Mailbox
This week in Mailbox: The Prague visit of US President Barack Obama, Prague's Wenceslas Square vs. Charles Square, listening to Radio Prague in Canada at 3 am, an interview with Radio Prague's editor-in-chief Gerald Schubert about “Czechs rock Europe” – a song contest co-organised by Radio Prague. Listeners quoted: Jaroslav B. Tusek, Jerry Fridrich, Jeanne-Marie Gingras.
Last Sunday we broadcast a special programme dedicated to the visit of the US President Barack Obama to Prague. Jaroslav B. Tusek from the United States sent us this comment on that very day:
“Thanks be to God for Václav Havel who seems to be one of a very few Czech politicians who do not compromise or appear sabotaging the reputation of the Czech Republic in the U.S. these days. It was good to hear both Václav and Barack had a productive meeting earlier today.”
Our regular reader Jerry Fridrich from Canada made this comment earlier this week on Chris Johnstone’s story on the planned overhaul of Prague’s Karlovo náměstí or Charles Square:
“Since when has Prague's Wenceslaus Square ceased to be the largest square in town? Even during our last visit to Prague last summer no other city's square seemed to be comparable to it as afar as the size is concerned with perhaps one exception, that of Vítězné náměstí at Dejvická, the final subway train station on the Green Line A. Have the Prague City Hall significantly extended Karlovo náměstí since our 2008 visit?”
With its 80,000 square metres, Charles Square is not only the largest square in Prague but also in the whole of the Czech Republic and one of the largest in Europe. Wenceslas Square covers just half of the area and technically isn’t really a square but a large boulevard.
In Québec, Jeanne-Marie Gingras heard us early in the morning:
“During the early hours of this morning, I happened to open the radio around 3 a.m. on the CBC and heard your program. It was very interesting and I want to congratulate you on your excellent work. I know nothing about your country, but the way you organized the program kept my attention and made me want to know more. I laughed about the strange misgivings about your president or prime minister in Brussels and about others. I thoroughly enjoyed the singing and brief lesson on your language.
"I listen to the CBC sometimes, when I can't sleep or wake up in the middle of the morning. Rarely have I heard such interesting reporting with a human side that made me feel close to you. Thank you very much and keep up the good work. You mentioned that you wanted to hear from your listener... This message from a far away but very interested listener...”
Thank you very much, Jeanne-Marie, we always love to hear from our listeners wherever they are and however they tune in.
As you know, the Czech Republic is currently holding the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. And in connection with that Czech Radio along with its media partners Rock&Pop magazine and the Czech Cultural Centre in Berlin is running a music competition called “Czechs rock Europe”. Earlier I spoke to Radio Prague’s editor-in-chief Gerald Schubert who told me about the role Radio Prague played in organising this unique song contest.
"The idea was to ask Czech bands to send us their MP3s – one song per band. We would choose the ten best ones in a jury and present them on the internet and that’s what we are doing right now. People all over the world, our Czech listeners but also foreign listeners can vote and tell us whom they like most.”
It’s also important to mention that the bands taking part in the contest are not professional musicians...
“This was one of the main criteria – they are not professional bands. We thought that we wanted to introduce really young bands who normally don’t have a chance to be played abroad.”
What stage is the contest at right now?
“The first part of the contest is actually finished. That was the part when young non-professional bands could send us their MP3s. Right now, we have the ten best ones we chose in a jury made up of all the partners which was a number of Czech Radio stations, including Radio Prague, of course, and a magazine called Rock&Pop, and the Czech centre in Berlin. So we chose the ten best ones and they are right now on the internet. If you go to our webpage, you will find a link to the contest and you can listen to these ten songs and chose one of them. You can write us an e-mail and tell us which one you like most.”
...which is also the deadline for your answers to our mystery person quiz.
This month we continue in the series of Moravian-born luminaries. Our April mystery man was born in 1856 in the town of Příbor and died in 1939 in London and his work revolutionized the field of psychology.
Please send us your answers to the usual address, [email protected] or Radio Prague, 12099 Prague. We’ll be looking forward to your quiz answers, comments, questions and reception reports. Until next week, happy listening.
