Using the institutional features of ECB monetary policy announcements, we provide evidence for the risk premium channel of central bank communication. While central bank communication had a homogeneous effect across Euro-area sovereign bond yields before the European debt crisis, it drove a wedge between peripheral and core yields afterwards. Guided by the predictions of a theoretical model in which central bank communication reveals information about the state of the economy, we empirically link the periphery-core wedge to break-up and credit risk premia, and show that equity response to shocks can identify the strength of this risk premium channel.