Ina collections

Radio

An ocean of sound

A major radiophonic collection

Founding speeches, exclusive interviews with the great personalities of our time, radio serials, recorded plays, news broadcasts, political, cultural and musical programmes, entertainment, documentaries, dramas and magazines, recitals given by legendary artists, exceptional concerts, jazz, or classical music with France’s National and Philharmonic Orchestras. These are but a few of the programmes that represent the extraordinary wealth of the sound heritage preserved by Ina, the French national audiovisual institute. This radiophonic “memory” constitutes hundreds of thousands of hours of recordings, the oldest of which date from 1933.

A living heritage

Ina is devoted to enhancing the value of its radiophonic heritage.
The gradual digitisation of the collection, at a pace of 30 000 hours of programmes every year, is ensuring the lasting preservation of the documents, but also great sound quality for listeners.
Programmes are added to the radiophonic collection every day. Ina plays a role in this, notably thanks to the activities of its musical research group, GRM, and regular archive contributions to some of Radio France’s new programmes.

In addition, Ina provides a particular impetus to sound publishing. “Les Grandes Heures Ina-Radio France” (The finest hours of Ina-Radio France) bears witness to this, as it reproduces the most interesting literary interviews of the 20th Century. The musical collection entitled “Ina – Mémoire vive” (Ina – Living memory) , meanwhile, has been produced by Ina since 1992.

Some of the legendary programmes

"Le masque et la plume"

Launched on 13 November 1955 by Michel Polac and François-Régis Bastide, "Le masque et la plume" (literally “The Mask and the Plumage”) is a programme devoted to news on the theatre, film and books. Before Sunday evenings in France became synonymous with the Sunday-evening film, and from 1989, with Jérôme Garcin, the critics held out on the France Inter radio station. Known for their puns, wit, reliable reporting and commitment, they share their opinions with the public, from Studio 105 and review all the latest artistic productions.

"Radioscopie"

A legendary programme in French radio history, which transported generations of France Inter listeners. Over the years, Jacques Chancel invited more than 3,000 guests to come in for a chat. “Radioscopie” reflected the personalities who marked the century and who continue to exert their charm.

"Le jeu des 1 000 euros"

“Le Jeu des 1000 euros” is a radio programme that is still being broadcast on France Inter. Launched in 1958 by Henri Kubnick, it is the oldest game programme on French radio. Several household names have hosted the game, initially called “The 1000 francs game”, and now obviously “The 1000 euros game”: Lucien Jeunesse from 1965 to 1995, Louis Bozon from 1995 to 2008 and Nicolas Stoufflet since then. With its “white, banco and super” questions, and sound animations, ”Le jeu des 1000 euros” is eternal.