- Radio Paris
Radio Paris was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in
Vichy France duringWorld War II .Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called RADIOLA, founded by pioneering French engineer
Émile Girardeau in 1922. It became Radio Paris on March 29, 1924 through June 17, 1940, transitioning to state ownership in December 1933, as the premier station in the country. It kept its name from July 1940 until August 1944, but the station was then run by Nazis and French collaborators.From 1940 collaborationist voices on Radio Paris included
Jacques Doriot andPhilippe Henriot . From 1942,Jean Hérold-Paquis broadcast daily news reports on Radio Paris, in which he regularly called for the "destruction" of the United Kingdom. His catch phrase was "England, like Carthage, shall be destroyed!".Its broadcasts were pitched directly against the
BBC broadcasts of Free French figures likePierre Dac , who sang the taunting refrain "Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris est allemand" (Radio Paris lies, Radio Paris lies, Radio Paris is German) to the tune ofLa Cucaracha .The station was shut down in the evening of 15 August 1944 by a trained police commando action, as part of the Liberation of Paris.
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