Mailbox

Welcome to Mailbox, Radio Prague’s weekly programme that you, the listeners, help write.

Our first letter today takes us to Ireland. Radio Prague’s regular listener Jonathan Murphy sent us this upon receiving our printed winter broadcast schedule:
“Many thanks for your QSL and new programme schedule. It is very nice to see the photos each six months. Miroslav Krupicka's piece about the move to new studios on a temporary basis was very enjoyable to read as I remember my own visit amid the renovation works some time back. The pictures bring back memories of my own go on the paternoster elevator. Only recently I came across the QSL of Dvorak which you all kindly autographed during my visit! A nice memento of a great visit and interview with David Vaughan. I can fully sympathise with the sense of homelessness when you move office, and I hope the renovation work will be carried out on time (builders here at least can be very slow!). Radio Prague is truly one of the most listener orientated stations on the air and internet, and it is nice to feel a part of your office moving experience.”

From Ireland let’s now go to Massachusetts from where George Derringer wrote:

“Great Magazine show this weekend! I especially enjoyed the Grand Tour of Hell story and the one about the Russian book about Czech beers - and I would warn the author that beer is not the only thing he will be giving up by getting married! Having said that, I have been very happily married for 28 years and have been listening to Radio Prague since 1960, all through the changes in your country since then. I enjoy Radio Prague very much!”

On the other side of the globe, in South Korea’s capital Seoul, Lola Hamrayeva enjoyed a story about the Moser glassworks by Joshua Singer:

“It was nice to learn more about the 'King of Glass' and world-famous products from one of the articles. I, myself, was born, lived and worked in one of the former Soviet Union republics, where people highly admired Bohemian crystal glass. Ask any woman from the former USSR what her association with Czechs is, and you may immediately hear in response: ‘Bohemian glass and Czech porcelain’. Skoda and Java, August 1968, the Good Soldier Schweik and [the television fairy tale] 'Three Nuts for Cinderella'... The love and appreciation of that product were so huge that any mother (my mom was no exception) would buy as much ‘Bohemia’ glass as she could afford for her daughter and future daughter-in-law as a bridal gift. Thanks for the interesting article.”

With Christmas approaching and 2007 drawing to it end, we’ve already received greetings from our listeners around the world. This one is from Helmut Matt from Germany:

“Thanks for another year of great broadcasts and information from the Czech capital. I'm looking forward to many more hours with Radio Prague in 2008. Hope to meet you in Prague next year - I think Linda and I will be there in mid April.”

Thank you very much for writing in to Radio Prague and helping put together this Mailbox programme. Our monthly listeners’ competition could be another reason for you to write in to Radio Prague and perhaps include a comment or question in your answer.

This month our mystery Czech is a lady. She was born one hundred years ago in Prague. This famous soprano was a star of the Metropolitan Opera in the 1940s and 1950s. She died in New York in 1994.

Your answers should reach us by the end of December at the usual address: english@radio.cz or Radio Prague, 12099 Prague. All your letters are very welcomed. Until next week, thanks for listening and bye-bye.