In 1996 in “Télérama”: at Europe 1, everything is going badly, we start again<

While the employees of Europe 1 have just led a six-day strike to protest against the probable changes in editorial line orchestrated by Vincent Bolloré, who has become the majority shareholder in the Lagardère group, a look back at the station's turbulent history and the successive crises that shook it.

In 1974, she was accused of "rolling" for Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. In 2012, some nicknamed it “Radio-Sarko”. Will Europe 1 play the game of the right, or even the far right, in 2022? This is the fear of many employees, worried about a change in editorial line now clear since Vincent Bolloré became majority shareholder in the Lagardère group. The arrivals of Dimitri Pavlenko, columnist alongside essayist Éric Zemmour at CNews, and Laurence Ferrari, also a host on CNews, have been formalized. Louis de Raguenel, defector of Current Values, will lead the political service during the presidential campaign. The employees of the chain of Hi friends!, on which Coluche had launched the Restos du Cœur in 1985, are now disgusted and discouraged. And have just carried out a six-day strike. The article by Anne-Marie Gustave and Henry Mongabure, in 1996, allows us to put into perspective twenty-five years of crisis at Europe 1, a generalist radio station with often tarnished splendor and declining audiences. LLS (June 25, 2021)

Another blow for Europe 1. Again, desolation prevails. However, with the arrival of Denis Jeambar, last July, the whole station found the proud hope of a new boom. And then, on March 12, he announced his departure after eight months of reflection on the future of Europe. Today, it is Jacques Lehn, the CEO, who is in charge of the general management. It resumes the project imagined by Denis Jeambar, who had succeeded in the revival of Le Point.

The time of past splendor, Europe 1 has always oscillated between a plethoric hierarchy and a risky direction. So, rue François-Ier, in the hushed studios, the enthusiasm gradually waned, like the vigor of the programs. As a result, in twelve years, half of the listeners have deserted. After being overtaken by France Inter in the polls, Europe 1 suffered two new terrible humiliations: beaten by France Info when it always claimed to be the best on the news, it was also overtaken by NRJ , a musical FM that costs little to manufacture. What, of course, demoralize the troops a little. However, the malaise cannot be explained solely by a loss of influence due to the fierce competition between the stations. Europe 1 also has a heavy political past. A taboo subject, but which leaves traces in the minds of men who wonder, asking for anonymity, about their relationship with political power.

Until 1974, everything is fine. We are happy, the radio is teeming with ideas. It is at this time, it is said, that the station giscardise. Étienne Mougeotte gives a spoonful to eat to the President of the Republic every morning. Then it's a ladle. When the left triumphs, the editorial staff has the feeling of having to pay the bill for being too close to past political power. The specter of privatization looms, seen as the best way to cut the cord with old habits. The resort has doubts about its own excellence. In 1981, change of team, the new CEO, Jean-Luc Lagardère, appoints Philippe Gildas to the direction of the info. This prohibits journalists from "doing politics" on the air, and chooses to hire outside columnists, some say, to sing the praises of their party leaders: thus, each defends his own. The atmosphere becomes unbreathable. Exit Jean-Pierre Joulin. Considered too close to the former political power, he was expatriated for five years in Washington. Alain Duhamel and Catherine Nay, for a while, taste the sterile pleasures of the closet.

With cohabitation, exiles return, morale too. And then pan, during the presidential campaign of 1995, the old demons wake up, some influential journalists impose their candidate on their colleagues, who follow like sheep. They support Édouard Balladur in unison. The same people turn around in a weekend when, for the first time, on a Saturday in January, the polls give Jacques Chirac the winner. “We suffered, recognizes a witness. When, on Monday, we received the Prime Minister, the journalists broke it. He himself did not understand. He said: “You are terribly political this morning, what is happening to you?” He didn't know that here we always ride for someone. “Europe 1, which does not wish to be a train behind, jumps on the step of the polls.

Europe 1 by Telerama Archives

This monolithic behavior experienced by the entire editorial staff first reveals fear. In 1994-1995, the bosses of Europe 1 often lost their cool: “Personally, I understood how dictatorships were born. We had a leader called Ceausescu. He made up for his lack of authority with verbal abuse. Another, even more virulent, threw at us “I will kill you, there will be blood on the walls”. I even heard him make racist remarks about Arthur or Yannick Noah, whom the station wanted to hire as a consultant! »

On the air, the programs betray this malaise. They cater to everyone and anyone, mixing times and genres. Never has the grid been so inconsistent. It is the fight of the leaders: each one imposes his men and his ideas. And, for the first time in the history of Europe 1, we even see a director of commercial management intervene on the grid: Michel Cacouault hires Dummies at a gold price, to raise the audience and "carry" the slice midday briefing. They set the bar very high to dissuade their future employer. Europe accepts their demands. For one season, they receive 150,000 francs per month each (and there are three of them, plus their team) to host one hour of daily programming. Money thrown out the window, since the audience does not go back a hair.

