Mailbox
In Mailbox today: Radio Prague Christmas competition, Christmas carols on our website, problems with RealAudio broadcasts last weekend. Listeners quoted: Mark Schiefelbein, Paul Hoffmann, Stephen Hrebenach, Frank Bahula, Eva Roubickova.
Hello and welcome to Mailbox. In today’s edition we get a foretaste of Christmas with Radio Prague’s Christmas competition but first of all, let’s quote these two messages that mention different possibilities to listen to our programmes.
Mark Schiefelbein lives in the United States:
“Let me say thanks once more to David Vaughan for his From the Archives series. As a history buff I find it fascinating listening, and I've subscribed to the podcast as a backup just in case I miss an episode on the airwaves.”
Paul Hoffmann from Australia is also planning to combine shortwave listening and listening via the internet:
“I listened to your station via the web for the first time. I tuned into the Mailbox program and then to an interesting discussion on the history of the Czech Republic in the 20th Century. I am interested in short wave listening and I will try to tune in directly when I get a chance.”
Also on the topic of internet broadcasts, Stephen Hrebenach from the United States experienced a problem last weekend:
“Both Saturday and Sunday, when I attempted to listen to Radio Prague on demand via the Real Audio 32 kbps feed, I was unable to do so. My browser said that helix.radio.cz was taking too long to respond. Fortunately, I was able to listen via the MP3 stream. I am not very technically adept, so I don't know which is supposed to be better, but I felt that the MP3 stream wasn't quite as clear as what I am used to via the Real Audio 32 kbps. So I hope that this was just a temporary technical glitch that can be fixed quickly. I thought that I would write to make sure that you are aware of this, assuming that it just isn't a problem on my end.”
“...I have enjoyed listening to some them, but tonight when I tried I just couldn't get to listen to them online.”
Thank you very much for letting us know. It was a technical fault with one of the computers responsible for broadcasting and everything should now be in perfect order. We apologise for the inconvenience.
Eva Roubickova also likes to listen to our carols:
“I just found your web page of Czech Christmas Carols that you apparently did in 2003... We sang these as children in Prague, where I was born (I am now 67 years old) and haven’t sung them in many years. So, it literally brought me to tears and brought back so many lovely memories. Thank you so much for your time and diligence and thoughtfulness in putting these together. Do you happen to have a CD for sale? God bless you and Merry Christmas.”
I am afraid we cannot sell the CDs but there are two options: either you can download the carols for free from our website, or – much more challenging – you can win a CD with Czech Christmas music if you take part in Radio Prague’s internet Christmas competition.
All you need to do is fill in the Christmas crossword puzzle on our website http://www.radio.cz/en/html/crossword.html. The mystery phrase it contains is the name of a prominent Czech artist whose best-known work is closely related to Christmas. If you have difficulties filling in the crossword puzzle check out Radio Prague’s Christmas pages which contain all the answers. Please send the completed crossword puzzle to Radio Prague by the end of December by using the window below the puzzle. Ten winners will be awarded a CD with Czech Christmas music and other small gifts.
And, of course, you can also take part in the mystery Czech competition run by the English section.
“This time we would like to know the name of the Czech doctor who first classified human blood groups into the four types that are used today.”
Your answers need to reach us by the end of the month at [email protected] or Radio Prague, 12099 Prague. Mailbox will be back again next Sunday. Thanks for tuning in today and have a great week.
