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 re-assigned 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 May 24, 2000.
Read more about this topic: FIP (radio Station)
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