On the other hand, these new seals are talking. The young journalists find their salary pale and barricade themselves in their backyard. They keep their information to themselves, avoid talking to each other. Their “papers” are not proofread by the editorial management. A disenchanted carelessness clouds the failing energy of the most enterprising. Sure of their talent, although they claim to love their station passionately, they hardly like their colleagues. The house spirit is tainted with arrogance. The trainees are welcomed as follows: “If you are better than the others, we don't tell you anything. If you're as good as the others, you're bad. If you're not as good as the others… you don't belong here. »

“Papa Lagardère”

The elders obviously regret the good old days when they were perpetually on the go. When Pompidou died, an old veteran remembers with melancholy, on April 2, 1974, around 9:15 p.m., everyone had returned to the studios. Jean Gorini made lists: “You stay. You, you live far away, you will come back tomorrow. When Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, the three journalists on duty barely dared to warn their editors. The lack of supervision is sorely felt.

Today, only Jean-Luc Lagardère, majority shareholder, is unanimous. We call him "dad", his office, "the castle". Admired by all, "papa Lagardère" only has a few words to say to restore order in the house. Only, he doesn't just have to do that. At the head of a military-industrial group, he does not often come to rue François-Ier. But everyone knows that he will not abandon them, even in a crisis. Last year, paradoxically, after another drop in audience, the radio continued to earn money: 70 million francs in profit. As if the advertisers had not noticed the seriousness of the bleeding.

Anyway, we are not afraid here of running out of money: if one day Europe 1 had financial problems, the Lagardère group would gladly vote for the necessary extensions, an attitude which encourages general apathy. The only creations are made abroad: fifty radio stations in the USSR, one in Prague, several in China… An internationalization which promotes the mixing of genres. It is whispered that such a very special permanent envoy established contacts that would have enabled Matra to sell arms in the Middle East and that another would have served as an intermediary for other negotiations. A journalist affirms, on the contrary, that the membership of the station to a group does not influence its editorial choices. “We say from Europe 1 that it is the dancer of Lagardère. It's obvious, but in a good way. Me, what worries me is the future. Will the window remain if the store expands? »

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Steeped in certainties, the sorcerer's apprentices can no longer even differentiate their style from that of other general radio stations such as RTL and France Inter. They shun the ordinary, the everyday, and only reveal themselves on special occasions. When François Mitterrand died, the entire editorial staff finally got together, giving the best of themselves. The coverage was complete, even brilliant. “Too bad that we have to wait for an event of this dimension for the qualities of men to reappear”, comments, disillusioned, an elder.

Program managers multiply anarchic experiments, giving carte blanche to personalities like Arthur, Muriel Robin, Caroline Tresca… At RTL, the captain holds the helm. He develops each form of program, specifies the logic of the sequences and then recruits the animators who fit into the mould. He can change the names, the public finds himself there: the program keeps its identity. At France Inter, the score is skilfully composed. A program never telescopes the one that follows it. In Europe, we go from rooster to donkey. As if, in the end, only prime time (7 a.m. to 9 a.m.) counted… for advertising.

We hide behind the observation that, before 9 o'clock, seventy listeners, out of the hundred that the station will have during the day, have already tuned into the frequency. Because in the morning, decision-makers listen to the radio. They are therefore the preferred target of programming aimed at senior executives over the age of 30 – those who fly at least once a month, communicate by mobile phone and drive around in luxury foreign cars. Women fled this primary machismo for a long time. Radio, which is supposed to be open to the general public, remains a very narrow target to exploit.

“I have a commando operation to carry out. I assume it directly and personally. Everything will change”, Jacques Lehn, CEO

Recently, two surveys, including that of Secodip (Society for the study of consumption, distribution and advertising), announce a scheduled drop in audience. They reveal, and this is a novelty, that musical FMs like NRJ, Fun, RFM have together achieved a higher advertising turnover than that of generalist radios. In one year, the market share of Europe 1 fell by 18%, that of RTL by 7%, that of RMC by 23%. As for the audience measurements, they give reason to the most pessimistic. Listeners continue to shun Europe 1, which forces it to lower the price per minute of advertising. And, again, this is a first.

“I have a commando operation to carry out, soberly explains General President Lehn. I assume it directly and personally. Everything will change. You have to differentiate yourself from other resorts, introduce enthusiasm, favor the relational, even the emotional. The CEO enjoys the full confidence of Jean-Luc Lagardère and the professionals of "his" radio station. He has already given emergency treatment to sick parts of the industrial group and knows the station well, having had the time to detail its mechanisms. It is therefore the last resort.

In September, Europe 1 will become “a value-added news radio, rejoices the “savior” in advance. A relational and dialogue station, of debates in the style of Michel Field, which has occupied this niche since the start of the school year, and rather brilliantly”. Real life, we hope in the corridors, should regain the upper hand, at the same time as we will bury the generalist radio of the 1950s. Some will not follow the procession of new products, since the contracts can be easily denounced. But another radio could soon be born. She is already pointing the tip of her nose: a reworked 6 am to 8:30 am, under the impetus of a committee of wise men and Patrice Louis, a defector from France Inter but trained in Europe and recognized as the best director on the morning air; a 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. turned upside down, since Jean-Yves Chaperon, appointed deputy to the editorial director “will no longer be on the microphone”. As a result, Generations, Michel Field's program, will start earlier and will serve as a showcase for the new guideline.

For the optimists, all the elements of success are finally gathered around Jacques Lehn, who reveals himself, while everyone described him as a horrible manager, “the much desired charismatic leader”. We are talking about reunions, friendly warmth. Listeners are invited to share. The future will tell if the last jolt that Europe 1 has just experienced will finally allow the revolution necessary for its survival.

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