I admit that this one, I did not see it coming. Maybe because I didn’t want her to come. At the end of his show, Sunday noon, on Ici Première, Michel Désautels announced that he was retiring at the end of this season, that is to say on June 18.
Boom!
He made this statement in a way that is totally true to his image: with elegance and humility.
He did so by first paying homage to this radio that he has loved ever since it took the form of a “little beige Bakelite box” in his childhood on rue Bélair. After telling his loyal listeners that studios, mics and consoles have changed a lot over time, he covered up his emotion and told them:
“What hasn’t changed is the joy I have in radio. I feel the same thrill today as when I opened my microphone the first time at CJBC, the French radio station in Toronto. […]. I never entered the office backwards. And let me tell you, I leave with a smile on my face. »
Michel Désaultels has been practicing this profession for 50 years, but he felt the need to bow out this year.
“Apart from aiming for 75, I don’t see much else,” he told me jokingly when I contacted him at his home. I love what I do, but there comes a time when it has to stop. »
Last year we witnessed a wave of departures (or transfers) on radio and television: Joël Le Bigot, Paul Houde, Pierre Bruneau, Denis Lévesque, Michel Lacombe, Denis Gagné, Pierre Therrien and Jacques Fabi is part of this movement. Some of these departures are still difficult to accept. You write to me regularly.
But I must admit that on Sunday afternoon, I said: “Ah no, not Désaultels! » well felt!
Michel Désautels assured me that he did not put his decision on hold last year so as not to aggravate the situation.
I believe we are witnessing a generational wave. Many of us are reaching retirement age at the same time. There were periods at Radio-Canada when there was little hiring. This is not the case at this time. In short, this is all normal.
Michel Desautels
Public radio is losing a pillar, there is no doubt. The director general of information, Luce Julien, described Michel Désautels as a “giant”. His colleague Manon Globensky quoted on Facebook the title of a famous poem by Walt Whitman: “O Captain! My captain! “.
His extreme rigor, his way of conducting interviews on extremely specific subjects without ever letting go of our hands and, above all, his great mastery of the French language, all of this will be terribly missed.
Speaking of language and words, Michel Désautels is used to starting his programs by addressing a subject of his choice that is not part of the two-hour menu. I asked him one day if these notes were written to the comma. He told me he prepares himself mentally, but once the mic is on, he defers to those who are listening.
Michel Désautels is in his tenth season of Desalts on Sunday, a weekly meeting that gives pride of place to international news, but also to many other subjects. The erudition of this animator favors this. He has always loved the world of culture and he has never been able to help bringing creators together around him.
He leaves the house in good order. The ratings of Desalts on Sunday have never been so good.
“At some point, a management decides they don’t like your face or the slot anymore, and that’s it. That’s not what’s happening. On the contrary, she never loved us as she loves us now. »
On Radio-Canada television, Michel Désautels was one of the magazine’s host-reporters Point. He was also the great host of The race around the world, The race of the Americas, The America-Africa Race And The Europe-Asia Race. Some will remember his daring daily talk show, Free studio.
In the 1980s, his reputation as a radio host took off with the show Homecoming Montreal Express. In the fall of 2013, he created Desalts on Sunday. For the past four years, he has also presented tickets to the morning show A whole morning.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Michel Desautels in 2016
Michel Désautels has published three books: Pierre Gauvreau – The three times of a peace (1997), as well as the novels Smileys (1998) and Next week I want to die (2000). He also intends to take advantage of his retirement to reconnect with writing.
The departure of Michel Désautels does not mean the end of a great Sunday meeting which casts a privileged look at the major current topics of the week. “I haven’t been told anything, but I am convinced that another program with the same mandate will replace ours. »
Michel Désautels takes with him a program that bore his name. But also and above all an incomparable know-how. As for his reassuring presence, it will be of the order of mourning.