Radio-AEF : Radio Brazzaville’s Forgotten Sister in French Equatorial Africa

French Equatorial Africa (Afrique-Équatoriale française, or AEF) was a federation of French colonial territories comprising Gabon, Middle Congo (present-day Republic of the Congo), Ubangi-Shari (present-day Central African Republic) and Chad. Administered from Brazzaville, it was home to Radio Brazzaville, which had helped maintain communications with France’s African territories and mobilise their populations in support of Free France during the Second World War.

After the war, Radio Brazzaville continued its role as an international broadcasting station while also operating a local service, Radio-AEF. Covering this vast territory, stretching from northern Chad to the Congo River, was, however, a considerable challenge.

The establishment of a local broadcasting service

According to the daily newspaper Combat, Radio-AEF was the result of a personal initiative by Bernard Cornut-Gentille, then Governor-General of French Equatorial Africa. The station was established by technicians from Radio-Brazzaville, the principal broadcasting station of the French Radio and Television Broadcasting Service (Radiodiffusion-télévision française, or RTF), which transmitted programmes from the federal capital to overseas audiences. Radio-AEF and its regional offshoot, Radio Tchad, came under the authority of the Governor-General, while their technical operations remained under RTF supervision.

Sources differ over the precise date on which Radio-AEF began broadcasting. An article presenting the project refers to a local broadcasting service whose first programmes reportedly went on air in October 1950. Combat, however, states that the station was completed in April 1951 and put into service on 19 April 1951 . Another article associates this date specifically with the beginning of broadcasts intended for African audiences. The most plausible interpretation is therefore that the station entered an initial phase of operation in late 1950, followed by the official launch of its broadcasts for African audiences on 19 April 1951.

This interpretation appears to be supported by the following extract from the Official Journal of French Equatorial Africa: “By an order dated 27 December 1950, a Programme Committee was established in Brazzaville for the local broadcasting service known as Radio AEF. The Committee was to meet once a month at the invitation of its chairman. It was responsible for advising on all matters relating to broadcasts and the composition of Radio-AEF’s programmes. The Committee was to be composed as follows: Chairman: The Director of the Governor-General’s Cabinet. Members: – The Director of Radio-Brazzaville; – The Head of the Social Affairs Department; – The Head of the Information Department; – The Inspector-General of Education; – The President of the Brazzaville Chamber of Commerce; – A representative of the Grand Council; – A representative of private cultural associations; – A representative of secular cultural associations.” Qualified individuals could also be called upon to provide technical advice. As one can see, there were rather too many institutional godparents gathered around the cradle.

What did Radio-AEF broadcast ?

The 10 March 1951 issue of L’Essor du Congo provides the most detailed programme schedule, expressed in local time. Daily broadcasts ran from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. and from 6:30 p.m. to 9:05 p.m., extending until 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays. On Sundays, programming began at 11:30 a.m. with a children’s programme, followed by a theatrical programme at 3:30 p.m. News bulletins were broadcast at 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Regular features covered the French Union, international affairs, French Equatorial Africa, neighbouring African countries, sport, official announcements and entertainment listings. These were supplemented by interviews, reports and commentary programmes. At precisely 9:00 p.m., the station broadcast the Pontoise time signal, followed by a brief stock-market report. The musical programming was remarkably eclectic, encompassing French popular songs, jazz, opera, musette, folk music, South American rhythms and cinema-organ music, among other genres.

The 1951 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) gives the same programme schedule in GMT and lists shortwave frequencies of approximately 6024, 9970 and 17840 kc. Programmes specifically intended for African audiences initially occupied a relatively modest place in the schedule. There were two 45-minute broadcasts per week, although plans were already being considered to increase this to one hour per day. Initially transmitted in French, these programmes were expected eventually to incorporate local African languages. As in the Belgian Congo, the question was still under consideration , with listener surveys being used to assess demand. Lingala was subsequently introduced.

