You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

With misleading information all over the internet, celebrity deepfakes, and scams coming at us from every direction,

it can often feel like we're living in the age of misinformation.

But in reality, it's always been this way.

People have been misleading each other since the dawn of time, using whatever technology they had available.

Julius Caesar had wildly exaggerated tales of his victory recited in the streets of Rome.

Napoleon used fake newspapers to convince an Austrian army to come out of their stronghold.

And in World War I, both sides used airplanes to drop leaflets of propaganda into enemy territory,

the goal being to damage the morale of the opposing army. Here's an excerpt from a German leaflet,

which was directed at American soldiers.

What business is this war in Europe to you anyhow?

You don't want to annex anything, do you?

If you stay with the outfit, ten chances to one, all you will get out of it will be a tombstone in France.

By the time World War II came along, the militaries of the world were using radio broadcasts to do the same thing.

The British had a radio station called Gustav Siegfried Einz that sent negative messages to German soldiers.

The Nazi forces had their own radio station that did the opposite.

Their most famous broadcaster was known as Axis Sally.

Her messages were often aimed at American women who were waiting for their loved ones to come home from the war.

Good people for women of America.

As time goes on, I think of you all the more,

waiting for the vinyl labs,

waiting and weaving in the city of your own room,

...