Literary programmes on the radio
Literature on Vltava
The tradition of Czech literary programmes on the radio spans more than 85 years. From the start, it has been in the form of broadcasting samples of manuscripts or published – either in magazines or as books – literary works; original works specially created for the radio as well as programmes providing information on literature. This was the case with the Prague Radiojournal but also with the Brno and Ostrava branches where literature was broadcast in the stations’ own productions. Radio adaptations of literary works were produced by E. F. Burian, Jindřich Honzl or František Kožík, for instance.
The number and variety of literary programmes on the radio is considerable. For these – cultural – tasks, the national radio has designated a specialized station – Czech Radio 3-Vltava. This so-called 3rd programme, broadcasting on VHF for the more intellectually inclined listeners, was established in 1960 and four years later – in January 1964 – received its own newsroom. Among its contributors were Antonín Přidal, who collaborated with the Brno station from its inception, as well as Suchý and Šlitr, Miroslav Horníček, Jan Werich, Ivan Vyskočil and Emanuel Frynta. Following the separation of the Slovak Devín station in 1972, the station was named Vltava. To this day, it has remained faithful to a cultural and artistic programming, even founding the Klub Vltava for its listeners.
Among the objectives of the station is not only to inform about and broadcast Czech literature, but also to foster the development of national culture and encouarage creative experimentation through its productions. The programmes that remain faithful to this formula on Czech Radio 3-Vltava include: the popular Četba na pokračování (Serial Reading, daily at 6.30pm), the half-an-hour Moderní (či také Klasická) povídka (Modern or Classical Short Story – Thursdays at 4pm, Sundays at 11.30am), Noční bibliotéka (Nocturnal Bibliotheque, Sundays at 1:30am), Stránky na dobrou noc (Good-Night Pages, daily at 11pm) or Pokračování za pět minut (To Be Continued in Five Minutes during holidays).
The 15-minute Svět poezie (World of Poetry, Saturdays at 10.45pm) features poems which are sometimes accompanied by reviews, essays or interviews, whereas Nedělní verše (Sunday Verses, 12.05pm) airs a single poem. The ten-minute slot Poezie (Poetry, Monday to Friday at 1.30pm) follows in a monothematic vein, whilst in Sladké je žít (Life is Sweet, jazz, Saturdays 5.45pm) and Souzvuk (Harmony, classical, Sundays 9am) poetry is complemented with music. Bordering on arts and reporting is Víkendová příloha (Weekend Supplement, Saturdays, 8am) or a series of essays and reflections called Psáno kurzívou (Written In Italics, Monday to Friday 10am). Culture news features on Mozaika (Mosaic, Monday to Friday 7-9am, 3-4pm) and discussions are prominent in Kritický klub (Critics‘ Club, Mondays 4pm).
Among the programmes with ample airtime is the two-hour – previously five-hour – show Páteční večer (Friday Night, 8pm) which combines literature, music and reporting into one, mostly monothematic whole. Not to be omitted is drama – radio dramatization of crime and humour books is offered by Hra pro tento večer (A Play for This Evening, Thursdays at 8pm) as well as the minutiae Mikrohra (Microplay) which is aired on Saturdays before noon. The cream of the crop of Czech and foreign original radio plays can be found in Klub rozhlasové hry (The Radio Play Club, Tuesdays at 9.30pm) which boasts authors like Ludvík Aškenazy, Václav Havel, Milan Uhde and Ivan Vyskočil.
An idiosyncratic radio show – and the 'paragon' of literature on radio – is the series Schůzky s literaturou (Literary Encounters, Sundays 8pm). Among its ambitions, professed online here (www.rozhlas.cz/vltava/porady), is to present a special radio slot in this airtime. This synthetic monothematic segment is created from various smaller parts (genres) utilizing montage in order to evoke drama through its dynamic composition. This slot employs various journalistic and artistic genres even though its basic intentions and execution are documenatary and not fictional.
