Bonjour, Louisiane

Bonjour, Louisiane

Ashlee Michot accepts her newest role in the mission of language preservation as host of KRVS's French radio program

Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Thirty years ago, Ashlee Michot barely knew any French at all. But every morning on the way to school in Ville Platte, her father would tune into the French news on KVPI. The voices of hosts Mark Layne, Jim Soileau, and Charlie Manuel would pour forth—foreign, but all too familiar.

“I didn’t have grandparents that spoke French to me,” explained Michot. “So, I had to get my French from every corner, and in the air... And the radio, especially.”

Decades later, having acquired a mastery over the language via immersion at the Université Sainte-Anne in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, she began listening to those broadcasts again. Her new ears devoured the once-indecipherable conversations held on KVPI, as listeners called in and told funny stories, discussed old traditions and current events, and engaged in linguistic wordplay—all in the distinct vernacular of Louisiana French.

“A lot of the information was really special, and it was just over the airwaves and gone,” she said. “And something else that really woke me up was the turnover of the contributors and callers—like you’d be listening to them one week and just drinking in everything they were saying, and they were making language jokes and just being so joyful. And then, you’d hear their obituary. And it was a very tangible way to see how our language is disappearing. It was extremely painful, and that really motivated me, and made it time-sensitive in a way.”

At that time, Michot began a meticulous journaling practice, which included transcribing the information delivered through KVPI’s French radio programs almost every single morning. This work has formed the foundation of her lifelong dedication to the task of language and folklore preservation in Louisiana—which has taken the form of her blog Prairie des Femmes; the publication of Ô Malheureuse, a collection of modern Louisiana French writings by women; stints as the youngest female host of KVPI’s French broadcasts; and over a decade spent teaching French in the public school system.

This fall, Michot made the difficult decision to resign from her post as French teacher at Beau Chene High School. The very day that she quit, she learned of a job opening at the Lafayette radio station KRVS: they were looking for a permanent replacement for Joseph “Pete” Bergeron, who has hosted the morning French program Bonjour, Louisiane for over forty years.

“Mr. Pete started the show in 1981, which is ironically the year I was born,” said Michot. “All of the things I’ve done up until now, I really feel that they were preparing me for this.”

The show, which airs from 5 am– 7 am five days a week, will continue to feature local French music as it always has. But Michot plans to incorporate some of her trove of other knowledge as well. “So, there will also be a component of metadata, cyclical information, seasonal and plant information, language information, and musician information that comes up within the context of the songs that I just know some things about, and I enjoy sharing them. So, as they come up, I am able to talk a bit more freely.”

When I spoke to Michot, it was mere minutes after her third day as the host of Bonjour, Louisiane. She told me that she is still getting used to the new schedule—she has to now wake up at 3 am to get to work—but that “It’s really fun.” And that she has never in her life felt so aligned with her own sense of purpose.

Michot shared that on the day her new post was publicly announced, she also got word that longtime host of KVPI’s French programming, Charlie Manuel, had died. It immediately brought her back to the days of her transcriptions, mourning the losses of the French-speaking callers as they passed one by one, and realizing of the hosts: “One day it’s going to be them, and this resource will be gone.” “It’s just really ironic and heart-rending that he passed that day, right as I am starting this new job,” she said. “I can now take all that energy and put it forward. I can focus it. Because I’ve always been doing this for them.”

Carrying the torch of Louisiana French radio—and all the knowledge and community it holds—Michot is doing this for the future, too. Recalling those childhood drives with her dad, and the way Charlie Manuel’s French “Bon Matins” piqued her curiosity, she said: “It is not lost on me that I may be that voice for a child,” starting their mornings hearing Michot’s cheerful, “Bonjour, Louisiane!”

Listen in to Bonjour, Louisiane on weekdays from 5 am–7 am. Not an early riser? Each episode is recorded and can be found at krvs.org.