Longtime KRVS radio host Pete Bergeron retiring – 55 Senior Community San Diego

Pete Bergeron, lngtime host of “Bonjour Louisiane” on public radio station KRVS, is saying goodbye to the Cajun French radio show after 40 years.

KRVS announced Bergeron’s retirement on Facebook Friday, saying, “We will miss his warm, familiar voice and authentic Louisiana French on our airwaves.”

Bergeron’s final show will air Monday from 5-7 a.m..Tune in to 88.7 FM or online at krvs.org to listen in.

Raised on a farm in Acadia Parish, Bergeron considers music to be his only hobby at the time. He and his brothers formed a music group – first a string band called The Salty Dogs and later a rock group called The Rhythm Kings.

Bergeron enlisted in the Navy then earned a degree in television and radio. The Acadiana Advocate reports that Bergeron worked for bluegrass and gospel radio stations in North Carolina and an easy listening station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but the Tennessee market rejected him because of his voice. Bergeron says they told him it “bore an unfamiliar accent for East Tennessee.”

Along with hosting Bonjour Louisiane, he has broadcast Festival Acadiens et Creoles. According to KRVS, he’s won several awards for his work in preserving and passing on Louisiana French music and the language. He has also been honored by Codofil-Agence des Affaires Francophones de Louisiane, an agency for Louisiana’s Francophone affairs.