In the past, even poets (Dalibor Chalupa) and reporters (František Gel) would produce these special radio slots on various topics. Nowadays, this genre is primarily used for presenting literary monographs – profiles of writers complemented with samples of their work, often made on a special occassion. This should not, however, be a mere succession of information and quotes. The constitutive discontinuity – the alternation of genres and voices – is not without a purpose in the these types of radio slots.
Its intention is to instill a confrontation of perspectives, opinions and a thoroughly authentic yet artistically compelling portrayal of life and work with all its discrepancies, conflicts and drama. The programme is co-produced by staff and contributors; writers, translators, literary theorists and university students. The cooperation of actors and radio directors is self-evident. Interviews and reports are often included in the programme. In the last few years, the invidual programmes were devoted to the following personalities from contemporary Czech literature: Jiří Kuběna, Pavel Švanda, Jan Skácel, Karel Křepelka, Václav Vokolek, Petr Holman, Josef Jedlička, Miloš Vodička, Bohumil Nuska, Zdeněk Volf, Lenka Reinerová, Jiřina Hauková, Věroslav Mertl, Milan Kundera, Jan Trefulka, Ivan Blatný, Zbyněk Hejda, Ludvík Kundera, Věřa Linhartová, Vladimír Macura, Josef Škvorecký, Josef Hiršal, Bohumila Grögerová, Zdeněk Rotrekl, Markéta Pilátová, Radim Vašinka, Pavel Zajíček, Jan Balabán and others.
As in 1926, Czech Radio also instigates the production of original radio plays. Aside from radio makers, established writers also participate on these calls and competitions. As part of the project Hra pro třetí tisíciletí (A Play for the Third Millenium) radio pieces including Pavel Pavel Pavel by Arnošt Goldflam, Milan Uhde’s Zjasněná noc (Bright Night), Prodám ucho, prodám hrob (Selling My Ear/Selling My Grave) by Antonín Přidal, Cesta k pólu (Journey to the Pole) by Daniela Fischerová, Cesta do Lo (Journey to Lo) by Ignot Hana Slavíková or Vykřičené domy (Houses of Ill Repute) by David Drábek were all broadcast.
A recent project Vinohradská 12 encompasses twelve original plays which are broadcast at the time of Klub rozhlasové hry (Radio Play Club) – the last Tuesday of the month. The authors contributing to this project include: David Drábek, Pavel Brycz, Marek Epstein, Petr Kolečko, Lenka Lagronová, Marek Horoščák, Magdalena Frydrychová, Jaroslav Rudiš, Tomáš Zmeškal, Martin Františák, Bogdan Trojak and Emil Hakl.
Radio plays by young Czech authors are heavily featured in the series Hry a dokumenty nové generace (Plays and Documentaries of the New Generation) as part of the Čajovna programme broadcast every fourth Sunday. The cycle commenced in January 2007 as an initiative of the playwrights and radio teachers Jan Vedral and Antonín Přidal in an effort to encourage fledgling authors. Nevertheless, the cycle also features works by more established writers such as Jáchym Topol and his play Cesta do Bugulmy (A Journey to Bugulma). Additionally, writers primarily renowned for their work – Kateřina Rudčenková (Niekur, Čas třešňového dýmu, Time of Cherry Smoke) or Jaroslav Rudiš (Léto v Laponsku, Summer in Lapland – with Petr Pýcha) – in other literary genres aired their drama works in Čajovna too. Radek Malý’s Pocit nočního vlaku (A Night Train Feeling) was also produced for the same slot, but outside of the cycle itself.
The particular programme series have their own websites (on www.rozhlas.cz/vltava) with articles and audio archive from past shows. In the Plays and Literature section, selected literary and drama programmes can be streamed online (http://www.rozhlas.cz/vltava/stream) for up to one week after their initial broadcast.
