France Inter

**France Inter** is French public radio station owned by Radio France.

This station featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety of music, plus hourly news bulletins with extended news coverage in the morning, midday, and early-evening peaks.

## History

The stations of the American Forces Network (**AFN)**, an international broadcasting network of the United States Army, which broadcasts its broadcasts since 1945 on medium-frequency waves 491.8 meters (610 kHz) from a 10 kW radio transmitter at **Rueil-Malmaison**, ceased broadcasting on December 31, 1946, and transferred the transmitter to Radiodiffusion française (**RDF**). The latter broadcasts the program the following day at 7:30 am a new program consisting of the programs of the ***Club d'Essai***, whose transmitter of the **rue de Grenelle** is then abandoned, and records with a dominance of jazz. This new program temporarily takes on the title of ***Club d'Essai*** before **Wladimir Porché** announces in January the final creation of a third radio program, in addition to **Programme Parisien** and Programme National, which he calls **Paris-Inter**. **Paris-Inter** was officially inaugurated on 15 February 1947 by **Wladimir Porché**, **Jean Vincent-Bréchignac**, who became its first director, **Jean Luc and Simon Coppans**. **Paris-Inter** broadcasts an essentially musical program from 6:30 am to midnight, consisting of record sessions, programs by the ***Club d'Essai*** and programs of foreign stations. In September 1947, a poll conducted by the Radio Program newspaper credits the station with 6% audience, while it still only broadcast in the Paris region alone.

**Paris-Inter** is broadcast every day from 12:15 to 15:20 on shortwave 48.39 meters (6,200 kHz) from December 15, 1947 by one of the transmitters of **Allouis**, which allows the station to be audible abroad, but also in areas not covered by medium waves in France, such as mountainous areas. The last of the state-run stations, which broadcasts on average waves 506.7 meters (592 kHz), began to develop its network of transmitters in the Province by inaugurating its first frequency in Limoges on 1 January 1949, followed by six others the same year. This development is made possible by the transformation of the **RDF** into Radiodiffusion télévision française (**RTF**) by the decree of 9 February 1949, in a public establishment with an autonomous budget and which receives a double levy on radio sets. The program became truly national on October 19, 1952, when the high-power transmitter at **Allouis** (**Cher**) was destroyed during the German retreat in 1944. In the meantime, in order to prevent France from losing its frequency Large waves of 164 kHz, this one is used by the Alsatian transmitter of **Sélestat** with a power of 20 kW to relay Paris-Inter in Alsace and in the valley of the **Rhine**.

On 29 December 1957, **Paris-Inter** became **France I** and broadcast 24 hours a day a program which privileges direct information and reflects all aspects of everyday life, while **Programme Parisien** becomes **France II Regional**, entertainment channel and echo of the regional stations. One of the programs created at that time, in 1958 by **Henri Kubnick**, was to become the oldest game in the French radio landscape under the successive names of Hundred thousand francs a day, ***Le Jeu des 1000 francs***, and 1,000 euros. Given the constant erosion of the **RTF**'s broadcasting channels to the peripheral stations and the frequency of strikes within the institution (see the 1962 strike), the 'Information **Alain Peyrefitte**, created the same year the interministerial liaison service for information, the transmission link between the political power and journalists of the **RTF**. The directors of the **RTF**, the director general **Robert Bordaz** and the delegate to the director of the regional stations **Roland Dhordain**, who proposed the reform at **Peyreffite**, decided to react by carrying out a series of reforms as early as 1963, in particular the simplification of the four radio three stations: **France I** and **France II-Régional** are merged into one another on October 20, 1963 to form **RTF Inter**, a chain of information, gaiety and practical advice, which brings together the issuers of **France I** and **France II** and splits into two distinct programs in the evening, ***Inter Jeunesse*** broadcasted by the broadband transmitter and ***Inter Variétés sur ondes moyennes***. France III-National becomes RTF Promotion specializing in cultural programs. France IV-Haute Fidélité becomes RTF Haute Fidélité specialized in classical and contemporary music.

Beginning in 1963, **Roland Dhordain** tried to "transform **Paris Inter** into a radio capable of rivaling peripheral stations". On December 8, 1963, the station became **France Inter**, following the ***Baptême RTF 64*** contest. This competition is launched with listeners at the opening of the **Maison de la Radio**, inaugurated on December 14th. Dhordain diverted the results of the public vote that had decided France Bleu, **France Blanc**, and **France Rouge** and chose personally that the three stations of public radio would be called **France Inter**, France Culture and France Musique.

The **ORTF** succeeded the **RTF** in June 1964 and the Interservices developed: **Inter-Service Routes**, **Inter-Service Jeunes**, **Inter-Service Emploi**, **Inter-Service Rural**, **Inter-Service Bourse**, **Inter-Service Courses**, **Inter-Service Mer**...

On October 4, 1965, the program was established, one of the most enduring in the history of radio, José Artur's **Pop Club**.

In May 1968, the general strike was voted at the **ORTF**. For the first time, the **ORTF**'s editorial offices were freed from the supervision of the State. This is not to the taste of President **De Gaulle** who asks **Georges Gorse**, Minister of Information, "to put the troublemakers in the door", and to put the transmitters under the protection of the police and the army . In response, the inter-union Inter France organizes "**L'Operation Jericho**": every day journalists, workers, high school students, performers, listeners walk for an hour around **Maison de la Radio**. On 26 June, the staff of the **ORTF** resumed work. **Roland Dhordain**, who had left the radio, returns and resumes his position as director. In August, 54 journalists from the **ORTF**, including 23 from the radio editorial staff, were excluded.

**Jacques Chancel** receives his first guest on 5 October 1968 in his ***Radioscopie***, which is then broadcast every day during the week from 5 pm to 6 pm. In July 1969, the first steps of the Man on the Moon were broadcast live from Apollo XI for 30 hours as part of the joint program ***Radio Terre*** broadcast on both **France Inter**, France Culture and **Inter Variétés** on (medium wave).

On 1 January 1975, **France Inter** became one of the channels of the national radio broadcasting company Radio France, resulting from the break-up of the **ORTF**, Radio France retaining the name of the radio stations used by the **ORTF**, France Musique, FIP) and creating on this occasion RFI. Beginning in the 1980s, **France Inter** privileged information programs to those of entertainment.

After 10 years spent in temporary premises located on avenue du **Général-Mangin**, **France Inter** will return to the **Maison de la Radio** on 21 May 2014. On August 25, 2014, **France Inter** will acquire a new sound design that will now accompany the new program schedule of the latter, whose purpose is to trace the radio hearings in free fall for some time.

At the beginning of April 2015, while a strike took place at Radio France, the Court of Auditors published a report pointing to the "very favorable" working conditions of public radio stations concerning the volume of work, additional pay, nature, services in surplus. The report criticizes in particular the overstaffing of technicians at France Inter in comparison with the other radios.

In 2017, the station is listened to by over 6.2 million listeners in cumulative audiences each day.

At the beginning of 2017, **Patrick Cohen**, main host of 7/9, the most listened morning of France, announced his departure from the channel for Europe 1 in the following season. He is followed by the deputy of the director **Laurence Bloch**, **Emmanuel Perreau** and the director of the antennas of Radio France: **Frédéric Schlesinger**. **Bloch** took the opportunity to reshape some of the programs: **Nicolas Demorand** left the schedules from 6 pm to 8 pm (replaced by **Fabienne Sintes**) for the morning and the programs of **Fabienne Chauvière** (***Les Savanturières***), **André Manoukian** (***Les Routes de la musique***) of **Brigitte Patient** are removed to allow more space for culture.

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