Radio Blagon was 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 belonged to the alternative music scene.
Contents
In addition to a continuous stream of francophone music, the station regularly carried out broadcasts with topics ranging from interviews, reports and current events. In France, it was the first Internet radio station to offer a "radiophonic bouquet", a choice between different channels. This radio was available on channel 99 of the FreeboxTV, that belong to French ISP Free. It was listed also on Shoutcast site.
Before it went off air on January 9, 2013, the station was broadcasting 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.
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
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, 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 for the children of Haiti, which featured the Cameroonian 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.
Lastly, the station edited in 2006 the music album of Nicogé, singer of the group Le Clandestin
Statistics
Since its setting on line, Radio Blagon is in constant progression, each month:
Approximately 3,000 different songs are played on the various channels, including 2,000 for the channel Rock Français.