RCV99RCV99

RCV99 has been on air in Lille since 1981, one of the associative stations that came out of the French free-radio wave, and it has kept running the way it did then — on volunteers, with a remit to play what the commercial dial leaves alone. It has since moved to DAB+ across the city and online rather than on the FM frequency its name remembers, and it trades programmes with two networks of independent French stations, FERAROCK and FRANF. Roughly fifty shows fill the week, each one somebody's own idea.

The week runs cold wave and EBM with Dageist, ska and rocksteady from Selector DDay, liquid drum and bass with Diagg, a strictly-vinyl hour, metal broadcast live from a Lille venue, and a late slot given over to drone, ambient and noise. Jazz has its own hours, rap gets several separate shows, and the night closes on a playlist built for people who are not sleeping.