Passionate journalist, for more than 10 years, I have been carrying out investigations, portraits, reports or interviews.
After sixty years on RTL, Philippe Bouvard is preparing to hang up his phone. The former emblematic face of “Grosses Têtes” announced that he would officially retire on January 1, 2025, at the age of 95. Above all, the nonagenarian will be able to be proud of breaking the world record for longevity in the media sector and more precisely in radio.
At 94, Philippe Bouvard announces his retirement: he has officially set the date and will break a “world record”
See all 16 photos
The rest after the ad
He finally decided to hang up. Radio host Philippe Bouvard announced this Sunday June 23, 2024 in his weekly column that he will officially retire on January 1st, at the age of 95. After more than sixty years spent within the same company (the RTL radio station), the nonagenarian will beat a “world record” in the media sector according to the station. If he refused to retire for a long time, even after being removed from the animation of the Big heads which he conceded despite himself to Laurent Ruquier in 2014, Philippe Bouvard intends to take it for a few weeks after blowing out his 95th candle.
“There is a temptation, which is not a temptation of laziness, but a temptation of record, it is to go until January 1st, it will not be bad enough, and then to listen to the others and to be silent”, explained Philippe Bouvard in his Sunday column. Indeed, on January 1, 2025, Philippe Bouvard will leave radio by establishing two world records: that of 60 years spent in radio, and that of 60 years spent in the same radio station.
The exceptional professional career of Philippe Bouvard
Philippe Bouvard’s career is something to dream about, and should not be beaten any time soon. Arriving at Radio Luxembourg in 1965, he was one of those who participated in the baptism of RTL in 1966. In 1977, he saw his career explode when he launched The Big Headswhich becomes in a few years the most listened to radio show in France. Dismissed from hosting in September 2014 at the age of 84, he was relegated on weekends to hosting a new show dedicated to listeners, called Hello Bouvard. The show ended after seven seasons, in July 2020. Since then, Philippe Bouvard played an editorial post of approximately five minutesscheduled every Sunday at 6:40 a.m., and baptized In my humble opinion.
Iconic on radio, Philippe Bouvard is just as emblematic on television. In 1982 we owe him the show The Bouvard Theatera comedy show which allows the emergence of a number of comic personalities, such as Mimie Mathy, Michèle Bernier, Chevallier and Laspalès, and the troupe of the Unknownswhom he will have convicted in court a few years later.
Philippe Bouvard also collaborated with many written presses. In 1952, he started his career as a courier for Le Figaro. He obtained his very first press card the following year, then became deputy general director of the media. In 1973, he left Le Figaro For France-Soirand became its editor-in-chief until 1998. He was also an advisor for The Express, columnist for Paris Match or Pointand more recently Nice morningwith whom he collaborated from 2003 to 2017.
Évelyne Dhéliat still has more under her belt
If Philippe Bouvard is preparing to obtain the world record for the number of years spent on radio and in the same radio station, he remains well ahead of the record holder for the longest permanent contract in the world. Indeed, Walter Orthmann broke the world record for the longest career within the same company, according to the Guinness Book of Records, with 84 years on the clock ! Note that Evelyne Dhéliat could well beat Philippe Bouvard’s record, since next January, the latter will celebrate its 50th anniversary at TF1. She holds the record for the longest CDI on French television… but will she beat Bouvard’s record? Nothing is less sure.