For an indeterminate number of listeners living in eastern Paris, France Inter’s election evening took a very unexpected turn on Sunday, April 10. Instead of the results and analyzes that followed one another on the air, perfectly audible from everywhere else in France, some of the listeners living in the 20e arrondissement of the capital were treated to a sound creation of fifteen to twenty minutes, broadcast on a loop from approximately 8 p.m. to 10:20 p.m. The montage alternated an anti-system speech delivered in a voice from beyond the grave by an anonymous presenter, excerpts from political declarations or even sketches probably taken from films, all against a minimalist musical background giving this sound production an atmosphere. end of the world.
“Friends listeners from Eastern Paristweeted in the evening Laurence Bloch, the director of France Inter, some of you have been confused listening to our election night. We are absolutely sorry about this and are doing everything to understand what happened and prevent it from happening again. » Monday, the technical services of the radio, “in connection with the competent departments of Arcom” (the former CSA, which issues authorizations for the use of frequencies, owned by the State), but also the operator TDF (Télédiffusion de France) have launched an investigation to determine the origin and duration of the piracy . The offense not being in doubt, Radio France should lodge a complaint, even if the phenomenon remained marginal and geographically very limited.
A craft device
According to initial findings, a pirate transmitter was probably installed on the Buttes-Chaumont side, or in the Pyrénées-Jourdain district, which jammed the station’s signal on frequency 87.8 (emitted from the Eiffel Tower). The 87.6 frequency, added in eastern Paris a few years ago to fight against the interference caused by the Towercast transmitter center installed at Porte de Bagnolet, would not have been affected, but the pirate message could also have been broadcast on 107.9 – uncertain at this stage. Listening to the station in DAB + (digital terrestrial radio) and on the Internet was not disturbed, which confirms the hypothesis of an artisanal device. At Radio France, where we do not want to advertise too much about this jamming operation, we remind you that this kind of event is exceptional, even unprecedented.
“A piece of ham fat is more effective than the name of a left-wing candidate on a piece of paper. » “The electoral logic does not twist from within but from without, and not by voting, but by acting. » “We are no longer in the time of the ORTF. But it is always the voice of our masters that we hear on the radio. » Openly political, the statement delivered on purpose on the frequency of the first radio station in France seems to come from the autonomous movement, but has not been claimed at this stage. Sunday at the end of the day, the collective Nantes révoltée, bearer of“information on social and environmental struggles”, but also the account of” General Information ” anti-capitalist Monday morning shared, on Twitter, this hack, as well as another, in Lyon, on frequency modulation 100, claimed by “Radio anti-France”. “Anti-France spits in the electoral soup”, announces the Twitter account of its authors, including “the broadcast” is still accessible on the Internet.