Mouv'

Mouv' (lit. 'Movement') (formerly Le Mouv') is a French youth-oriented radio station which began broadcasting on 17 June 1997. As part of Radio France, it is a public radio station. The station primarily plays youth-oriented music, centered on urban music and hip hop. Initially based in Toulouse, it moved to Paris in December 2001. It relaunched on 2 February 2015 with its slogan Mouv on it. Previously the radio station assumed an alternative rock identity, its slogan L'esprit Rock was a way of life and a style as well as a type of music.

Le Mouv' is Radio France's second attempt at serving a young audience. Its first, Radio 7 was created on 2 June 1980. Radio 7 was launched to counteract the numerous radios libres and pirate stations which heralded the opening of the FM band to private operators initiated by then President François Mitterrand in 1981. Radio 7 had a commercial-free rock-based format. It closed down in 1988, with its Paris transmitter converted into a rolling news format, the first of its kind in Europe, called France Info.^{[citation needed]}

A second attempt was to be launched in 1997. Michel Boyon, then president of Radio France, remarked that the average age of the public radio audience was progressively getting older. Enlisting the help of Olivier Nanteau, on 17 June 1997, Le Mouv' launched, in place of Radio France Toulouse which closed down. At the same time it also signalled the end of local public programmes as Le Mouv' aimed to become a national station. The launch of a public youth station was criticised by private radio groups, which stated that Radio France had no business entering commercial markets.

At the start of programmes, Le Mouv' initially had an eclectic format, mixing pop, rock and electronic dance music mixed with practical information for its young audience. By 1998 the media regulator CSA attributed 21 new FM frequencies to the network in small to medium-sized towns (such as Angers, Poitiers, Valence).

1999 saw Radio France President Jean-Marie Cavada give Le Mouv' six months to improve the audience share, which in Toulouse, remained static at 0.6%. However other stations within the Radio France group were threatened with closure, especially several FIP stations outside Paris, for example FIP Lyon. Station manager Marc Garcia changed strategy by installing a new, stable schedule with a new musical format, centered on the new rock music scene, adding a new slogan, L'esprit rock (The spirit of rock), with the result of gaining a 1.8% share in the Toulouse area.

Radio France put in place a vast re-organisation of its frequencies for the year 2000. In its Plan Bleu it outlined, amongst other things, that Le Mouv' would be heard in larger markets, with significant university populations. Le Mouv's coverage area in the smaller towns of France were to be handed over to the France Bleu network of local stations, whilst FIP stations in the bigger cities were to be closed for Le Mouv'. Le Mouv' thus appeared in Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, as well as Ajaccio, Brest, Rennes and Valence. This suscitied a number of protests in the cities concerned. Audience share in Toulouse reached 3.4% by 2001. A new frequency for Clermont-Ferrand came on-air in November 2001, followed by strong protests from private radio groups. However Radio France announced the arrival of Le Mouv' in Paris, backed up by a visible marketing campaign. TDF Transmitter work aimed at improving Radio France network stations on FM made it possible to re-utilise frequencies already used by France Musiques. Le Mouv' started broadcasts in the Paris region on 6 December 2001 with its first private concert held in March 2002. This gave the station a potential coverage of 16 million people, with 100,000 listeners in its first set of results in 2003.

October 2002 marked the station's fifth birthday and a new logo for the network was unveiled. However, after five years at the helm station manager Marc Garcia left in 2002 to take another role within Radio France. A new frequency in the Lozère region was re-activated after indignation of the network being removed in favour of France Bleu Gard Lozère. Frédéric Schlesinger took over the running of Le Mouv' in 2003. In 2004 the station achieved its first national audience share of 1.1%, which is close to 550,000 listeners. The figure rose in 2005 with 650,000 national listeners and a 1.3% share. In Paris-Île-de-France it achieved a 1.3% share.

New frequencies for the station were opened in Montpellier in 2006, Bordeaux and Lorient 2007, Besançon and Rouen in 2008 and in Tours in 2010. Future frequencies have been cleared for Amiens, Grenoble, Annecy and Saint-Étienne. Le Mouv' launched its first La Mouv'Party tour, which took place in Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille and Bordeaux before ending in Paris on 7 March 2008. In 2009 le Mouv' launched its current website, offering audio on-demand for the first time.