It's the end of an open secret. Apolline de Malherbe, 40, will return to school on August 24, the chair occupied for nineteen years by Jean-Jacques Bourdin in the morning of RMC (also broadcast simultaneously on the RMC Découverte channel), as we evoked June 3. Her name had been circulating insistently for several weeks. Apolline de Malherbe, who took his first steps at RMC in 2007, has been the usual joker of Jean-Jacques Bourdin for three years.
The Altice group (RMC, BFMTV…) therefore bet on continuity by choosing a “house” voice and face to relaunch the section from 6 am to 8:30 am and promises “a new morning info” in a press release released on Tuesday. "Listeners and viewers will always be at the center of exchanges," said one.
The former correspondent of the chain in the United States and current host of "BFM Politics" each Sunday had already succeeded within the group to another emblematic journalist, Olivier Mazerolle, in 2013, by winning the political program.
RMC seeks a fresh start
For his part, Jean-Jacques Bourdin, 71, does not leave the station and retains his political interview at 8:35 am, which has become an obligatory stopping point and a landmark meeting two years before the presidential election. Last Thursday, the host also achieved his historic audience record by receiving the very media professor Didier Raoult, an interview followed by 1 million viewers (30.4% of the public present in front of the television).
The contract between Jean-Jacques Bourdin and the management was signed this Tuesday morning, after several weeks of discussions. “Since joining the group nineteen years ago, Jean-Jacques Bourdin has embodied excellence in information. Whether on RMC radio, then from the creation of BFMTV television or, later, from the RMC Découverte channel, Jean-Jacques Bourdin represents the essential values of journalism, and his link with his audience has never dried up, "the group said in a statement.
By entrusting the morning keys to Apolline de Malherbe, who will be surrounded by journalists and columnists, RMC is looking for a new start. This winter, the station had 3.5 million worshipers every day. 850,000 less than its record in November 2016. This appointment comes in a delicate social context within the group, after the presentation of a voluntary departure plan which would target 330 permanent employees and at least 180 freelancers and intermittent. After a strike on Sunday, depriving BFMTV of electoral evening, the journalists resumed work on Monday.