Since the invention of radio about a century ago, the uses of this medium have evolved considerably. From collective listening to the development of transistors, to the arrival of television and digital media, radio has always been able to adapt and maintain an important place in the media landscape. Interview with radio historian Denis Maréchal.
Who were the first listeners who listened to the radio. Was the radio a luxury product?
So, I wouldn’t say a luxury product or public, I would rather talk about people who are tinkerers, inventors, on the lookout for technical novelty. At the time, we were talking about tinkerers, people curious about everything, at the forefront of innovation and invention.
And so at that time, what place did the position have in families? I imagine a bit like the television set today.
First, we must understand that at the time, there was no individual listening. Radio is a collective practice for reception. You will find it, for example, in cafes, public places, or for the whole family, in apartments, houses. It is the central piece of furniture in the room. The radio was also used in the first electoral campaign in 1936. Listening was shared, family-friendly. We are very far from this image of today’s media.
What kind of show was on at the time?
The information did not resemble the reports we know today. They were more speakers than journalists and they also had an unfortunate tendency to read the written press. They read the daily newspaper, it gave the news that way, even if there were agreements with the big press agencies.
We also brought information on the stock market, the weather and rather brief news that we did not repeat throughout the day. Continuous radio broadcasting dates back to 1937. Previously, broadcasts were transmitted in the morning and early evening. We were very far from this continuous listening to which we are accustomed today. There were entertainment programs, for example many recorded concerts. Many radio stations had their own orchestras. These were not symphony orchestras, but they played very regularly, were recorded on disk and then broadcast. Finally, there were serials: stories, a bit like the photo novel. You could also say that it was the ancestor of reality TV, in a way.
What were these positions like and when did access to radio begin to become more widespread in homes?
The 1920s saw very strong growth, of the order of 1,000,000 jobs. The French acquired this brand new furniture, made of wood, quite majestic. We see the different countries of the world passing by under plates of glass. We are looking for the wavelength: London, Oslo, Moscow, Paris, Strasbourg and Luxembourg of course.
We look for the right frequency on our set and once we have it we don’t change it anymore. Depending on the vagaries of the weather, there is crackling, overlapping waves, you can hear less well, new stations appear, with interference, etc. The environment is abundant, but not completely stabilized. The massive practice of radio at the end of the 1930s is incontestably already part of a contemporary era.
Then the first battery stations appear. Do they enable audience growth and how?
With the proliferation of transmitters, each large city has its radio: Lille PTT, Strasbourg PTT, etc. Private radio stations already had their own transmitters at this time. Some are very powerful, like that of Radio Luxembourg, which is capable of transmitting across Europe, as far as England where it is widely listened to and represents serious competition to the BBC which has the national monopoly. In France, you can listen to Luxembourg radio as far south as the Loire.
What is the impact of the appearance of television?
Television appeared after the Second World War. The first tests took place in the 1930s, but without commercialization of the post. The first television news dates from 1949. Television is the media of the second half of the 20th century.e century.
What is the impact of television on radio listening?
In the morning, radio remains hegemonic. She still dominates this time slot today. On the other hand, the radio audience decreased significantly in the evening, between the 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. news. From the end of the 1950s, there was an increase in purchases of television sets with consistent curves. We observe a regular decline in radio. But it still depends on social categories and age. Young people are still attached to the radio in the evening because it offers programs in harmony with their needs for music, culture, etc. Major shows like Campus on Europe 1 or Prof club on France Inter will keep a young audience, who see television as a somewhat old-fashioned medium, that of parents.
Another significant change is the arrival of the transistor, the small radio that offers individual listening.
Les Copains d’Europe 1 brings a facelift that will revolutionize radio listening and social practices. It would be difficult to understand May 68 if we did not make reference to radio and the fundamental role that this medium was able to play.
Evening demonstrations in May 68 were broadcast simultaneously by radio Luxembourg, Europe 1 and RTL, since France Inter was on strike. Radio remains the only way the French stay informed of events. It is, moreover, the last major contemporary event which benefited from his decisive contribution.
How have the Internet, smartphones and technical progress in general changed radio listening?
The radio retains all its advantages for motorists. For the rest, I am not one of the historians or sociologists who say that ultimately radio resisted television or cinema. I believe that today, there is a real decline: the figures are there, on annual radio listening, all media combined, and these figures clearly show that there is a decline. Apart from this competition between radio stations, it must be noted that there is an overall decline in listening to them. On the other hand, podcasts must be given a separate place. I am very sensitive to this fervor for several reasons: they offer quality, carefully crafted programs, with a real appetite for the sound space and its richness. This was no longer really the case on the radio, where there are no longer so many live interviews, the noise of the street or the countryside, etc.
At the technical level, digital radio, DAB, (in French RNT – digital terrestrial radio, editor’s note) was presented as the new means of broadcasting. Is she having trouble establishing herself in the radio landscape?
There was real progress in radio, when we moved from long waves to frequency modulation (FM) where the sound quality was really transcended, multiplied to the power of 16. With DAB, it is perhaps less true, because there are perhaps fewer effects, it is less noticeable for the listener.
Apart from podcasts, what would be the future of radio?
This is difficult for a historian to perceive.
What I see is that there is still a premium for quality. We see, for example, France Inter, which produces quality public service broadcasts, the content of which is thoughtful and interesting in all respects. It is the head of the audience in France, while radio, which is more trivial, more impoverished, with more conservative content in every sense of the word, tends to turn in on itself. So it’s true that listeners are attached to the quality of this media which must remain relevant and original.