Czech and Slovak Community Trade and Culture Fest comes to an end in New York

A Czech and Slovak Community Trade and Culture Fest was held for the first time in New York City from October 11-13. Its main aim was to bring some twenty Czech and Slovak manufacturers, producers, and artists closer to the communities of Czechs and Slovaks living in the United States. Radio Prague's General Director Miroslav Krupicka was at the event representing Czech Radio. Dita Asiedu spoke to him earlier and asked him whether he thought the companies present gave a good picture of the Czech Republic:

Czech and Slovak Community Trade and Culture Fest comes to an end in New York

Miroslav Krupicka

"I think it did. It fairly represented the Czech Republic. There were a number of very nice products. There are about two music companies, three publishing houses, and then there are smaller companies producing traditional arts and crafts such as cut glass, wooden products, lace, and so on. So these are the products that are on show for the Czechoslovak expatriate community in New York. But the fest was not properly advertised and not many people knew about it. Some Americans, just passers-by, popped in because they saw the Czech-Slovak fest advertised on St. John's Church in Manhattan, where the whole festival took place."

You were there to promote Czech Radio as well as Radio Prague, Czech Radio's international service that also has listeners in the United States. How much did visitors to the fest know about our station?

"Most of the 500-600 visitors also visited the Czech Radio stand. I handed out information leaflets, booklets, stickers, and all kinds of banners about Czech Radio and Radio Prague and I was pleasantly surprised that some of the visitors knew Czech Radio. They listened to some of its stations such as Radiozurnal or Praha on the internet and some listeners were also listeners of Radio Prague. Many people listened to us on short wave, either in English or in Czech, and some via the internet. So, it was a pleasant surprise for me that people knew about us. I was also very pleased to meet Mr Jiri Havlik, who brought a wind-up short-wave receiver on which he tunes into Radio Prague. It's a very strange device, a kind of emergency radio that you use somewhere in the middle of a desert or during a blackout because you do not need batteries. So that was a kind of curiosity."