News Cycle Gone Cold – France Info Seeks Heat

The first casualty of the French presidential election campaign– and the recent Médiamétrie audience survey – is France Info, Radio France’ rolling headline news channel. All French news and information channels, public and commercial, have seen their audiences rise – except France Info. The channels new director says the solution is making the station hot again.

Patrick Roger was named in April to head France Info. He admitted the channel has lost the plot. The format has failed the audience.

“I believe that France Info must be the radio of topicality,” he said in an interview with Libération.  This contrasts with the well-known – and once successful – format of short, predictable elements, often repeated, often leaving listeners “cold.”

In truth simple, predictable radio channels have a simple, predictable life-cycle. Listeners are attracted to the form (format) initially, grow comfortable, adapt to the style, then, inevitably, search for more. The rhythm that attracts attention becomes the greatest liability.  After 20 years, France Info is in dire need of re-thinking.

Roger says the re-cast France Info will place greater emphasis on “the three I’s” – information, innovation and interactivity. A recent study commissioned by Radio France, mentioned in the Libération interview, showed listeners “indifferent” because of a perceived lack of depth. Listeners want “more heat and less cold,” he said.

Large scale changes to France Info will not be in place before September, the traditional rentrée for French broadcasters. Expect more topical elements, more live reports and more flexibility within the format. Certainly Patrick Roger will move quicker in the next weeks to take advantage of massive interest in the French parliamentary elections. – May 8, 2007

Keywords:format radio, broadcasting in France

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