On 1 January 1952, a daily programme for African audiences was launched, running from 6:20 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. It included music introduced in both French and Lingala, a feature on Savorgnan de Brazza marking the centenary of his birth, and a competition. Lari was also introduced as a second African language for station announcements. According to the WRTH, the station identified itself as Ici Radio AEF in French, Awa Radio AEF in Lingala and Zonza ni Radio AEF in Lari.

Reaching listeners through wired broadcasting and public loudspeakers

The high cost of radio receivers meant that Radio-AEF’s programmes remained beyond the reach of most African inhabitants. As early as 1951, the Grand Council had called for battery-powered receivers to be distributed. Two alternative systems were therefore devised.

Wired radio distribution. A central receiving station picked up the broadcast signal and retransmitted it through cables, in a system comparable to a telephone network, to individual loudspeakers. Listeners paid a modest subscription to access the service. Coverage was limited to a radius of approximately 600 to 700 metres around the central amplification station. Work began in Poto-Poto, with Bacongo and Pointe-Noire planned as subsequent locations.

Public loudspeakers. Loudspeakers connected to Radio-AEF were installed in public squares. Libreville already had one in 1951, while installations were planned for Pointe-Noire, Brazzaville, Fort-Archambault (present-day Sarh, Chad) and Bangui. A simplified system was envisaged for smaller towns. The public loudspeaker service was inaugurated on 1 January 1952 in the squares of Poto-Poto and Bacongo, two districts of Brazzaville, by the administrator-mayor. The assessment published by Combat in 1953 was particularly critical.

The first phase of the wired distribution network covered only Poto-Poto, reaching approximately one hundred listeners. Furthermore, the system, which would have required tens of millions of CFA francs to provide coverage for a single town, was very rarely operational. In Pointe-Noire, the public loudspeaker service lasted only a few months. Consequently, projects planned for Dolisie, Port-Gentil, Libreville, Bangui, Fort-Archambault and Abéché were abandoned before construction even began.

An unsustainable financial model

The newspaper also highlighted the financial difficulties facing the station. Cornut-Gentille had intended to finance Radio-AEF through advertising, which could account for up to 50% of broadcasting time. To this end, he established a branch of the Havas advertising agency in Brazzaville. However, the agency never succeeded in securing the approximately 5,000 advertisements required to make the scheme viable. The number of households equipped with radio receivers was too small, and the local advertising market was insufficiently developed. As a result, the annual deficit, amounting to several million CFA francs, had to be covered entirely by the Government-General’s administration.

Criticism of the programmes

Combat also criticised the station’s programming: repetitive records, texts taken from the Government-General’s official bulletin and poorly adapted to radio broadcasting, talks heavily influenced by official propaganda, and management entrusted to administrators lacking specialist broadcasting experience. The newspaper also questioned the choice of languages. Lingala, followed by Lari, was considered too geographically restricted for a federal broadcasting service. It suggested giving priority instead to Lingala and Bangala. Nevertheless, Combat acknowledged the value of the French-language lessons, history and geography programmes, domestic science instruction and medical talks delivered by Dr Merle.

The 1953 crisis and the compromise reached In August

1953, Combat reported that the abolition of Radio-AEF had just been decided during a visit to Paris by High Commissioner Paul Chauvet, in agreement with the French Radio and Television Broadcasting Service (RTF). Thompson and Adloff, in their book The Emerging States of French Equatorial Africa, provide an account of the subsequent developments. The RTF denounced its agreement with the federal government, arguing that the two local stations were causing it to incur financial losses. Members of the Grand Council considered that the annual subsidy of 17 million CFA francs exceeded the financial capacity of the federal budget and was excessive in view of the mediocre quality of Radio-AEF’s six hours of daily broadcasting. They were prepared to discontinue Radio Tchad, which they regarded as a poor and highly localised means of disseminating news and propaganda.

