Paris

The Sounds of Paris

Paris has nurtured a radio station with a unique sound--music tunes from all over the world, combined with suave voices that give (usually disastrous) traffic information with a noticeable grin. There are brief news programs at 10 minutes before the hour, and--take notice--no ads, as the radio operates on public money. The station is famous for its smooth and ironic female voices then, but even more so for the extensive range of music it programs, as well as for the consummate flair with which the programmers string those different styles together. The station's jazz show, at 8 pm week-days local time, has also reached cult status. FIP usually gets foreign visitors to Paris very excited. They dig the chance to hear the popular French singers du jour, the pleasure of hearing a combination of sounds not heard elsewhere, and the enjoyment of this purely Parisian experience where knowledge of French is utterly superfluous. Now that you know what only Parisians know, here is something they often don't--"FIP" stands for "France Inter Paris", after France Inter, the main public service, state-backed, radio station of which FIP is a part.

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