France Inter


France Inter is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France.
It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then renamed to its current name in December of that year. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of music. It is broadcast on FM and DAB+ from a nationwide network of transmitters, as well as via the internet.
It is the most popular station in France with over 7 million daily listeners.

History

France Inter was founded as part of the reorganization of state broadcasting which followed the end of World War II as "Paris Inter" and charged with being French public radio's generalist service. The channel was renamed "France I" in 1958, although three years later one of France's most popular radio and television listings magazines was still showing the station's programmes under the heading "Paris-Inter" with "France I" as a subtitle. In October 1963 the France I and France II networks were merged to form "RTF Inter", renamed "France Inter" with effect from 8 December.
The major challenge faced by France Inter at the time of its reorganization in the 1960s was the success of private "peripheral stations" forbidden to air in France due to the state monopoly in capturing the majority of the French radio audience since the war. They had done so by adopting a modern broadcasting style and earning a reputation for greater freedom from government influence.
As well as rapidly modernizing its style to match its competitors, France Inter stressed its freedom from commercial pressures – although it does carry a limited amount of paid-for advertising – and especially presented itself as intelligent radio accessible to a general audience under the slogan Écoutez la différence.
The channel announced during 2016 that it would discontinue transmissions from the Allouis longwave transmitter on 162 kHz with effect from 1 January 2017, thereby saving approximately €6 million per year. Transmission from Allouis of the atomic-clock-generated time signal would, however, continue after this date as the signal is critical for over 200,000 devices deployed within French enterprises and state entities, such as French Railways, the electricity distributor ENEDIS, airports, hospitals, municipalities, etc. The final song France Inter played on long wave 162 kHz prior to being switched on 31 December 2016 was "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life" by Indeep.

Slogans

  • 1975: Écoutez la différence
  • 1983: France Inter, pour ceux qui ont quelque chose entre les oreilles
  • 1987: Plus haut la radio !
  • 1995: Écoutez, ça n'a rien à voir
  • 2001: Au début ça surprend. Après aussi
  • 2005: Qu’allez-vous découvrir aujourd’hui ?
  • 2008: France Inter, la différence
  • 2012: La voix est libre
  • 2013: 50 ans qu’on ouvre la voix
  • 2014: InterVenez
  • 2015: Vous êtes bien sur France Inter
  • 2023: ''France Inter 1ère radio de France''

    Programmes

France Inter programmes, a number of which have been important milestones in the history of French radio, include:
  • Le Masque et la Plume , arts reviews from journalist critics '
  • Le Jeu des 1000 euros,'' a general-knowledge quiz programme '
  • La marche de l'histoire , formerly Deux mille ans d'histoire, an in-depth daily documentary on a specific historical subject '
  • Pop Club '
  • Le téléphone sonne, a current affairs discussion and phone-in programme '
  • Là-bas si j'y suis, a reports programme , The title is a play on words about the French idiom : "Va voir là-bas si j'y suis" and the facts that the journalists of this show go to see "over there" to report news and stories that doesn't usually appear in other radio and TV news magazines.
  • La grande matinale, formerly Inter Matin, morning news sequence '
  • Classique avec Dessay, formerly Carrefour De Lodéon, classical music programme
  • Les Cinglés du music-hall, prewar jazz and popular music presented by Jean-Christophe Averty for 28 years until 2006
  • Le Grand Dimanche soir satirical evening show on politics and current affairs, produced by Charline Vanhoenacker, 2014 - 2024
  • L'Oreille en coin, weekend show made up of multiple segments—including gags, stories, parodies, poetry, music, philosophical reflections, improvisations, and cleverly edited recordings—presented with a playful and intellectual tone. It acted as a kind of “radio within the radio”, combining humour, creativity, and variety.