Lucie Výborná's Guest SPECIAL: Five Personalities - One Radio
On the first day of the festival, on Sunday evening, the well-known Czech Radio Radiožurnál presenter brought her show Lucie Výborná´s Guest (Host Lucie Výborné) to the Olomouc audience together with five colleagues from Czech Radio.
It's early evening, Sunday, October 13, and I'm heading through the darkened streets to the Metropol cinema. Why? As part of Prix Bohemia Radio, the famous presenter has brought the audience to Olomouc to show them the filming of special episodes of Lucie Výborná's Guest. I take my seat in the front row, directly opposite three chairs with grey padding and two coffee tables, a few seconds after her introduction and greeting to the audience. She not only introduced herself and her show, which will go on air and on YouTube in half-hour blocks, but also her first guests.
There are two guests. Big names in the radio scene, which she's been in for a long time. Radio editor, presenter and documentary maker Dagmar Misařová and journalist, editor and presenter Jan Pokorný. The hall was filled with applause, the guests settled into their chairs and the first of the three half-hours of the programme began.
In the following thirty minutes, the presenter asked the guests about their beginnings and what working at Czech Radio gave them. They answered humorously, and in Dagmar's case sometimes extensively, which no one could blame her for because of her experienced and pleasant delivery. Jan Pokorný (friendly) teased her a little bit for it.
Jan Pokorný came to radio after graduating from the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University in 1984 and, as he admitted, it was also thanks to Dagmar. During one dance with her, she shouted to her radio manager, who was dancing nearby, "Take him!" We also heard about Jan Pokorný's backstage conversation with ex-president Zeman, which infamously went down in history.
We also sensed from the overall narrative of the two professionals what they then confirmed verbally. Czech Radio is home for them. A place where they are under the influence of the radio god, whom they perceive differently. A place that is life for them. A place that a little girl from Ostrava became passionate about at the age of ten when she started attending a radio singing group. A place where they forget that their teeth or feet hurt at the microphone. They both agreed that radio has given them a wealth that money can't compensate for. They gained memories of the places and the interesting people they talked to there. That's the main thing for them: talking to people and finding with them a guide to a good life, which they then pass on to their listeners.
The first third of the evening passed at a brisk pace. And then Lucie Výborná welcomed on stage her slightly younger colleagues, actress and presenter Tereza Kostková and the director, actor and presenter known from the Vosto5 Theatre, Ondrej Cihlář. What did radio bring to their original professions and, conversely, what can theatre thinking inspire the work of presenters? This was also discussed. These guests also had a very relaxed conversation, punctuated by bursts of laughter. We were able to get a glimpse into the clashes and intermingling of the worlds of presenting and acting. Listening to and absorbing the story of the guests fulfilled them both, as well as the previous pair.
The third and last half hour was different. There was only one guest on stage with the presenter. This was the "forty-nine year old baby" from the Czech Radio Radiožurnál Sport station, Czech football player, coach, national team player and recently also presenter Pavel Horváth. He demonstrated to the audience that he also handles this profession with bravado. As Lucie explained to us, Pavel Horváth is the only footballer she can talk to, as she does not understand the sport at all.
We learned what it is like to perceive sport from three positions, i.e. from the position in the rectangle of the pitch - as a footballer, next to the rectangle - as a coach and above the rectangle and with a coffee in his frozen hand - as a journalist. Pavel Horváth also works at Czech Radio Radiožurnál Sport as a sports commentator. He proved his skill and sense of humour in communicating with the audience with brilliant witty conversation.
From the audience came one volley of laughter after another. He also told us that his young colleagues have respect for him as a seasoned football professional and that this makes him feel a bit lonely in the newsroom. He would like to be treated more like a friend.
Lucie Výborná welcomed five well-known, different and unique radio personalities on stage in the Metropol cinema in Olomouc. They are united by their trust in radio and their love for telling stories and passing them on to listeners, which is what this is all about. The evening has been recorded for radio listeners and will be broadcast in parts on Czech Radio Radiožurnál's Guest of Lucie Výborná and also on the YouTube channel.
