Stéphane Bern leaves Bolloré's Europe 1 radio station to join ICI and the public service

The arrival of the conservative royal expert on public broadcasting is cause for concern. Stéphane Bern is leaving Vincent Bolloré's Europe 1 station and will join ICI, Radio France's network of local stations, in the fall, the group announced in a press release on Monday, July 7.

Starting Monday, August 25, his daily column, Voyage dans le temps , will be broadcast from Monday to Friday at 7:55 a.m. on the 44 radio stations of the ICI network, formerly called France Bleu. "Each episode will tell a true story, often little-known, narrated with humor and wit, " punctuated "by sound illustrations," boasts the press release. This "joyfully erudite daily column, halfway between a history lesson and an audio comic strip" will offer "astonishing anecdotes, extravagant characters and real facts as delicious as they are improbable."

Having already been there in the 90s, Stéphane Bern has been on Europe 1 since 2020, first for the show Historiquement vôtre , then for Au cœur de l'histoire in the afternoon. "I loved it but writing 40 minutes of show per day took up a lot of my time. I was exhausting myself. As my television projects multiplied, I understood that I was at the end of this great adventure," the host explained in Le Parisien .

According to him, he also decided to join ICI after not being formally renewed in April by Europe 1, a radio station owned by the far-right billionaire . "We are leaving on very good terms with Europe 1. They were disappointed that I was leaving. Even Vincent Bolloré called me. He understood my choice," assured Stéphane Bern, who has also been a radio host on France Inter and RTL in the past.

" It makes sense for me to be back on public service," said the 61-year-old presenter. "With all the heritage programs I do, I was constantly in demand by ICI's local editorial teams. From Provence to the Loire Valley, they all call me, all the time !" he emphasizes.

He will therefore combine this new position with those he holds on the small screen, where he presents special programs on the public group France Télévisions, such as Le village favoris des Français , and plays the title role in the police series Bellefond on France 3.