Lucien "Frenchie" Jarraud (September 7, 1922 – August 17, 2007) was a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

radio host for nearly 50 years. He was best known as being the host that started the open talk radio format in Quebec in the 1950s

Born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, Jarraud fought in 1939 with the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

at the age of 17. He was decorated of the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

after he was captured by troops of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

but later narrowly escaped the Germans. Outside of his military service, Jarraud worked for a circus as an acrobat and was also a manager for several

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

artists. In 1948, he decided to move to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Jarraud was then interested in the media department. He then began to work as a radio host at

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

station CJMS in 1955 and started the

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format which was a major development in Quebec radio media history. With CJMS, he was the host of a morning show during his stint at CJMS. He then moved to CKVL for 15 years before doing stints for

CKLM CKLM was a French-language Canadian radio station located in Laval, Quebec (near Montreal). It operated from 1962 to 1994. The station broadcast on 1570 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts full-time as a class B station, using a directional a ...

and CHRS. In his final years he could be heard on the new CJMS

Jarraud made a brief attempt in politics when he was a Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative Candidate in the 1974 federal elections in the riding of St. Henri. He finished second behind Liberal candidate Gerard Loiselle as the Liberal Party won a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

under

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and ...

Jarraud was also known a negotiation, negotiator and credited for saving several people from committing suicide, particularly people that attempted to jump off Montreal's

Jacques-Cartier Bridge The Jacques Cartier Bridge (french: pont Jacques-Cartier) is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec, to the south shore at Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. The bridge crosses Saint Hel ...

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which was known as the bridge with the second highest suicidal rate in the world. Jarraud had used his experience at the circus for climbing the superstructure of the bridge to prevent people from jumping into the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

below. It was Jarraud that influenced other people such as

Claude Poirier Claude Poirier (born October 26, 1938 in Montreal, Quebec) is a negotiator and crime reporter for the Quebec-based Canadian French-language television network TVA. He is best known for negotiating with suspects during hostage situations. Poirier ...

to become a negotiation, negotiator and crime reporter in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to his career as radio host, he also played in several television shows. Jarraud died in Paris on August 17, 2007, at the age of 84 just over a month after suffering from respiratory and heart problems

External links

Biography of Lucien Jarraud (Cyberpresse)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarraud, Lucien 1922 births 2007 deaths French expatriates in Canada Journalists from Quebec Military personnel from Paris French Army personnel of World War II