''Salut les copains'' was a famous French variety pop music radio program broadcast between 1959 and 1969, from Monday to Friday for 2 hours (5 to 7 pm) on French radio station ''

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pr ...

''. It was known to have originally promoted and launched the success of the French musical genre of

yé-yé ''Yé-yé'' () (''yeyé'' in Spanish) was a style of pop music that emerged in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term "''yé-yé''" was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as ...

Background

The program was created by Jean Frydman and presented by Frank Ténot and

Daniel Filipacchi Daniel Filipacchi (born 12 January 1928) is the Chairman Emeritus of Hachette Filipacchi Médias and a French collector of surrealist art. Career Filipacchi wrote and worked as a photographer for ''Paris Match'' from its founding in 1949 by J ...

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 Gilbert Bécaud (, 24 October 1927 – 18 December 2001) was a French singer, composer, pianist and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-known hits are " Nathalie" and "Et maintenant", a 1961 release ...

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. The program proved to be a cultural and social phenomenon when during a concert in

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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 Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian; hy, Սիլվի Ժորժ Վարդանյան. on 15 August 1944) is an Armenian-Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. ...

, Richard Anthony, Dick Rivers et les Chats sauvages, Danyel Gérard, les Gams, and

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

. The program also prompted popular French rock artist

to release an album of the same title in 1961.

Discography

*Coffret ''Salut les copains, 50e anniversaire, Les cent tubes de Salut les copains'' - 4 CDs, Europe 1/Universal Music/Editions Montparnasse (3 November 2009). *Box collector ''Salut les copains, 50e anniversaire'' - reissue of discs on a CD of twenty 45rpm, plus booklet, poster realised by Jean-Marie Périer, Europe 1/Universal Music/Editions Montparnasse (30 November 2009)

Videography

*Coffret ''Salut les copains, 50e anniversaire'', 3 DVDs, Europe 1/INA/Editions Montparnasse, 2009. *Jingles of the radio program, 120 songs of the 1960s, featured interviews and news of the epoque {{Authority control French music radio programs 1959 radio programme debuts 1969 radio programme endings Pop music radio programs Rock music radio programs