In France, RTL is a popular nation-wide commercial radio network owned by the RTL Group. In 1931, Radio Luxembourg, the public radio network from Luxembourg, was privatised. Beginning in 1946, it could be heard easily in France. Until the 1980s, only the French public radio networks could transmit from France itself. Radio Luxembourg was one of private "peripheral" networks transmiting from abroad (actually, just on the northeast border of France). Quickly, Radio Luxembourg gained a large audience in France. In the 1960s, it was faced with the success of another peripheral network from Germany, Europe 1, which adopted a modern tone and conquered a young audience. In 1966, Radio Luxembourg reacted and became RTL. During the May 1968 crisis, the French public radio networks were on strike and TV was not independent from the government. RTL and Europe 1 were the main ways of obtaining independent information for the French people. They were nicknamed "barricades radio". In 1981, under François Mitterrand, privately run radio stations were finally allowed to broadcast in France. RTL, now broadcasting in France mostly at 104.3 MHz, was the radio network with the most listeners from 1981 to 2002. Since 2000, it has gone through a crisis. Indeed, in order to stop the aging of RTL's audience, station managers imposed a lot of changes which have annoyed many listeners. From 2000 to 2002, RTL lost the third of its listeners. then became second behind NRJ. In november 2006, it took back the head of the French radios chart.
RTL notably features a very popular daily talk show named Les Grosses Têtes, which has been broadcast since 1977. Other "historical" broadcasts existed on RTL:
- Stop ou Encore, a musical broadcast
- Hit Parade, a musical chart
- La Valise RTL, a game
- Le Grand Jury, a political broadcast
- Le Journal Inattendu, a news bulletin and a magazine conceived by a guest
- RTL Matin, the morning news session
