Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with Deutsche Welle, the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

Radio Netherlands Worldwide Radio Netherlands (RNW; nl, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services i ...

, and

China Radio International China Radio International (CRI) is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of China. It is currently headquartered in the Babaoshan area of Beijing's Shijingshan District. It was founded on December 3, 1941, as Radio Peking. It later ...

. RFI broadcasts 24 hours per day around the world in French and in 12 other languages in FM, shortwave, medium wave, satellite and on its website. It is a channel of the state company

France Médias Monde France Médias Monde is a French state-owned holding company which supervises and co-ordinates the activities of the major public media organizations broadcasting or publishing internationally from France. The company's subsidiaries are the rad ...

. The majority of shortwave transmissions are in French and

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

but also includes some hours of Swahili,

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, Mandinka, and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. RFI broadcasts to over 150 countries on 5 continents. Africa is the largest part of radio listeners, representing 60% of the total audience in 2010. In the

Paris region Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, RFI comprises between 150,000 and 200,000 listeners. In 2007, the audience was of 46.1 million listeners, breaking down into 27.5 million in Africa, 10.5 million in the Middle East, 4.2 million in the Americas, 2.2 million in Europe and 1.7 million in Asia-Oceania.

History

RFI was created in 1975 as part of

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

by the Government of France, and replaced the

Poste Colonial ''Poste may refer to:'' * Poste Airport, (ICAO: ''FEFB'', IATA: ''MKI''), airport in Central African Republic * Poste Point, a pointe in an Antarctica * Paray-Vieille-Poste, a commune in France ;Postal services * La Poste (disambiguation), several ...

(created in 1931),

Paris-Mondial Paris-Mondial (later known as Voice of France) was a French-government-owned shortwave external service radio station that began broadcasting in 1937. After the fall of France, it continued broadcasting a domestic-only program. Origins Paris-Mon ...

(1937),

Radio Paris Radio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in Vichy France during World War II. Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called Radiola, founded by pioneering Frenc ...

(1939), a private station which was commandeered by the Germans during the

occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

, and the Voice of France which was operated by the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

from 1941 to 1944,

RTF Radio Paris RTF may refer to: Organisations * African Union Regional Task Force, the military operation of the RCI-LRA, 2011–2018. * Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, a broadcaster in France, 1949–1964 * Russian Tennis Federation, the national gover ...

(1945) and ORTF Radio Paris (1965). In 1986 the

French Parliament The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris ...

changed the law to allow RFI to operate independently of Radio France. RFI operates under the auspices and primary budget of the

Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Qu ...

. It broadcasts primarily in French, but also in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Swahili,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

Cambodian Cambodian usually refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia ** Cambodian people (or Khmer people) ** Cambodian language (or Khmer language) ** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia ** Fo ...

and as of 2015, Manding. As of 2 April 2020, the English service has ceased broadcasting, replaced by a selection of French music. It also owns

Monte Carlo Doualiya Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD), formerly known as RMC Moyen-Orient ( en, Radio Monte Carlo Middle East), is a French public radio service that broadcasts across the Arab world. It was founded in 1972 and, like Radio France Internationale (RFI) is pa ...

(formerly Radio Monte Carlo Middle East), which produces

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

programmes in Paris, and airs them from a transmitter in Cyprus to audiences across the Middle East and North Africa.

Incidents

On 17 September 2002,

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

lese President

Gnassingbé Eyadéma Gnassingbé Eyadéma (; born Étienne Gnassingbé, 26 December 1935 – 5 February 2005) was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Eyadéma participated i ...

tried to stop the broadcasting of an interview with one of his opponents,

Agbéyomé Kodjo Messan Agbéyomé Gabriel Kodjo (born 12 October 1954"Yamgnane recalé" ...

, by phoning directly to the Elysée Palace. The interview was not

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

by Jean-Paul Cluzel, RFI's CEO at the time, due to the coordinated intervention of the journalists' trade unions. However, a report raising questions regarding the

French secret services This is a list of current and former French intelligence agencies. Currently active *DGSE: Directorate-General for External Security – '' Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure''. It is the military foreign intelligence agency, whi ...

responsibilities in the 1995 death of judge Bernard Borrel in

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

, which was broadcast on 17 May 2005, was later removed from RFI's website for undisclosed reasons, possibly due to the intervention of Djiboutian President

Ismail Omar Guelleh Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

. On 21 October 2003, Jean Hélène was reporting for RFI during the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

when he was killed in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

by police sergeant Théodore Séry Dago. On 2 November 2013, RFI reporting team Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were murdered while covering the

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

elections. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

set their death date to commemorate the International Day of Impunity each year. In November 2020, RFI mistakenly published numerous obituaries of famous people on its own web site, as well as sending them to related web sites, after moving draft stories to a new system.

Podcasts

RFI offers a daily podcast in simple French, accessible via iTunes, named ''Journal en français facile''. There are also several other podcasts including the weekly '' Afrique Presse'', which is hosted by Assane Diop and discusses the most important news in Africa that week.

Slogans

« The world's radio! » (1987 - 1996) « And the news become worldwide » (2010 - 2013) « Voices of the world » (from 2013)

References

Bibliography

External links

*
English-language site

RFI Hausa service

RFI English Facebook Page

RFI Music programme on Facebook World Tracks

RFI English language Music section

Music biographies in the RFI English language website
{{Authority control 1975 establishments in France Publicly funded broadcasters Radio in France Radio France International broadcasters Radio stations established in 1975 Multilingual news services France Médias Monde