Radio PrimitiveRadio Primitive

It went on air in Reims in 1981, the year the French state stopped treating free radio as a crime, and the association behind it wrote éducation populaire into its purpose rather than leaving it as a slogan. More than forty volunteers keep 92.4 running and put on some two hundred and fifty workshops a year, with groups that start at nursery age and finish in care homes. It belongs to Férarock, the federation of independent French music stations, and takes its turn in the live marathons.

The music is picked by people, and the station says so plainly: no algorithm, and a deliberate detour around the obvious. Its most-played lists run French post-punk and noisy electronics into psych, garage and roots reggae, with self-released records sitting level alongside label ones. Première Écoute, No Pogo and Pop O'Clock carry the rest of the week.