THE PERIOD OF WAR
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Radio
International Fecamp |
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Fécamp:
the chimney is the one of the Benedictine's distillery. On the right on
the photo, one of the antennas now unused by Radio Normandy since december
12th 1938.
Requisitioned by
the French state, they carried the service
"Radio International Fécamp" with French propaganda aimed at foreigners between november 1939 and
january 1940. |
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Local
storage of transformers of the
old Radio Normandy to Fécamp
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Extract from magazine
"Best of British" thanks to
http://www.sterlingtimes.org/radio_sponsorship5.htm |
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At the end of 1939, the orchestrated piece
"Keep the home fires burning" is used as a signature tune to close Radio Fécamp International's transmissions.
The IBC has been charged with broadcasting in English to British forces
based in France, but with fully American programmes (the studios in London
could not provide broadcasts anymore) on a lot of discs. The news come
from the Havas agency, read by Bob Danvers-Walker. Broadcasts (without
commercials) stopped after the 19.00 news. After six weeks of service, the
French authorities decided to close the station permanently, but this time
with the French National Anthem "The Marseillaise".
The last breath of the IBC took place in the Spring 1940 when a Parisian
station (Le Poste Parisien) and probably the station of Fécamp,
transmitted some Saturdays afternoon "The quarter hour of the
Tommy" composed of discs without advertisements. All French radio,
after the military defeat, was replaced by one station - Radio Paris.
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12
January 1940: the Czech and Austrian broadcasts from the old studios of
Radio Normandy to Fécamp stopped for military reasons. Broadcasters thank
the City of Fécamp for an unforgettable welcome.
Before
the start of the German invasion, the French
army destroyed the equipment on Monday 10
June 1940
and the transmitter cables of Fecamp are cut.
The
Germans occupy the "House of the radio"
rue de Boulogne and
make it the Standortkommandantur
of Fécamp.
Since
the beginning of the war, the state censors public and private radio.
Since June 1940, Germans control one radio station - Radio Paris closely:
"Radio Paris is German"! repeated the BBC. Many listen in
secret. In March 1944, radio sets must be handed in at town halls. Some
will disappear in bombardments.
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Friday
12 November 1943, the remaining pylon (East side) will be blown up by
Germans because it could act as landmark to allies.
During
a violent storm, in the early morning of 7 November 1940, the west pylon
twists on its base and collapses in the garden of a nearby orphanage of St
Michel. A twisted mass of metal tears up its enormous concrete foundation.
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