{{Short description|Former French radio station}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} '''Radio Paris''' was a French radio broadcasting company best known for its Axis propaganda broadcasts in [[Vichy France]] during [[World War II]].
Radio Paris evolved from the first private radio station in France, called [[Radiola (radio station)|Radiola]], founded by pioneering French engineer [[Émile Girardeau]] in 1922.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/vsoldado/galena.html |title=Radios de Galena en el frente |accessdate=3 August 2017 |date=31 January 2007 |work=Exordio |language=spanish |quote=la compañía "Radiola" instaló la estación que sería después Radio París.}}</ref> It became Radio Paris on 29 March 1924, and remained so through 17 June 1940, transitioning to state ownership in December 1933 as the premier station in the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://la-loupe.over-blog.net/article-radio-paris-43549549.html |title=Radio-Paris |accessdate=3 August 2017 |work=Mémoires de guerre |language=french}}</ref> 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]] and [[Philippe 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!", echoing [[Cato the Elder]]'s slogan ''[[Carthago delenda est]]''.
On 19 September 1941, [[Maurice Chevalier]] sang in ''Le Poste Parisien'' his last success, "Notre Espoir", composed by his accompanist [[Henri Betti]].
Radio Paris broadcasts were intended to counter the [[BBC]] broadcasts of ''[[Radio Londres]]'' by Free French figures like [[Pierre 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 of "[[La Cucaracha]]".<ref name=propagande>{{cite web |url=http://propagande-et-seconde-guerre-mondiale.over-blog.com/article-radio-paris-45964785.html |title=Radio Paris |accessdate=3 August 2017 |date=3 March 2010 |work=La propagande à travers les médias pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale |language=french }}</ref> On 8 May 1942 its transmitter in [[Bourges]] was blown up by the [[French Resistance|Resistance]].
The station was shut down on the evening of 15 August 1944 by a trained police [[commando]] action, as part of the [[liberation of Paris]].<ref name=propagande />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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[[Category:French collaboration during World War II]] [[Category:World War II propaganda radio stations]] [[Category:Radio stations established in 1922]] [[Category:Radio stations disestablished in 1944]] [[Category:Defunct radio stations in France]] [[Category:Nazi propaganda organisations]] [[Category:1944 disestablishments in France]] [[Category:Radio in Paris]] [[Category:Radio during World War II]] [[Category:Public radio in France]] [[Category:Fascist propaganda]] [[Category:Nazi propaganda radio]] [[Category:Paris in World War II]] [[Category:Propaganda in France]]