Guillaume Durand

About Guillaume Durand

Initially a history and geography teacher, he became a journalist at Europe 1 in 1978, first as a reporter and then as a news flash presenter. Deputy editor-in-chief responsible for the 8 a.m. news, then the 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. slot.

In 1987, he joined La Cinq, owned by Silvio Berlusconi and Robert Hersant, to present the 8 p.m. news until 1991. He then served as deputy director of the newsroom at the continuous news channel LCI from June 1994 to June 1997. Simultaneously, he hosted LMI, the major political program on TF1.

After this journalism career, he became a talk show host. He presented and produced Nulle part ailleurs on Canal+ from September 1997 to June 1999. He claims he was “dismissed in a brutal and intolerable manner” by Canal+’s program director, Alain de Greef, and the head of the newsroom, Bernard Zekri. This dismissal led him to publish an essay, La Peur Bleue, in which he reveals the “maneuvers and drifts” of this private channel.

In the fall of 1999, he returned to Europe 1 to present a series of interviews from Monday to Friday between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Simultaneously, in September 2001, he joined the channel France 2 to host a literary magazine Campus, the magazine of writing, as well as Trafic.musique starting in October 2002.

In September 2004, he left Europe 1 to conduct a daily interview on the channel I>Télé, while continuing his two programs on France 2. In the fall of 2005, the program, which follows La Grande Édition (a 30-minute news program presented by Harry Roselmack), was renamed La Grande Édition, la suite to be broadcast from Monday to Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. On Fridays, Guillaume Durand presents Le Franc Parler at 7:20 p.m., a 40-minute interview with a political figure broadcast live and simultaneously on I>Télé and France Inter, in partnership with the weekly Le Point. He stopped presenting Le Franc Parler in January 2006, as at that time, his two programs on France 2 were merged into a new version of Campus broadcast every Friday night live at 10:30 p.m.

At the end of the 2005/2006 season, he left I>Télé (where he was replaced by Thomas Hugues) due to an exclusivity clause with France 2. In September 2006, he created the show Esprits libres on France 2, which replaced Campus. This new cultural meeting focused on debate allows authors, artists, critics, specialists, and informed viewers to confront each other.

In September 2007, he returned to Europe 1 to host the open-line show À l’air libre from Monday to Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., replacing Pierre-Marie Christin.

In the fall of 2008, while he was replaced on Europe 1 by Marie Drucker and Patrick Cohen and Esprits libres was not renewed on France 2, he hosted on the public channel L’objet du scandale, a magazine revisiting “major societal events” on Sunday afternoons. In September 2009, he succeeded Jean-Luc Hees in presenting the morning show on Radio Classique. Starting in September 2010, he presented Conversation inédites face aux français every other Tuesday on France 2 in the late evening. From January 2010, his morning interview on Radio Classique was also broadcast on the continuous news channel i>Télé. He co-hosted En route vers la présidentielle with Michaël Darmon, a political columnist on i>Télé. In 2011, he was a member of the jury for the Françoise-Sagan prize. In September 2011, he joined the channel Paris Première to host Rive Droite, a show in the vein of 93, faubourg Saint-Honoré where he organized dinners every Wednesday in his 400 m2 apartment decorated with works by Bertrand Lavier, Xavier Veilhan, Daniel Buren, Peter Lindbergh, or Rosson Crow. In 2012, while still employed as a presenter on Radio Classique, owned by the LVMH group, Guillaume Durand made a portrait of Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, with Gilles de Maistre. This documentary titled Bernard Arnault, l’enfance est un destin, which constitutes a true dithyramb by Guillaume Durand in favor of his employer, was broadcast on February 3, 2012, on France 5. Starting March 18, 2013, Guillaume Durand returned to television on the channel Non Stop People. The host presents a talk show (debate show) The Artists every evening at 10:10 p.m. On Sundays at 6 p.m., he presents Culture Club on Radio Classique.