Radio Blagon

Radio Blagon is a volunteer-run, indie Internet radio station near Bordeaux in southwest France. The station was created in October 2004 and its objective is the diffusion and the promotion of diverse francophone music, such as rock, reggae, electronic music, etc. Most of the artists promoted on this radio belong to the alternative music scene.

In addition to a continuous stream of francophone music, the station regularly carries out broadcasts with topics ranging from interviews, reports and current events. In France, it is the first Internet radio stations to offer a "radiophonic bouquet", a choice between different channels. This radio is available on channel 99 of the FreeboxTV [fr icon [http://www.universfreebox.com/article2224.html Radio Balgon et Espace FM sur FreeboxTV] ] , that belong to French ISP Free. It is listed also on Shoutcast site [ [http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/?s=blagon Radio Blagon on Shoutcast] ] .

The station currently broadcasts seven music channels and a video channel.

Radio content

Radio Blagon streams music on the Internet via eight different channels: seven musical channels and a video channel. The seven musical channels are named "Rock Français", "Scène française", "Canal Hard", "Canal festif", "Canal électro-rock", "Canal ambient" and "Canal Reggae Iles". The final channel, named " Télé Blagon ", is an Internet television channel that streams music videos.

This musical bouquet is hosted on three servers located in Paris, connected by optical fibers which allow a bandwidth of 300 Mbit/s. These servers can receive several thousand listeners simultaneously. Music is streamed at 128 kbit/s or 192 kbit/s bitrates.

Radio Blagon endeavors to promote artists from diverse geographical origins; there are groups not only from France but also from other French speaking regions, like Quebec, Switzerland, Belgium, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and Haiti.

The station seeks to promote unknown, self-produced artists by playing their music on the various channels. The listeners take part regularly in the programming by recommending new groups on the station’s online forum. [fr icon [http://www.radioblagon.com/forum Forum of Radio Blagon] (a section is dedicated to english-speaking)]

Lastly, Radio Blagon carries out interviews of well known francophones, such as Thiéfaine, Les Têtes Raides, Les Wampas, Tryo and Les Cowboys Fringants. The interviews are available for free on the Radio Blagon website, in podcasts from iTunes or in the French directories. These interviews contribute to the notability of this station. The website is often very active after new interviews are posted.

Channels

*Rock Français : this channel plays new music from the French-speaking alternative scene. It is the "headlight" channel of the station because it is the most listened to channel.
*Scène française : this channel is a more accessible version of Rock Français.
*Canal Hard : this channel gathers all that is less ordinary among the French-speaking scene.
*Canal Festif : this channel plays festive music.
*Canal Electro-Rock : this channel plays various kind of electronic music and rock music.
*Canal ambient : this channel plays relaxing musics such as chill out music.
*Reggae Iles : this channel plays Caribbean music like zouk and reggae.
*Télé Blagon : this channel is an Internet television station, that plays music videos.

Organization

The station is managed by voluntary administrators and is free of advertising. It organized an association in order to be able to join the contributions of the members needed to obtain the rights which the radio and the website require. Since March 2006, Radio Blagon has been a member of the "Association Nationale des webradio" [fr icon [http://www.france-webradios.com/blog/ Website of the National Association of Webradios] ] , an association created in order to defend the legal interests of French Internet radio stations.

Other activities

The association Radio Blagon is partners with musical festivals like the festival D' Hilbesheim in Alsace and le tremplin rock de Lanton in Aquitaine.

On August 19, 2006, the station held a benefit concert [fr icon " un concert solidaire ": article draw from the daily newspaper Sud-Ouest (edition of August 18, 2006) ] [fr icon " De la musique haïtienne et africaine pour les enfants d'Haïti ": article draw from the daily newspaper La Dépêche (edition of August 20, 2006) ] for the children of Haiti, which featured the Cameronian artist Idy Oulo and the Haitian artist Bob Bovano. The profits were transferred to the children of Haiti. In 2007, the association organised a music festival near Bordeaux, "À fleur de rock", starring Mademoiselle K, Nosfell, etc [ [www.afleurderock.com/ À fleur de rock] : website of the festival] .

Lastly, the station edited in 2006 the music album of Nicogé, singer of the group Le Clandestin

tatistics

Since its setting on line, Radio Blagon is in constant progression, each month:
*200,000 people listen to Radio Blagon.
*100,000 people watch Télé Blagon.
*70,000 people visit the website.
*Each interview is downloaded about 3,000 times.

Approximately 3,000 different songs are played on the various channels, including 2,000 for the channel Rock Français.

References

External links

* [http://www.radioblagon.com official Site of Radio Blagon]
* [http://www.teleblagon.com/ Site of Télé Blagon]
* [http://www.radioblagon.com/forum Forum of Radio Blagon] (a section is dedicated to English-speaking)
* [http://radioblagon.blogspot.com/ Blog de Radio Blagon]