The choice of Sibyle Veil to replace Laurence Bloch ultimately fell on Vincent Meslet, a man who made his career in the world of television. The CEO of Radio France announced, Thursday June 6, the appointment of the current general director of Newen Studios to take over from the director of antennas and editorial strategy of the public group. “A great media professional, a great designer of offers and content, a great servant of the public service, he will write a new page alongside us”rejoiced Mme Veil, in an email sent to his teams.
The former director of France Inter announced, Thursday May 30 on Xleave Radio France after fifty years of career, confirming information from Telerama. “Another life awaits me but I will never forget you and I will always defend radio, wherever I am”had written Mme Bloch, 71, who will leave his post as of 1er July for “enforce your retirement rights”. “Radio France owes you so much (…) Thank you for these fifty years, for your audacity, your modernity and your unfailing commitment”replied Mme Veil on the same network.
Producer of successful soap operas
The first woman to head France Inter, Laurence Bloch allowed France Inter to become the leading radio station in France in 2019, at the expense of RTL. A place that it still retains today.
Aged 57, Vincent Meslet is the producer of the successful soap operas More beautiful life And Here it all begins, he has headed the powerful production company Newen – a subsidiary of the TF1 group – since January 2021. However, this content man, considered one of the best French program bosses, knows public service well. He was program director of France 3 for six years (2005-2011), then editorial director of Arte for four years (2011-2015), before briefly being director of France 2 during the 2015-2016 season. He was dismissed by the president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, in a context of low ratings in October 2016.
Mr. Meslet is due to arrive at the Maison de la Radio this summer, without a specific date at the moment.
These face changes within the management of public radio occur in the context of the proposed merger of public audiovisual companies (France Télévisions, Radio France, the National Audiovisual Institute and France Médias Monde) led by the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati. The examination of the bill providing for a merger of public broadcasting on January 1, 2026 is scheduled for June 24 in the National Assembly.