Radio FG is a French-language radio station that began broadcasting from Paris on 98.2 MHz in the FM band in 1981. It is France's first radio station that broadcasts deep house and electro house music. The station's current playlist is house, dance, R&B and electronica alongside several American hip-hop songs broadcast from time to time.
History
Radio FG was founded in 1981 as a community radio rooted in the Parisian gay scene and in support of the gay community. The 'FG' initials were said to vary in meaning from "Fréquence Gaie" to "Futur Génération" to "Filles et Garçons". During its initial four years of broadcasting, the station faced financial struggles as well as internal conflicts, but managed to survive. As time went by, the station, facing an identity crisis, distanced itself from its social activism and re-defined itself as a dedicated electronic music station. In 2001 Radio FG abandoned its community radio status to become a private radio station. In September 2003 Radio FG became known as FG DJ Radio and broadened its spectrum of music to include R'n'B and Raï music. Mixshows originally accounted for 30-50 percent of the entire broadcast week. It now only accounts for 10 percent. Today, the station broadcasts throughout the Parisian suburbs and in other major cities around France. In September 2004 the radio started a free webradio service called Underground FG. The station devotes 24 hours a day a mix of house, techno and dance music, alongside older mixes that already aired on Radio FG. The website now offers 7 different live streams: FG DeepDance, FG Undrgrnd, Club FG, FG Remix, FG House Chic, and FG Dance by Hakimakli; along with a 6-hour-delayed stream of its main station called FG +6H targeted to its North American audience. There's also a version of the regular FG DJ Radio for Belgium now: Radio FG Belgique. Formerly streams are Vintage FG and Energy Burnmix FG. In about February 2017, Radio FG decided to replace non-stop overnight music by non-stop rebroadcasts of interviews airing on the drivetime show "Happy Hour FG" with Antoine Baduel. The reason for this change is still unknown, but it could be necessary to save money, especially because Mediametrie doesn't look a lot after the midnight-5 am slot. This raises concerns for the station's listeners, especially Radio FG is an electronic music station. However, Radio FG is not the first music station have to do so. NRJ also carries a mostly-speech output from 8 pm to 6 am, and Fun Radio, another electronic station, plays far less music from 8 pm to midnight every weeknight.
