The voice that bridged five continents: The secret behind Radio Prague's international success (5)
The international broadcasts of Czechoslovak Radio were never just a one-way stream of news and music disappearing into the airwaves. From the very beginning, they formed a vibrant dialogue between Prague and the rest of the world. Thousands of letters each day, enthusiastic listeners in Africa and Latin America, remote listener clubs in Cuba, and Czechoslovak sailors in the middle of the ocean all found comfort, inspiration and a connection to another world through broadcasts from home. The following story takes you on a fascinating journey through the decades, brought to life by the memories of those who were there.
For those who created the broadcasts, it was not always easy to judge the impact of their work. Yet writer Arnošt Lustig always looked back on the atmosphere with fondness.
"When I joined, there was a joke in the foreign service that dozens of people worked here so that one Greek farmer could listen to the broadcasts... But it really was just a joke, because the letters we received were a form of literature in their own right," Lustig recalled, describing the overwhelming response from listeners.
Tiger skins and Cuban cigars: The beginnings of a global connection
As early as 1936, the voice from Prague quickly found an international audience, and the response was almost immediate.
"After just the first month of experimental broadcasting, our radio had already received hundreds of letters from every continent," recalled former editor Josef Cincibus with pride, describing a success that connected Prague with expatriate Czechoslovaks in America and elsewhere around the world.
A close, almost family-like relationship soon developed between the station and its listeners. Expatriates wrote regularly to the Prague newsroom and occasionally sent personal gifts.
"I remember it as if it were yesterday. During a Sokol gathering, one of our Slovak listeners from Cuba came to visit us... and brought me a box of excellent Cuban cigars," former announcer Juro Horvát recalled with a smile.
An even more extraordinary gift arrived for the hugely popular announcer Zdeňka Walló.
"One day, a huge crate arrived addressed to her. It looked like a safe, lined with metal on the inside. And inside was a beautiful, tanned, soft, magnificently coloured tiger skin," editor František Kamil Zeman recalled of the remarkable parcel from overseas.
From Swahili to listener clubs across Africa and Asia
When Radio Prague fully resumed broadcasting after the Second World War, the number of languages in which it spoke to the world expanded dramatically. Alongside English, German and French, broadcasts gradually became available in Arabic, Swahili and even Guaraní, an Indigenous language of South America.
"We have listeners on every continent. We're talking about millions of people," Vladimir Vipler, then director of international broadcasting, said confidently in 1975, reflecting the station's global ambitions.
The station regularly organised competitions offering listeners the chance to win a dream trip to Czechoslovakia. Meeting the winners in person often created unforgettable moments.
"We welcomed a young man from Guinea... We took him up to Hradčany, and when he saw Prague he couldn't understand it. He said, 'So many old buildings—why don't you tear them down?'" editor Pavla Jazajriová recalls with a smile.
At the same time, contact with listeners also served as a tool of ideological outreach through organised Radio Prague listener clubs, which sprang up across developing countries.
"Many of these countries were looking towards socialism. Listening to Czechoslovakia's international broadcasts gave them a kind of blueprint for how to build socialism," explains radio historian Tomáš Pánek. He adds that one such club in Cuba was called Lidice Lives.
By the 1970s, nearly 600 Radio Prague listener clubs were operating worldwide, receiving hundreds of thousands of promotional materials every year. The clubs also maintained lively correspondence with the station.
"Their activities were very diverse. Some even played football under our colours. In Damascus, for example, we sent them jerseys bearing the Radio Prague logo," says deputy editor-in-chief Jana Špíšková.
Former editor Mufid Jazairi also remembers the remarkable variety of letters arriving from abroad.
"Most of our mail came from Iraq and Egypt. Of course, some letters discussed political developments, but many people were interested in culture and sport," he recalls.
Mushroom picking for Europe and news on the high seas
Not all regular listeners tuned in primarily for politics. Programmes aimed at Western Europe adopted a much more moderate tone and focused on everyday life and culture.
"We had a programme featuring Spanish music—the traditional kind, flamenco and similar genres. People responded enthusiastically and wrote to us about it," says Antonio Casado, who spent many years with the Spanish-language service.
Stories about ordinary life in Czechoslovakia proved equally popular.
"They had no idea what life was like here... We talked about weekend cottages, for example. Even things like mushroom picking. They were fascinated by that. And above all, they wanted to know about our castles and châteaux," recalls Latin America editor Ivana Vonderková.
One particularly unique audience consisted of Czechoslovak sailors sailing the world's oceans.
"The sailors were a chapter of their own. The radio operator would receive our news broadcasts, type them up, and pin them to the notice board so the crew could read them," explains editor Zdeňka Kuchyňová.
Technician Karel Koníček illustrates the emotional significance of those broadcasts by quoting from an old sailor's letter:
"It was a sacred moment when, in the middle of the night on the open ocean, we listened to Czech music and the Czech language broadcast from our distant homeland."
A radio that endures: From the Velvet Revolution to the Digital Age
The geopolitical changes of 1989 transformed both the world map and listening habits. Organised Radio Prague listener clubs quickly disappeared, and by the 1990s the Czechoslovak merchant fleet—and its loyal audience of sailors—had also vanished. Yet Radio Prague's signal continued to reach international audiences, and listeners visiting Europe often made a point of stopping by the station itself.
"They came straight up to our office... lined up and sang 'Bohemia, Beautiful Bohemia.' Not because anyone had asked them to—it simply came from the heart," Josef Kubeczka recalls, remembering a spontaneous visit by a group of listeners from Australia.
Nor was the bond limited to emigrants of Czech origin.
"I listened to many international stations, but Radio Prague has always held a special place in my heart," said Wolfgang Brodöhl of Munich, who had followed the station faithfully since 1968.
Nostalgia and loyalty have endured despite the passing of time.
"We recently received a lovely email from Barcelona. It was from the daughter of a man now in his nineties who still fondly remembers winning a sewing machine from one of our competitions," says Daniel Ordoñez, head of the Spanish-language service, smiling at the continuing correspondence.
Today, Radio Prague's voice lives on in digital form. Its lasting appeal was reflected in a message sent by a listener from Egypt in January 2026, congratulating the station on its 90th anniversary and wishing it many more years of successful broadcasting.
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