Salut les copains (radio program)

For other uses, see Salut les copains

Salut les copains was a famous French variety pop music program broadcast from Monday to Friday for 2 hours (5 to 7 pm) on French radio station Europe 1. It was known to have originally promoted and launched success of the French music genre Yé-yé.

Background

The program was created by Jean Frydman and presented by Frank Ténot and Daniel Filipacchi on Europe 1 and was launched on 19 October 1959. The program enjoyed a huge following, with a survey saying more than 40% of French youth between 12 and 15 years listened to it at its peak season.

The name of the program is taken from a 1957 song by Gilbert Bécaud called "Salut les copains". The lyrics had been co-written by Bécaud and Pierre Delanoë. Delanoë at the time was the director of programming on Europe 1 and named the program after the song.

The program, initially (and for a brief period) a weekly broadcast, was soon turned into a five-days-a-week show with sponsorship by Vonny. The program proved to be a cultural and social phenomenon when during a concert in Place de la Nation organised by the station on 22 June 1963 (to celebrate the first anniversary of launching of the magazine Salut les copains), 200,000 youth attended to hear Sylvie Vartan, Richard Anthony, Dick Rivers et les Chats sauvages, Danyel Gérard, les Gams, Nicole Paquin and Johnny Hallyday. After the event, the sociologist Edgar Morin in an article in the French daily Le Monde dubbed it the "yé-yé generation", giving rise to the French style of music known as "Yé-yé" that was applied to many popular acts in the 1960s.

The program also prompted popular French rock artist Johnny Hallyday to release an album of the same title in 1961.

Discography

Videography