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GAP, France — For 25 years, Thierry Masselis has been on air at Alpes 1. But nothing in his background suggested this child of the sea would leave the Opal Coast beaches for the snow-capped peaks of the Hautes-Alpes. Nor did anything suggest he’d work in radio at all.
As far back as he can remember, Masselis has always been passionate about music. He was born on Jan. 10, 1963, in Boulogne-sur-Mer near Calais, where his father ran a fishing company in Étaples-sur-Mer. “Music was an all-consuming passion,” says Masselis. “I spent all my money on 45s and cassettes as a kid. After getting expelled from every school in Pas-de-Calais, I became a DJ.” His career began in 1981 at the turntables of former disco Key West in nearby Touquet-Paris-Plage when he was only 18. Two years later, the town’s mayor, Léonce Deprez, known for transforming the town into a wealthy seaside resort, decided to launch a radio station, Touquet Temps Libre, or TTL.
“To launch the station, he called in Aline Saint-Léger, who was then producing Anne-Marie Peysson’s show on RTL. She arrived in January 1983 to get the station on air by February. “It wasn’t like it is today,” remembers Masselis. “We had to find volunteers to fill the programming. She turned to local DJs, and when she contacted me, I told her I’d never work in radio!”
Alpes 1 is the leading local music station in the Hautes-Alpes and the second most popular station across all formats.
The first taste of the mic
At the time, Masselis was known for beat-matching, not speaking on the mic. “I was one of the few DJs who didn’t talk,” he says, but that was to change. “One day, a host set me up and got me to speak. I listened to the recording and didn’t think I was that bad!” After that, he reconsidered, called Saint-Léger back and joined the new station as a volunteer. “That lasted two years. Then I was hired part-time for six months and then full-time.” He moved from on-air host to program manager and later to station manager. “The station was housed in the Touquet belfry and was very local, but it eventually obtained two new frequencies — in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Montreuil-sur-Mer — requiring a name change.”
In 1993, TTL became Opalis, the Opal Coast radio station. Masselis reached out to a friend of a friend, Laurent Hongne (now head of radio for the Secom group). “We restructured the station and created a distinct format and sound with help from Nicky Damiens, who gave us a phenomenal sound. We got a new audio package produced in Belgium and hired Arnaud Leducq, who is now with Delta FM. We went silent in July–August 1994 ahead of the new format launch.” Despite their efforts audience numbers stayed low initially, with only 7,000 daily listeners. “Laurent assured me there was a lag, and we’d need a year.” By the end of 1994, Opalis had reached 25,000 daily listeners and 45,000 the following year. Things looked promising for the station, but fate had other plans. Later that year, after 25 years as mayor, Deprez lost the municipal election to Philippe Cotrel, who refused to renew the station’s licenses. “He was intent on dismantling what his predecessor had built,” says Masselis. And so Opalis went off-air. The frequencies were redistributed to Contact FM and Radio 6, and Masselis found himself looking for work. “I saw an ad on Minitel for a position at Alpes 1 looking for a host. I was hired on May 15, 1999.”
A move to the mountains
Alpes 1 is a private station in Hautes-Alpes — the heart of the French Alps — founded by Jean-Marc Passeron in 1993. In 2000, LV&Co, which already owned MFM and Voltage, bought the station, but the CSA blocked a national group from acquiring the local station. In 2004, Espace Group acquired Alpes and appointed Masselis station manager. Today, Alpes 1 is the leading local music station in the Hautes-Alpes and the second most popular station across all formats, following France Inter and NRJ. The station also performs well online, reaching 800,000 unique visitors in June, making it the third most popular Espace Group station behind M Radio and Générations. Three journalists deliver 15 local news slots daily, a guest segment and various local features. “Local news is our showcase,” says Masselis. “The morning show is the starter that launches the day. We emphasize local coverage in every time slot. Proximity makes a local station work, and the quality of information is essential!”
The author is a correspondent for sister publication La Lettre Pro.
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