Building an Imperial Broadcasting Network as the Empire Disintegrated – The Birth of Radio in the French sub-Saharan African Colonies during Decolonization

ABSTRACT Whereas France owned the second most important empire in the world in 1945, the colonial domination paradoxically leaned very little on radio broadcasting. It was not until 1954 that the French governement, under the impulsion of Pierre Schaeffer, inventor of the “musique concrète,” launched a strong effort to build an overseas broadcasting network. However, that lasting endeavor took place while the French African colonies went into a phase of quick evolution toward independence. It immediately challenged the radiophonic project that colonial authorities had designed and forced French and Africans stakeholders to adapt their strategy according to the new context.