FIP (radio station)

Broadcast area	France
Programming
Language(s)	French
Format	Jazz, World, Chanson, Rock, Classical
Ownership
Owner	Radio France
Sister stations	France Bleu France Culture France Info France Inter France Musique Mouv'
History
Former call signs	France Inter Paris
Links
Website	www.fip.fr

FIP (originally France Inter Paris) is a French radio network, founded in 1971. It is part of the Radio France group.

Concept

The concept behind FIP has scarcely changed since its founding: commercial free music interrupted only for traffic updates, occasional announcements about forthcoming events, and a short news bulletin at 10 minutes before the hour. Long limited to 7 am-9 pm, the current live broadcasts are from 7 am-11 pm, after which a computer replays a selection of the music broadcast earlier in the day.

Live programming is broadcast from Paris. FIP's local studios are based in Nantes, Strasbourg and Bordeaux.

Music broadcasts

The programming features all types of music genres including chanson, classical, film music, jazz, pop rock, world music and blues, but with careful attention paid to smooth and unobtrusive transition from one song to the other (for example, the rock'n'roll song Roll Over Beethoven can be preceded by a short sonata of Beethoven). FIP is one of the few stations in the world to transmit this type of programming around the clock. All of the songs are hand-picked by expert programmers. Some of the famous ones including Patrick Tandin, Julien Delli Fiori and Alexandre Marcellin. The first programmer was Anne Marie Leblond. Currently there're seven programmers: Armand Pirrone, Luc Frelon, Patrick Derlon, Christian Charles, René Hardiagon, Jean-Yves Bonnardel and Alexandre Desurmont.

The station broadcasts presenter-led programs during several evening hours:

• 7pm-8pm: Club Jazzafip with Jane Villenet (Mon-Thu) and Charlotte Bibring (Fri-Sun)
• 8pm-10pm:
  • Monday: Sous les jupes de Fip with Emilie Blon-Metzinger and Luc Frelon
  • Tuesday: C'est Magnifip! with Frédérique Labussière
  • Wednesday: Certains l'aiment Fip with Susana Poveda
  • Thursday: Live à Fip with Stéphanie Daniel

Slogans

• 1973–1995 : "La radio de toutes les musiques" (The all music radio)
• 1995–2011 : "Respirez, vous êtes sur FIP" (Breathe, you are on FIP)
• 2006–2011 : "105.1% musique" (105.1% music) (for Paris)
• 2011–2012 : "FIP, 40 ans d'évasion" (FIP, 40 years of escape)
• 2015–2016 : "Des nouveaux rendez-vous" (The new appointment)
• Since 2017 : "Vous n'êtes plus là, vous êtes sur FIP" (You're no longer there, you are on FIP)

History

The station was founded in 1971 by Jean Garetto and Pierre Codou, both week-end presenters at France Inter. It was broadcast from Paris on 514 m (585 kHz) medium wave, hence its original name of France Inter Paris 514. It was noted for its particular style of programming and its hosts' sugary tone of voice as they described traffic problems with humour and irony.

After Paris, the station was emulated in other cities (Lyon, Marseille, and so forth), which broadcast the same music and news with local traffic conditions and events. The P in FIP changed according to the location: FIB, FIL, FIM, and so on.

As with Radio France generally, FIP moved to FM and stereo.

Given its role as a niche player in French public broadcasting, FIP was largely untouched by the changes in the French radio landscape starting in 1981. In 1999 Jean-Marie Cavada, the president of Radio France launched a restructuring called "Plan Bleu", which reassigned frequencies among local stations, Radio Bleue, Urgences, Le Mouv', and FIP.

FIP lost those of its stations which had smaller audiences: the stations at Metz and Nice became part of the France Bleu network.

Despite listener protests, the plan was adopted on 24 May 2000.

In September 2017, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that he regularly listens to FIP and that he considers that FIP is the best radio in the world.