Contemporary, particularly young literati, are also invited to talk about their new books often more than once a month by Čajovna presenters Jaroslav Rudiš, Jaroslava Haladová, Kateřina Rathouská and Igor Malijevský.
Literature on other radio Czech Radio stations and on private radio stations
Czech Radio is not only Vltava, even though this station does hold a unique place in the realm of literary adaptations. Serial readings are broadcast from Monday to Saturday at 10.05pm by Czech Radio Two (formerly Praha) which favours the more popular genres of literature, currently especially memoirs. Poetry features on Poetické nokturno (Poetic Nocturno, Sundays 10.05pm) presented by the literary critic, editor and idiosyncratic reciter Mirek Kovářík, who previously presented a show called Zelené peří (Green Feathers) there. Nedělní pohádka (Sunday Story, 1.05pm) and Saturday’s Hra pro děti a jejich rodiče (A Play for Children and Their Parents, 1.05pm) count among the proverbial on this station. Radio Two also broadcasts plays for adults as well as the bi-monthly magazine devoted to 'books and life' called Lenoška Iva Šmoldase.
On Thursdays, Czech Radio 6 broadcasts a chat show entitled Kritický klub Jana Rejžka (Jan Rejžek’s Critical Club, Thursdays at 8.10pm) with news from Czech and foreign culture. The Sunday series Portréty (Profiles) may also feature artists.
Rádio Česko (Czech Republic), like Czech Radio 1-Radiojournal, broadcasts a magazine that reflects news and past events in Týden v kultuře (A Week in Culture), while on Wednesdays Radio Wave airs a 'programme about literature, books, reading and writing' called Liberatura 'Liberating literature from everything that need be‘.
Czech Radio’s regional stations likewise provide a fairly diverse selection of programmes on literature or literary shows per se. Plzeň (Pilsen) broadcasts a show called Literární doteky (Literary Encounters, Monday through Friday, before noon) – readings of short literary texts primarily related to the West Bohemian region. Aside from this, its schedule also encompasses the 30-minute Víkendové čtení (Weekend Reading) aired each Saturday and Sunday.
České Budějovice play it safe with the time-proven Četba na pokračování (Serial Reading, thirty minutes each working day) with the first-run Rozhlasová povídka (Radio Short Story) scheduled once a week. Apart from the Kulturní revue (Cultural Revue), the now defunct Putnův jihočeský literární místopis (Putna’s South Bohemian Literary Topography) had the literary historian Martin C. Putna introducing authors inspired by South Bohemia or in some way connected to the region.
Ostrava broadcasts two Saturday shows with a name that alludes to literature: Čítárna (Reading Room) which introduces new books and Podvečerní čtení (Evening Reading) where primarily Silesian-Moravian authors read.
Olomouc broadcasts a programme Knižní kurýr (Heralding Books) produced by literary theorist Petr Hanuška; the series Počteníčko (Good Read) is renowned for having young authors – mostly students of radio, TV dramaturgy and scriptwriting at the Theatre Faculty at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts – as guests. Hanuška also participates on the selection process of titles for the series Setkání s literaturou (Literary Encounters) which iscentred on news from Czech prose.
The Brno studio has a litertary slot on the Saturday‘s literary-journalistic magazine Zelný rynk as well as the series Sobotní listování (Saturday Browsing), an overview of newly published titles. A literary guest might appear on the Sunday show Sedmé nástupiště (7th Platform), while Račte vstoupit k Josefu Veselému (Please Come In), broadcast on Sundays, is also open to readings and literature.
Outside of the Czech Radio airwaves, literature appears sparsely. It comes as a great surprise then that the private Radio 1 broadcasts a ten-minute show Knižní servis (Book Service, Tuesdays at 5pm) about new books with interviews and readings. Online radios – such as Black Box, a radio project of students from the Theatre Faculty at Janáček Academy and Masaryk University’s Radio R, both based in Brno – sporadically dedicate their airtime to literature.
Alena Blažejovská
