2 or onethird less than the previous year

"It is a rock radio, so all rock bands should be here."The moderator and comedian Arthur displays its ambitions for Ouï FM, less than a year after having returned the station to the British group Virgin's Richard Branson. Simple Parisian radio whose origins date back to the liberalisation of the FM band in the 1980s, Ouï FM wants to become a real radio national under the leadership of its new shareholder, while remaining a single musical niche, the rock in all its facets. "Our work focuses on the development of Ouï FM." Richard Branson has never developed it. "We want to be everywhere," summarizes the who is also the presenter of the "children of TV" on TF1. Blocked by the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel in its attempt to resumption of the parenthesis network, Ouï FM did in looking not less all the available frequencies on the FM band, including those recently released in the province by Radio Classique (group Les Echos). The station is also on the lookout to buy local radios, which the economic situation became precarious because of the crisis. Finally, in addition to Internet, Ouï FM developed also on terrestrial digital radio, for which he received frequencies to Paris, Marseille and Nice on the first call for tenders.

Hearing down

In the second quarter, the hearing cumulative Ouï FM in Ile-de-France fell to 2.2, or one-third less than the previous year. But it is not the last digits of hearing that will cool the enthusiasm of Arthur, who put EUR 5 million on the table to become owner of the radio, after having made a fortune by selling his company of Endemol audiovisual production. Ouï FM boss, the head of this frustration is the increase in advertising, which the hourly volume rose from 2 to 12 minutes per hour, which made escape listeners and requires radio to revise downward its programming of spots. This is not new, the advertising for the large distribution have never been very "rock", a real problem for a station as Ouï FM. In total, the radio claims a little over 200,000 listeners per day, rather male (58) and rather young. Financially, it is in the balance, says Arthur, after having posted losses of EUR 1 million per year in the past. But the size of the station remains modest with a turnover approaching the 4 million euros per year, for a grid which is "national" and is broadcast live from 6 hours to 1 hour of the morning. "It will remain a niche radio, but it wants to be a radio of reference of the 25-49 years who love rock," says Arthur. For the moment, that which is autoproclamait "host the con of the FM band" when he was flying the morning Fun radio does not make the antenna. "I do not want the trap to the antenna that people say that I am paid me a toy", he said, adding that he tries rather to to its studios located near the Bastille in Paris of the true "rock luminaries" as Philippe Manoeuvre, Pierre Lescure, or Antoine de Caunes...