“What color is the Garabit viaduct, in Cantal?” Asks Corentin Monnier, host of a morning program on Totem, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. On the phone, the listener, Claire, replies tac-au-tac: “Red!”. It is the right answer. “Indeed the viaduct is red, you can see it when you take the A75”, specifies Corentin Monnier, referring to the free motorway which notably crosses Cantal, Lozère and Aveyron to connect Clermont-Ferrand to Béziers. So many departments in which the “summer, parasol, house” section is broadcast, mixing games and music, hosted this summer by Corentin. “The Gard is further north than the Tarn. Is it true or is it false?”. This time, the listener exclaims: “It’s true!”. “No, it’s wrong”, regrets “Corentin”, as the listeners call him. Claire will not win the grand prize: an exclusive visit to the Reptiland animal park, in Martel in the Lot, in the company of animals and their keepers, as well as a “full weekend” in an inn in the village. But for having only participated, she will still benefit from two free entries to Reptiland. “You’re not very far either, are you? Coming from 82 [NDLR : le Tarn-et-Garonne], what are you, 45 minutes away? asks the host, immediately winning the delighted approval of his listener. And to conclude: “I have the compass in my eye!”
Games, music and, above all, a lot of local: this is the recipe applied for years by Totem, created in 1981, to seduce listeners from the “south of the Massif Central”. It works. According to the latest audience figures revealed by Médiamétrie on July 21, the station based in Rodez is even the most listened to in Aveyron over the period from April to June. In a France largely dominated by two groups – Radio France and RTL – areas populated by die-hard listeners still and always resist the temptation of national stations. The winning antennas are therefore called Totem but also Tendance Ouest, founded in 1982, in the Manche, or 100% Radio, in the Tarn, since 2003. All number one in their department. Sweet FM, a radio station founded in 1984, is the second most listened to in Sarthe behind RTL.
A “little chauvinistic side”
They all work on the same principle: a soundtrack made up of 70% songs, interspersed with sections of information lasting a few minutes. The playlist, mixing French standards and international hits, does not differ much from the major musical radio stations. On this August morning, the people of Sarthe were, for example, accompanied by an old title by Justin Timberlake, or even the latest song by singer Amir. Meanwhile, Totem listeners listened to Mylène Farmer assure them that “Everything is chaos”, while Julien Doré kept whispering the words of Paris-Seychelles on 100% Radio.
But unlike a Chérie FM or a NRJ, their long presence in the territories gives them a particular anchor. “Each radio has a different story depending on the department, but all are based on the same concept: proximity”, explains Jean-Eric Valli, president and co-creator of Indés Radios, the group which brings together 129 independent stations and whose part these antennas. This proximity is reflected first in the editorial line of these stations, closely linked to local news. “When the Benalla affair was looping on the continuous news channels, it was the last concern of people, assures David Martin, director of programs and the antenna of Totem. We did not talk about it, or little We preferred to open our newspapers on the difficulties of local farmers, for example”. Wilfrid Tocqueville, program director of Sweet FM, agrees: “There is a little chauvinistic side: we are the local radio stations, the ones that parents always put in the car, and whose listening habit they passed on to children”.
Jobs, road traffic and festivals
This editorial line is often adapted as closely as possible to the territory, the radio stations developing variants of their programs in each department. “We have six distinct editorial areas, with six different editorial offices like in Caen or Saint-Lô”, explains Jean-Baptiste Bancaud, delegate director of Tendance Ouest. A unique network, which creates a unique link between the station and the listener. “When the host says that the Tramontane is blowing in Perpignan, he’s not saying it from Paris, but because he sees it through his window. Same for the autan wind. Besides, I’m not even sure that in Paris, they know them!”, laughs Jacques Iribarren, general manager of 100%. Local news, from weekend outings to the smallest sporting matches, is broadcast live. On Sweet FM, we also broadcast job offers from local companies in news flashes, while delivering information on road traffic. “The traffic jams of course, the accidents too or even the areas where certain speed cameras are located”, details Wilfrid Tocqueville, who immediately adds: “In good understanding with the police, of course!”.
An editorialization that separates them from France Bleu, a local iteration of the Radio France group. “France Bleu takes over national programs that are not found among the independents”, points out Jean-Eric Valli. On France Bleu Occitanie, for example, you can listen to an hour’s report on the interceltic festival… in Lorient, Brittany. Conversely, independent antennas almost never deviate from their ultra-local DNA. “The recipe of the chef in Normandy”, offers Tendance Ouest in podcast, which also produces “Scenes of crimes in Normandy”. With “Millésime musette”, broadcast every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Totem offers interviews with “local accordionists” and “informs about dancing teas” organized in the area. Over 100%, columns such as “Cécile’s agenda” promote local cultural events, from the live performance festival in Saint-Cyprien, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, to the concerts organized by the secular association of Carcassonne, in the Aude.
The fashion of the short circuit
These independents also highlight their younger and more relaxed tone. “When I was a kid, it was Jean-Pierre Foucault and his friend Léon on Radio Monte Carlo who made me want to imitate them, says David Martin. They addressed their audience with a familiarity that gave the feeling that ‘they were coming into your house’. An emotion that Totem intends to reproduce today, with a credo that sounds like a slogan. “The seriousness of the information and the friendliness of the South!”, exclaims the program director.
No need to be a southerner, however, to claim this complicity between hosts and listeners. “Our animators can be crossed in the street by the public of their department. This reinforces the emotional bond”, affirms Jean-Baptiste Bancaud. These radios highlight their “human” side, recalling their difference with the giants of the sector. An important argument, while the use of the radio is down: all stations combined, 800,000 listeners evaporated at the national level between January-March and April-June of this year. This shift has not spared independent antennas. If they float in certain departments, they decline overall by 0.8 audience points. Faced with this slight drop, the local Asterix are showing their optimism. So from Jean-Baptiste Bancaud: “The radio is holding up. And fashion is back from the short circuit, isn’t it?”.