Veil elected President of EBU Radio Committee.
Radio France's Sibyle Veil was elected president of the new EBU Radio Committee at the 29th Radio Assembly in Athens. She has been President and CEO of Radio France since 2018.
"In a rapidly changing environment, public service media face many common challenges, especially in terms of ensuring our brand awareness in the new digital world and reaching all audiences, especially the younger generations."
Sibyle Veil
She paid tribute to her predecessor as Chair of the Radio Committee, Graham Ellis of the BBC, noting the tremendous work he had done in his ten years in that position.
Priorities for cooperation
As the new Radio Committee begins its two-year term, Ms. Veil highlighted four areas where cooperation is essential.
First, the need to ensure a prominent place in new digital spaces, especially connected cars and virtual assistants.
Second, the transformation of public service radio, both in terms of production methods and distribution strategies.
Third, it aims to re-engage and renew audiences by ensuring that the programming offered is relevant to their daily lives.
Finally, she emphasized the possibility of capitalizing on the high level of public trust in radio as a means of addressing the problem of mass disinformation.
Sharing her views on the biggest challenges for public service radio in the coming years, she emphasized an expansion of the medium from radio to audio:
"This requires an evolution of our production methods, which must become hybrid, of our digital transformation, which must be ambitious, and of our ability to initiate innovation. These are the changes in skills, tools and organization that are needed to turn our company around."
Sibyle Veil
Veil was reappointed as director general of Radio France in December 2022. When she was appointed in 2018, she became the first woman to hold the position since Michèle Cotta in 1981. She had previously served as the organization's director of operations, having joined Radio France in 2015 after a decade in senior roles in government.
She is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies and ENA (Ecole Nationale d'Administration). From 2019 to 2021, she chaired the association Les Médias Francophones Publics, which includes 12 media groups from French-speaking countries.
"We are very pleased to welcome Sibyle Veil as the new Chairperson of the EBU Radio Committee. Having a seasoned leader from a successful and innovative broadcaster is a great asset for the years to come where we will face many challenges, especially in the digital space, and it will be of great importance to work even more closely as an industry at the international level.
We are truly grateful for the incredible work and energy that Graham Ellis has invested in the radio community over five terms as Chair of the Radio Committee. His significant contributions, particularly in the areas of radio distribution, securing DAB devices in cars, and promoting radio and representing the radio community at a high level, have brought many benefits to the entire radio industry. We are delighted that Graham will remain on the Committee and that there is a natural continuity between his work and what Sibyle will bring to his new role."
Edita Kudláčová, Director of EBU Radio