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The (new?) radio territories Radio Freedom and its listeners

VERS LA POST RADIO Enjeux des mutations des objets et formes radiophoniques PARIS, les 26, 27 et 28 novembre 2009. Éliane WOLFF. The (new?) radio territories Radio Freedom and its listeners. Reunion Island = the context. Inhabited only since 1664 French Colony

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The (new?) radio territories Radio Freedom and its listeners

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  1. VERS LA POST RADIOEnjeux des mutations des objets et formes radiophoniquesPARIS, les 26, 27 et 28 novembre 2009 Éliane WOLFF The (new?) radio territories Radio Freedom and its listeners

  2. Reunion Island = the context • Inhabited only since 1664 • French Colony • then full integration to France as an Overseas Department (1946) • 2500 sq km • 850 000 inhabitants in Reunion Island • 190 000 living in mainland France • a few thousands abroad • Multi-ethnic, multicultural population • Post-colonial society • Isolated • Media sphere locked up, censored • State radio, TV and print press in a monopolistic situation

  3. Expansion liberalization of radio frequencies and mobility • 1981 Law on the liberalization of radio frequencies • 44 local radios (A et B) • 3 local radios with relays (C) NRJ, Chérie FM • 3 public radios (RFO, France inter, France Culture) with relays RFI, France Info • 2000 Emergence of the ICT Flows of people, images, ideas, technologies No local webradio Community Radio (B) Created on july 14th1981 10 frequency bands covering the whole territory 3 millions Euros advertising income weighted heavily on the emergence of public space in Reunion ever since its creation Website & Streaming (1996)

  4. The radio has the highest audience figure over the last years Audience share of 40% in weekdays, way ahead RFO the public utility radio ( 13%) and NRJ (10.9%)(April-June 2009, from metridom.) Advertising in print medias as a selling point for the radio (Le Journal de l’Ile July 2009) Why is the link between the inhabitants of Reunion and this radio so deep ? How the overseas islanders adopt this radio as their own ? First results of an ongoing survey

  5. RadioFreeDom : why it is a success story • A radio rooted within the creole environment • Debates on the ordinary daily life and everything happening in the Island • An Island where everyone knows each other (no anonymity) • Calls to solidarity and mutual aid • Gives prime importance to oral speech • Listener in central position • 250 000 listeners = 250 000 journalists • Direct and permanent access to air (24/7) • One rule : display of the caller's phone number • Collaborative elaboration of the information between listener and journalist/animator • Breathtaking storytelling of daily news • Live broadcasting access to listeners A technical revolution : the mobile phone allows the listener to reach FreeDom from any possible scene of an event

  6. Radio Freedom and the Internet ? The website : a minimalist and static homepage • Potentialities of IT far from fully used • The user can - listen through streaming to live broadcasts from Freedom and Europe1 • - write to the radio • Some of the tabs – shop, horoscope- aren't functional

  7. The offshore listening allows to • Be informed on the Island’s daily life • Stay in touch with society’s concerns • Keep the link with creole langage • Maintain the link with relatives • Allows “ubiquity” • hearsay, gossip, police blotter, incidents, news brief, weddings & funerals • Be aware of the public sphere's mood • Participation to public debate/polemic • Hearing people speaking creole causes a true emotion • Transmit messages, personal dedications, wishes to friends and family • Become a “present-absent” member • Helps reunionese from abroad remain a member of the community despite the distance • Build a diasporical identity

  8. Changes due to the transformation of radio forms • in phase with the recent mobility of people from Reunion and makes it more bearable • a way among others (social network, mass electronic media, digital means communication) to build one’s “locality” (Appadurai, 1996) • internet ? It contributes to the elaboration of the diasporian identity, whose members are defined as “the one who is here and there“ • How about the uses of ‘post-radio’ in Reunion ?

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