Alouette Indie streams alternative rock, electronic pop and indie music, a digital-only web channel built out of Alouette, a radio network that has covered western France since the early 1980s. Press play on Radio Shuffle and it streams instantly, free, with no account or app download required.
Named after the hill its first transmitter stood on
Alouette's parent network launched as Alouette FM on 27 November 1981 in Les Herbiers, in the Vendée department, founded by Philippe de Villiers, who would go on to a career in French politics and later create the historical theme park Puy du Fou. The station takes its name directly from the Mont des Alouettes, the hill where its original transmitter was installed, a piece of local geography baked permanently into the brand. De Villiers handed control to his brother Bertrand de Villiers the following year, and Bertrand has remained president of the network ever since.
From donations to a real regional business
Alouette's earliest years ran on an associative model, funded by donations from individuals and local associations, including Puy du Fou itself. That changed at the end of 1984, when Alouette converted into an SARL and shifted its main income source to advertising, a transition that let the station grow well beyond a single Vendée transmitter. Today the network spans dozens of frequencies across Pays de la Loire, Brittany, Centre-Val de Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and Alouette now markets itself as the leading regional radio network in France.
A niche channel inside a regional giant
Alouette Indie exists alongside other digital spinoffs like Alouette Le Club and Alouette Nouveaux Talents, giving the wider network room to serve a specific alternative and indie audience without pulling those tracks away from its main regional FM programming. For a network built on serving a specific stretch of western France, a dedicated indie channel lets Alouette reach listeners chasing a particular sound nationwide, well beyond the Vendée hill its name still points back to.
Listen free on Radio Shuffle
Alouette Indie streams around the clock, and Radio Shuffle carries the feed live with nothing to install and no subscription required. Press play for alternative rock and indie pop from the digital arm of one of France's biggest regional radio networks.