Pierre Bellanger: “The future is ours”

This is the (English-language) text of a speech made by Pierre Bellanger, founder and president of Skyrock, the French radio network, at the Paris Radio Show on Jan 29, 2025. It’s reproduced with his permission; I’ve made some stylistic edits.

Alright, we’re among friends here, so let’s be honest with each other. There’s no point in hiding it.

It’s over.

People are leaving us. The young have already gone. We can’t compete.

They’re doing whatever they want. They’re breaking the system. They don’t play by our rules. In fact, they have no rules at all.

They’ve invented new forms of advertising and are raking it in. Everything starts with them; we’re just following along. It’s all about them now.

We’re left with the older folks — and soon, nothing at all. So, we’re doomed.

What am I talking about? Radio, of course.

But what kind of radio? I’m talking about the radio of the 1930s, the radio of the 1960s, FM radio from the ’70s, ’80s, and beyond… I’m talking about what we did to other media and to the system back then.

In the 1930s, radio delivered news before newspapers could even go to print. It was theend of the press!

Radio broadcast concerts without people having to leave their homes — it was the end of live performances!

It aired recorded music for free — it was the end of orchestras! The end of music itself!

And advertisers flocked to it. The voice of a presenter was far more captivating than a printed ad.

Then came the 1960s—oh, it was wild! Young people were obsessed — hallucinating, intoxicated by this dangerous, perverse music they listened to all day on these new devices they couldn’t part with, not even while sleeping: the transistor radio!

Then FM radio arrived — first in America, then in Italy, and finally in France. That was it: game over! Everyone had a voice; everyone listened to everyone else; everyone spoke their mind.

And this newfound freedom? It was dangerous!

And all that music from everywhere — from the suburbs, from America — and that vulgarity! Have you heard how they talk? Do you even understand what they’re saying?

That was us: that’s you. That’s our radio stations.

From small villages to big cities, we changed lives - our listeners’ lives — and we changed the world.

And now a new world is upon us. We dreamed of freedom. Now that it’s here, some are scared and don’t want it anymore.

Let’s take a moment to remember the world we’re leaving behind. We do radio because we love people — our audiences — all so different, yet honoring us with their time and joy as they listen to us.

But achieving this simplicity has always required acrobatics: regulations, constraints… how do you explain to future generations that some of the most popular radio stations were banned in certain cities by government regulator decisions?

No, my daughter — it wasn’t the Middle Ages; yes, my son — the internet already existed back then.

Ah yes — the internet. We were like fish in an aquarium — always surrounded by the same crowd. Everything around us was changing — but not us.

Like an immortal family, we kept fighting amongst ourselves for a few points of audience share. So much effort for something so valuable!

Then suddenly, our aquarium was plunged into the vast ocean of networks — and disaster struck. We were champions in a world of scarcity; are we now destined to lose in a world of abundance?

Video games, consoles, Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0… MP3s… streaming… social media platforms… mobile devices… Wi-Fi… Bluetooth… headphones… blockchain… NFTs… podcasts… and now AI. Enough already.

Only DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) offers some reassurance. Licence applications, limited frequency space, and special receivers just for digital radio. It’s digital, but as if nothing had changed. (Well, except it’s better in cars.)

As for us? We face boundlessness. A metamorphosis. The unknown.

How can we react any differently than a deer caught in headlights? That is our shared challenge — the challenge for radio as much as for society and indeed for the entire world.

Marshal Foch used to teach his students at military school always to start with this question: “What is it about?” Before seeking solutions, you must clearly define the problem.

So, what is the internet? The internet is an automation of information distribution — it’s fundamentally about distribution.

And what is radio? Radio is a living sound presence — a vibrant companion in our lives today. Does this need for auditory companionship, with its music, news, entertainment, shared laughter and emotions, still exist?

Yes! Why? Because even against the infinite competition posed by the internet, more than two-thirds of people still tune into about a thousand programmes every day — including over half of today’s younger generation, the first generation raised entirely with the web.

Yes: it has declined since those days when we stood alone at center stage. But if we weren’t unique or essential or indispensable, we’d have vanished long ago.

While television shifts from linear broadcasting to on-demand consumption, upending its entire model: for audio content, live streams remain king with audiences. And live streaming means radio.

Sound is everywhere now: every mobile device is audio-enabled—and therefore also radio-enabled. Three-quarters of people own headphones or earbuds; they can listen to us anywhere.

Yes: we’re here, alive and kicking! Alive, with hearts beating strong!

So, what’s our problem?

It lies in how we perceive ourselves. A classic example often cited is that of American railroad companies at the dawn of aviation in the early 20th century. These companies saw themselves as railroad businesses rather than transportation businesses. Had they understood their true identity, they might today be among the world’s leading airlines.

As for us, we are not defined by our transmitters or frequencies. We are not our distribution systems. We are human connections at scale.

The digital ocean isn’t an enemy to our analogue aquarium. It’s an amplifier. A force multiplier beyond anything we could have imagined.

Yes, the battle is asymmetrical: on one side stand global corporations with unlimited resources, self-measuring success using unverifiable metrics skewed in their favor; dictating rules while offering extraordinary services.

But we mustn’t imagine fighting against them. Instead, as Chinese wisdom advises, we must ride the tiger.

And that’s exactly what radio stations have done: embracing these tools fully.

A radio station I know well has more connections with today’s younger generation by blending radio with online networks than it ever did during those bygone days when transistors hid under pillows.

The world has never been so vast — and never have we had so many opportunities. Automated distribution magnifies our unique strengths, and showcases our teams’ brilliance.

For advertisers too, the ROI from radio remains magical: and will become even more so as our stations diversify into multidimensional formats enriched by network effects.

Through networks, all our IP-based contacts will one day be addressable. We combine media power with network precision!

There are no “traditional” media - that’s a joke. We are formidable mutants strengthened by history, and radio stations are the audio engines driving our era forward.

Let me close on a historical note.

At the end of the 15th century, maritime exploration disrupted Venice’s monopoly over trade routes between Europe and Asia. Venice was landlocked within the Adriatic Sea, and it faced threats from Ottoman forces. But through its power and alliances, it could have ventured into uncharted oceans instead. It chose not to, and began its decline.

Spain however embraced those unknown seas. Cádiz rose as Europe’s gateway for centuries thereafter.

We are not Venice. We are Cádiz! Cádiz empowered by infinite networks.

We stand at the beginning of another new beginning. This moment is extraordinary: and so many among us are already thriving.

The future is ours.