The network

The different elements of the FIP network since its creation:

Successive names	Location	Inauguration	Off air	Closure
FIP; FIP Paris	Paris	1971	–	–
FIB; FIP Bordeaux	Bordeaux	1972	–	–
FIL; FIP Lille	Lille	1972	–	2000
FIL; FIP Lyon	Lyon	1972	–	2000
FIM; FIP Marseille; FIP	Marseille	1972	2000–2008	–
FIC; FIM; FIP Metz	Metz	1972	–	2000
FIR; FIP Reims	Reims	1972	–	1988
FIT; FIP	Toulouse	1973	1984–2008	–
FILA; FIP Nantes	Nantes	1974	–	–
FILA; FIP Nantes	St Nazaire		–	–
FIS; FIP Strasbourg	Strasbourg	1978	–	–
FICA; FIP Côte d’Azur	Nice	1982	–	2000
FIP Tours	Tours	1985	–	1988
FIP	Montpellier	2006	–	–
FIP	Arcachon	2008	–	–
FIP	Rennes	2008	–	–

Frequencies

FIP broadcasts in France as follows:

• Paris/Île-de-France: 105.1 MHz
• Bordeaux: 96.7 MHz/Arcachon: 96.5 MHz
• Montpellier: 99.7 MHz
• Nantes: 95.7 MHz/Saint-Nazaire: 97.2 MHz
• Strasbourg: 92.3 MHz
• Marseille: 90.9 MHz
• Rennes: 101.2 MHz
• Toulouse: 103.5 MHz

FIP also streams over the Internet, which gives FIP a global audience.

FIP's mediumwave broadcasts on 585 kHz in Paris (between 0800–1600 Central European Time from a transmitter in Romainville) ceased on 3 January 2011.

FIP is available in Europe on free-to-air digital satellite on Atlantic Bird 3 at 5.0°West and Astra at 19.2° east. The latter feed returned in January 2009 after a contractual break.

FIP was also available from Hot Bird 7A at 13.0°East, but after a conflict between Radio France and CanalSat, distribution ceased on 1 July 2008.

FIP is available off the ASTRA satellite at 19.2°East frequency 11568 MHz symbol rate 22000kSps, polarity V.

It can also be received in Western Australia, Tahiti and surrounding islands from Intelsat 701 at 180.0°East.

In the Netherlands, FIP is available via Ziggo cable (at 106.1 MHz) and channel 857 via Ziggo's digital receivers. Ziggo supplies cable services for over 40 percent of the households in the Netherlands.

UK pirate relays

According to the Brighton's The Argus newspaper, a Brighton resident re-broadcast FIP for nearly ten years on two frequencies (91.0 and 98.5 MHz) in the FM band. The two signals, which were relays of FIP from satellite could be heard in many parts of Brighton. The two transmitters were operated to serve different parts of the city, one of them allegedly being in the Bohemian Hanover area of the city. The station had proved very popular.

The two signals operated on frequencies originally used by FIP at Lille and Metz, which were unused in the Brighton area and caused no interference to existing national or local stations. Technical quality was very high and the Radio Data System (RDS) identification was F_I_P with the two signals linked to ensure best reception on an RDS car radio. The Program Identification codes of the RDS appeared to be the same as those used on the real French transmitters.

The rebroadcasts broke UK broadcast rules enforced by UK telecom and radio, TV regulator Ofcom. Although it is believed that Ofcom officials visited the address of the station operator and confiscated the equipment, thus taking the pirate broadcasts off the air, the station could still be heard on one of the original frequencies, 91.0 MHz, throughout the city until 2012 and the UK relay operator decided to cease broadcasting FIP to Brighton due to the continued attention from Ofcom, the UK radio authority.

An appreciation society for fans of FIP, Vive la FIP, meets regularly in Brighton; some members even visited the Paris studios of FIP and were featured in an article in the French listings magazine Télérama in February 2007.

References

Notes on FIP Brighton

• BBC Radio 4's You and Yours feature on FIP in Brighton
• Fip Radio To Make A Comeback, The Argus, 2 May 2007
• Love Fip The website for FIP in Brighton and Hove.

External links

• Official website Template:Fr icon
• Web-based streaming audio player Template:Fr icon
• Lyngsat Satellites carrying FIP.