Rémi Jacob with Juline Garnier
After 25 years of broadcasting, the underground culture program bows out. The Franco-German channel made a point of justifying its decision by declaring that it will soon offer “a new, enriched digital concept and a new, tighter air date around special themed numbers”.
End clap for tracks, the flagship program of the Arte television channel on underground cultures. This one will disappear after 25 years of diffusion, in any case in its current form. Broadcast on Friday evenings, it was like a UFO in the PAF and explored all forms of culture, from hip-hop to street art, including video games. A decision that seems suffered by its historical writing.
Disappointed editors
“Our first reaction was sadness because it’s true that it cut our legs a bit. We felt like we still had a lot of work to do and that he was precious because he there is less and less space in the mainstream media for the cultures we are dealing with”, explains David Combe, editor-in-chief of tracks.
“Showing these cultures was even the primary function of this program. It was not there to criticize or make the hit parade, but it was there to provoke vocations and show that the world was much larger than we believe and than what the small screen sometimes shows us,” he adds.
Towards a redesign of the program?
With his colleague Jean-Marc Barbieux, David Combe says, despite his sadness, to understand the decision of the chain. Contacted by Europe 1 this Sunday, Arte explains that the brand will continue to exist despite everything and be broadcast on Friday, supplied in particular by the German teams.
A reflection is underway to propose “a new enriched digital concept and a new meeting on the air tightened around special themed numbers”, according to the channel.