"Everything was in place for me to come back": Max, the cult radio host of the 1990s, returns to RMC Gold

This is a time that those under twenty can't know. It sounds like an old-fashioned saying, but you had to be there, in the 1990s, when the liberation of the airwaves brought an innovative concept to the market in radio: open mic. Several people took the microphone to welcome listeners for several hours to talk about everything and nothing. We played musical pieces according to the host's wishes, as the water flowed, and that's how Maurice, Difool, and Max came into our lives.

Max was the voice of Fun Radio, the one we listened to religiously in the evenings in our room. And then in the early 2000s, Max took a step back from FM radio to become a announcer for the French football team, try his hand at television, and diversify. So when the news broke in February that Max's free-to-air program was returning to the schedule of the new digital radio station RMC Gold, our memories flooded back. Max is a reflection of positive nostalgia.

The free antenna has not changed

A return that takes several forms, with first of all a free-to-air show from Monday to Thursday between 10 p.m. and midnight as well as, every Friday, still between 10 p.m. and midnight, a musical show called La playlist de ta vie, in which guests from the world of music, cinema, sport or television, open up about their musical tastes by revealing their ideal playlist. "The format had to suit me for me to come back ," explains Max. "People were rocked by what I was able to do on Fun Radio and I always wanted to do free-to-air again. Here, with a radio stamped 1980s-90s, freedom, everything was aligned for it to happen."

But what is a free radio station in 2025? "It hasn't changed much, there's total freedom for two hours, without a commentator, with music that suits my mood, my desires. The times are more anxiety-provoking, so playing sounds from the 1980s and 90s helps soften our spirits. It's no coincidence that Nostalgie, Chérie FM, or RMC Gold work; people want to rediscover a bit of the old state of mind. Basically, the free radio station hasn't changed, it's just the gift package that's different."

Max is a craftsman of the airwaves. "I've always operated in a minimalist way. I only have two people with me on the show, there are no meetings, no columns, every night the show is different, taking a leap into the void... but with a rubber band. It's an organized mess that starts from a blank sheet of paper each night. Everything will depend on my mood, the listeners, the music I'm going to play and the music we're going to bounce off."

500,000 listeners per quarter of an hour at its peak

Between Max and the microphone, it's a love story. In 1989, while an intern at Fun Radio, he started by replacing on air one Friday evening. "I naively thought that you had to speak for 20 seconds every six pieces of music, I thought I had mastered it but I wasn't fluent, I didn't have the codes. A free antenna, you have to establish codes, an atmosphere, a sound, a tone, it's a lot of work" , continues the man who, quickly, would set up his cult show: Le Star System . At the height of his fame, Max's show attracted 500,000 listeners every quarter of an hour.

"Crazy numbers, that was before social media, we didn't measure our popularity. And since I liked mixing in nightclubs, we realized it in the evening, the rooms were full because I was there," he rewinds. After a decade of golden free radio, Max feels like he's done it. "We stopped peacefully, I was tired, washed out, I needed to do something else," he confides.

And then, over time, the desire to come back and speak freely into a microphone returned. "I like the idea of ​​introducing pieces of music to people; that's also what open communication is all about, sharing. For a long time, we were pioneers in electro music, and there are pieces that I never got tired of and that I loved introducing to the public," he concludes. His favorite? " Acid Eiffel ," a thirteen-minute piece that takes time to appreciate but has all the codes of the genre.