Mailbox
Today in Mailbox: Interview with a Radio Prague listener, response to RP programme, monthly listeners’ competition. Listeners/readers quoted: Doug Grant, Louise Parslow, Sirajul Islam, Hans Verner Lollike, Deblina Biswas.
But first of all we bring you a very special interview with an old-time Radio Prague listener. Doug Grant and his wife Karen from the US visited the Czech Republic recently and popped in to see us at Radio Prague. We took the opportunity to ask Doug when he first started listening to Czech Radio or Czechoslovak Radio as it was back then:
“Well, I began listening in late 1965 and through the spring of 1966 and off and on through the rest of 66 and 67. “
It was an exciting time to be listening to Radio Prague, you could tell that changes were taking place in this country…
“Oh, absolutely. At the time, I was twelve years old, I had just gotten a shortwave radio and in the evenings after my schoolwork was done, I would listen around to the biggest signals, Radio Moscow was easy to hear – they had so many transmitters with a lot of power, the BBC was always easy to hear and Radio Prague had one of the biggest signals on the 41 and 49-metre bands. They were very easy to hear every evening.”
So you could hear history in the making…
“Yeah, what was interesting to me was if I listened to Radio Moscow, they would present the news one way, and it was very biased, and if I listened to the BBC, it was very unbiased, and if I listened to Radio Prague, it was sort of in the middle. I could tell from the way things were reported that they weren’t speaking exactly what the party line was, they were beginning to add a little bit more information about changes going on in Czechoslovakia at the time.”
So what are your memories of Radio Prague then?
And they were behind the Iron Curtain, was it not strange to be listening to…?
“They were, it was very strange. I’ve since found out that Jean Nováková was a made-up name and it was really a Canadian woman who was broadcasting for Radio Prague at the time. “
What would you like to hear from Radio Prague these days? What do you expect? What do you look for?
“Well, I think the international broadcasting stations serve an important role – we can hear the news from a different perspective. News coverage especially in the US has gotten very polarized and very biased depending on which source you listen to, you hear one side or the same event can be reported and be totally different. And I think on the international scene we also need to hear the news reported by people who are in the country as well as people who are sending reporters from outside the country.”
That was Radio Prague’s old-time listener Dough Grant who visited us here in Prague.
Louise Parslow responded to an older story by David Vaughan:
Thank you for all your messages and reception reports as well as your comments on our Facebook page.
And now let’s hear some of the correct answers to last month’s quiz question:
Sirajul Islam from the Indian state of West Bengal wrote:
“David Zeisberger was born in 1721 in the eastern town of Suchdol nad Odrou and died in 1808 in Goshen Township, Ohio. He was a clergyman and worked as a missionary among the Native American. He established a community in Ohio, and one in the Canadian province of Ontario.”
Hans Verner Lollike from Denmark writes:
“I am always happy to find historical and cultural connections between our two countries. The Bohemian Brethren is one of them. Being a church historian myself, I must admit that the influence of the Herrnhutter community in Denmark has never been an object of scientific studies but is was much greater than one would expect. I have visited the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, the Herrnhutter colony in Germany, and Christiansfeld in Denmark. The simplicity and sincerity of the faith and life that came from the teachings of Jan Hus and his followers is even today a source of inspiration. When the Danish King wanted to send the first protestant missionaries to the Danish Colony in Danish West Indies and later to Greenland, he used the Brethren, because they had an understanding of the local culture and the willingness to live as one of them.
“This is the same with David Zeisberger, born in 1721 in the eastern town of Suchdol nad Odrou, known in German as Zauchtenthal. With his family he went to the Community of Moravian Brethren in Herrnhut, Saxonia, where Count Zinzendorf had created a refuge for the followers of Jan Hus. He ended up in the USA, mainly to create Moravian settlements among the Czechs, but he got a calling to work among the native Americans (Indians) as a missionary. He lived among them, spoke their language and even created a dictionary. He defended their rights whenever necessary. He died in their community and was buried there – near the village of Goshen, Ohio.”
And Deblina Biswas is our regular listener from India:
“During this time he studied the Delaware and Mohawk languages which, in fact, had helped him a lot later on in his missionary work. After returning to the USA to rejoin his family in 1738, he lived for a long sixty three years among the Red Indians, received a Red Indian name and became a true member of the Red Indian family in letters and spirit. The Red Indians used to lead their lives as those of savages. But David, being a splendid organizer, made them sober, pure, wise, kind and brave. In other words David became the true apostle to the American Indians.
“He had to face confrontation from the British Authorities for his advocacy of the rights for the American natives during the American Revolution resulting in his arrest. In 1781 he married Susanne Lecron. He died on the 17th of November 1808. The manuscripts and published works of David Zeisberger contain valuable information about the life in Pennsylvania during the 18th century.”
Thank you so much for your answers and this time the prize goes to our faithful listener and contributor Hans Verner Lollike from Denmark. Congratulations and here’s a brand new question for the coming weeks.
Our mystery man this time is the Czech gymnast and Olympic athlete born in 1899 in Brno who received medals at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. For his involvement in the anti-Nazi resistance he was imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo. He died after being released from prison in 1943.
Please send us his name by August 5th to the usual address [email protected]. Mailbox will be back again in four weeks’ time. Until then please keep your e-mails and reception reports coming. Happy listening and take care!
