Author: Benjamin Zenner

This 1968 caricature mimics the appearance of General De Gaulle, with the French national broadcasting agency ORTF as his torso. The artist labbelled the arms 'RTL' and 'Europe 1', indicating that the French authorities used these foreign stations as propaganda tools to influence public opinion in their favour, both abroad and at home. While it is true that much of the capital behind Radio Luxembourg came from France, there is debate as to how far French influence reached within the station. (Image from Gallica, see: http://goo.gl/iPBYrs)
This 1968 caricature mimics the appearance of General De Gaulle, with the French national broadcasting agency ORTF as his torso and foreign stations RTL and Europe 1 as arms reaching out. (Image source: Gallica/BNF, see: http://goo.gl/iPBYrs)

 

Conventional wisdom has it that whoever pays the piper calls the tune. When the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (CLR) took to the airwaves in 1931, much of the necessary capital came from French investors, mostly from the little-known yet influential Havas agency. Established in 1835, Havas is the oldest news agency in the world.

After World War II, Havas was nationalised by the French state. Until its privatisation in 1987, the company was a powerful tool for the French authorities to influence broadcasting at home and abroad. As aluded to in the caricature above, the French were interested in having francophile broadcasting stations (the so called ‘stations périphériques‘) in the neighbouring countries to make their voice heard around Europe.

While much of the capital behind RTL and its precursor stations came from France, the French authorities were never directly in control of the broadcasts. In fact, all Luxembourgish broadcasting stations were required to be politically neutral by law. Nonetheless, there have been a series of disputes between France, Luxembourg and the CLR about politically delicate topics, for instance about the 1958 Algerian crisis.

 

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The Paris headquarters of Havas in 1944. After the liberation of Paris in August 1944, the agency was nationalised because it had been cooperating with the Vichy regime. As Havas was a major investor in the CLR, this meant that the French state now had some extent of influence in the company – just how much remains a debated issue. (Image source: AFP, see: http://goo.gl/bzJ1iH)
The Paris headquarters of Havas in 1944. After the liberation of Paris in August that year, the agency was nationalised because it had been cooperating with the Vichy regime. As Havas was a major investor in the CLR, this meant that the French state now had some extent of influence in the company – just how much remains a debated issue. (Image source: AFP, see: http://goo.gl/bzJ1iH)

 

 

Born in 1783, Charles-Louis Havas founded his news agency in 1835, making it the first news agency in the world. It was later split up into several parts, one of which became the Agence France Presse (AFP) in 1944. (Image Source: http://goo.gl/AjPJxl).
Born in 1783, Charles-Louis Havas founded his news agency in 1835, making it the first news agency in the world. It was later split up into several parts, one of which became the Agence France Presse (AFP) in 1944. (Image Source: http://goo.gl/AjPJxl).

 

 

This was the room at Havas headquarters where the telegraph lines from around the country arrived. Telegraphy accelerated information flows. Without its spread, the success of news agencies of Havas would have been unthinkable. (Image source: http://goo.gl/QlUXeh).
This was the room at Havas headquarters where the telegraph lines from around the country arrived. Telegraphy accelerated information flows. Without its spread, the success of news agencies such as Havas would have been unthinkable. (Image source: http://goo.gl/QlUXeh).

 

 

Literature:

On the history of the Havas agency proper, see:

Lefébure, Antoine. Havas: Les arcanes du pouvoir, Paris: Grasset, 1992.

 

For information on the Havas agency’s (and more generally of French investors’) importance in the history of the CLR/CLT and later RTL, see:

David Dominguez Muller. Radio-Luxembourg: Histoire d’un média privé d’envergure européenne. PhD diss.: University Paris IV, 2001.

Denis Maréchal. RTL, 1933-1993: Un média au coeur de l’Europe, Paris: Editions Serpenoise, 1994.

 

David Dominguez Muller also wrote two interesting articles for the magazine ‘Ons Stad’, published in Luxembourg City. They are available online:

RTL: station périphérique au rôle central

(A)politiquement vôtre