However, they wished to preserve Radio-AEF, provided that its programmes could be made more effective and less costly. Following lengthy negotiations in Paris, the RTF eventually agreed to accept an annual subsidy of 10 million CFA francs in return for two hours of daily broadcasting, together with improvements to the station’s technical facilities and programme content. The poor state of radio reception helps explain the severity of the Grand Council’s criticism. In 1953, Radio-AEF could be received clearly only in the Brazzaville region. Reception was non-existent in Pointe-Noire (Congo), poor in Gabon and weak in Ubangi (present-day Central African Republic). The abolition announced by Combat therefore never took effect: Radio-AEF survived as a result of the compromise.

The introduction of African languages

According to Thompson and Adloff, the reforms came into effect in 1954, accompanied by a change of wavelength and broadcasting schedule: 6:30 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 9:30 p.m. local time. The 1956 1957 WRTH confirms a two-part schedule, with broadcasts from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. GMT, corresponding to 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time. It also lists a 50 kW transmitter operating on 9625 kc, intended to serve the northern part of French Equatorial Africa. The programmes gradually incorporated a wider range of African languages.

By 1956, broadcasts included Lingala, Sango (Central African Republic), Munukutuba/Kituba (Congo), Fang (Gabon and Congo) and Sara (Chad). A network of local correspondents was established in the three southern territories to speed up the gathering and transmission of news. New regular features were also introduced.

Three programmes became the mainstays of the station: L’Afrique vous parle (Africa Speaks to You): broadcast twice weekly and devoted to local news from across the Federation. A daily 15-minute news bulletin: covering international affairs. L’Heure africaine (African Hour): combining African music, traditional tales, educational talks and sports. The WRTH provides further details of the schedule, including a time signal (5:45 5:50 p.m. GMT), a weather bulletin at 7:00 p.m., religious programmes on Sundays (Catholic and Protestant) and a reading of the Quran on Fridays. The schedule also included relays of Radio-Brazzaville news bulletins, listeners’ record requests and a correspondence programme entitled Je sais tout (I Know Everything). The latter was broadcast in Sango on Tuesdays, Munukutuba on Fridays and Lingala on Saturdays. In 1958, a magazine programme entitled Actualités Magazine was added to the schedule on Wednesdays.

A special case : Radio Tchad

From 1951 onwards, Radio Tchad operated as an extension of Radio-AEF, broadcasting on 15595 kc in Arabic and local languages for the Muslim populations of Chad. Its broadcasts were scheduled from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. GMT. An article published in January 1952 noted that Radio Tchad was already broadcasting regularly in the language of the northern territory . The station’s programmes were produced in Brazzaville, but reception in Chad was considered poor.

In 1955, the construction of a new broadcasting station at Fort-Lamy (present-day N’Djamena) relieved Radio-AEF of the responsibility for broadcasting programmes to Chad. The new station’s programming followed a format similar to that of Radio-AEF, with broadcasts in French, Arabic and Sara. The 1957 WRTH listed Radio Tchad as a separate government broadcasting station based in Fort-Lamy, operating on 3288 kc with a transmitter power of 4 kW. Its director was G. Violante. In 1958, the number of weekly broadcasts increased from 37 to 50, and the station was receiving more than 400 letters per month.

Who was listening ?

A rough estimate suggests that the total number of radio receivers throughout French Equatorial Africa probably did not exceed 25,000. Most were concentrated in the hands of Europeans and a small number of relatively privileged Africans. Public loudspeaker systems remained confined to the federal and territorial capitals. Lack of financial resources meant that the free distribution of battery-powered receivers, as requested by the Grand Council, could be carried out only for cultural associations.

From Radio-AEF to Radio Inter-Équatoriale

As French Equatorial Africa moved towards independence and its transformation into four separate republics (Chad, the Central African Republic, Congo and Gabon), each territory sought to establish its own national broadcasting service. In June 1959, the four Prime Ministers agreed to retain Radio-AEF under the new name Radio Inter-Équatoriale and to coordinate their programmes. At the same time, national broadcasting stations began to emerge. Radio Gabon started experimental broadcasts in July 1959, followed by Radio Congo the following month.