-French residents of Ile de France. In addition, of the 11m inhabitants of the Paris, Ile de France region (based on a recent government study) 15% of those under 60 or 1.4m speak English. The third audience group is the estimated 14.7 million English speaking tourists whom visit Paris annually. Tourists were to be the main target market during the summer months.

PLR says it has validated the interest in an English radio station through a number of surveys. The latest survey by Insead students [English Language radio in Paris survey May 2004] showed that, of the survey group of which 57% were English speakers and 28% French speakers, 72% are interested in listening to English radio in Paris and 62% confirmed that they would find the promotion of products and services in English useful. The PLR website received over 100,000 hits in the first three weeks of operation.

Although PLR has an authorization from the CSA to broadcast on 963 AM in Paris between the limited hours of 10am to 5pm (summer) and 11am to 6pm (winter) – the Paris AM band is rarely listened to by the French public and many radios only have FM capability. However, PLR says that if the CSA allowed it and the other English language candidates to broadcast 24/7 on the AM band, it would not clash with the basically full French speaking stations and add to the pluralism of the Paris airwaves. PLR contends that Anglo-Saxons are far more at ease listening to AM radio than the French owing to some historical anomalies over the years following World War Two.

(Source: Paris Live Radio via Media Europe)