  (abridged) We use the 1.4 GHz VIMOS-VLA Deep Survey and the optical VVDS and
the CFHT-LS to compare the properties of radio loud galaxies with respect to
the whole population of optical galaxies. The availability of multiband
photometry and high quality photometric redshifts allows to derive rest frame
colors and radio luminosity functions down to a limit of a B rest-frame
magnitude of M=-20.
  Galaxy properties and luminosity functions (LFs) are estimated up to z~1 for
radio loud and radio quiet early and late type galaxies. Radio loud late type
galaxies are redder than radio quiet objects of the same class and this is an
effect related to the presence of more dust in stronger star forming galaxies.
Moreover, we estimate optical LFs, stellar masses and star formation rate
distributions for radio sources and compare them with those derived for a well
defined control sample, finding that the probability for a galaxy to be a radio
emitter significantly increases at high values of these parameters. Radio loud
early type galaxies show luminosity evolution of their bivariate radio-optical
LF, due to an evolution in the radio-optical ratio. The lack of evolution of
the mass function of radio loud early type galaxies means that no new AGN are
formed at z<1. On the contrary, radio loud late type objects show a strong
evolution, both in luminosity and in density, of the radio LF for z>0.7. This
evolution is the direct effect of the strong optical evolution of this class
and no significant change with redshift of the radio-optical ratio is required.
With the knowledge of the radio-optical ratio and the optical and radio LFs for
late type galaxies, we estimated the star formation history of the Universe up
to z~1.5, using optical galaxies as tracers of the global radio emission.
