I had a pen, a typewriter and a telephone. And calls were made to Prague via the switchboard, recalls Pilsen journalist Jaroslav Nedbal
04/14/2022
Photo: Courtesy of the Syndicate of West Bohemian Journalists
Description: Illustrative photo; cutout from the cover of the book Pen, camera and microphone
INTERVIEWS ON THE EDGE Are you interested in anyone? In fact, journalist Jaroslav Nedbal, who joined the regional editorial office of the Ministry of Finance in Pilsen on October 1, 1970, asks questions throughout this interview. The interview interview usually has a lot of information about the interviewee. This time it ended on his own – in the article. In addition, unfortunately we do not have a photo of Mr. Nedbal. He doesn’t have Facebook, neither he nor the Syndicate… Just an old school.
Mr. Nedbal, you run the Syndicate of West Bohemian Journalists and you have prepared a new book for it. What is it?
About the title Pen, camera and microphone. It has eighteen chapters, in each of which someone (and perhaps I can say ONE OF US) looks back on their performances, I remember the memories. At the same time, it is not just about working for newspapers as we knew them (because they have changed significantly and costs are constantly going down and falling), but also about radio and television. At the same time, be prepared to delve far into the depths of the last century, to the middle of the 1950s.
You can take the book electronically browse HERE – She’s great, so interesting. |
In fact, this is also the history of the former Truth – including a look back at the moments of 1968, when the editors published the newspaper illegally…
Yes. I put the book together, and it would have been here sooner if it weren’t for the flu era. The idea dates back to 2018. But I knew it wouldn’t be so easy to interview everyone, even to get some witnesses at all. Put it together.
You also wrote a piece of this book. And he doesn’t forget the movie either. As far as I know, Film Studio Plzeň first sewed under the wings of the Park of Culture and Leisure. Only then was he swallowed by Krátký film Praha, after which he is under private direction.
But time also swallowed it all. Today… Of course, young people don’t even know what radio was. Despite the fact that it was Pilsen, which – as the only city in Czechoslovakia – broadcast live matches of its Škoda through it. Yes, by wire. Mirek Pražák, a legendary commentator for league matches from the winter stadium and Štruncovy sady, also contributed to this. And as you may know, he was an athlete himself (as a tennis player rolled), then he became the coach of the national team and… When the fighters went down to the second league, Míra also arranged live broadcasts from places and stations outside Pilsen. I myself was needed when it was broadcast from Čelákovice.
You – and twenty other authors – have provided the book and a dictionary of your own gimmick. It is in the chapter When the opener is not a tool and the breaker does not work in the quarry.
Exactly.
And when you have already introduced me to sports: coach Václav Ježek once probably caught up with a report from the match between Škoda Plzeň and Viktorka Žižkov. How?
At that time, I worked in the Prague editorial office of Mladá fronta and at the same time I was an external collaborator of the sports section of Pilsen’s Pravda. I agreed to send a report by phone about some matches of the then football team Škoda Plzeň. That would be the case.
Skoda lost then after a wild match with Bohemka (thanks to the very strange verdicts of the referee) and I did not dare to call from the home office, so I decided to call from the booth. And what I don’t see. The famous coach Václav Ježek himself calls there. With desperate gestures, I warned her that I really needed to call. He just shrugged, suggesting it was over. But even that was enough to make the report arrive late. The editors used a paper from the Czech News Agency. So that’s the cause.
Was there a time when you wanted to cut back on working on a book about the work of West Bohemian journalists?
Of course, there were more of those moments. Especially when she was roaring the corona. We could not meet in person, and that slowed us down. It was impossible to go to libraries, archives. The Internet was not very valid for us. But I must say that everyone I involved in the work gradually and literally failed – and worked very tenaciously. So, to my surprise, we clearly held on to each other and cheered on each other.
Nevertheless, the approach of some Slovaks disappointed you?
There were some former colleagues I spoke to: they promised to write something, but even after several emergencies they did not react, so we quietly ended everything.
What is the relationship between the reflection of newspapers, radio, television and film in that new book?
In the field of journalism, you will certainly not measure or consider anything. It depends on what angle you look at everything. Each medium has its perpetrators: readers, listeners and viewers. To this we add today’s power of the Internet. Everything is happening and I … I would leave it as it is.
Are there things that you ultimately failed to make books fit and moments in the depths of oblivion?
Not many things fit in the book. However, the reasons were clearly given by finances and scope. Therefore, in the secret of my soul, I hope that we will be able to follow up on this first attempt and issue a sequel.
What if someone starts telling you that witnesses’ memories are usually distorted?
Most of our authors are over sixty and have been running for years. The memory is still serving us, maybe everything will work out and we will meet for that sequel. I certainly speak for all current authors.
How do you remember your beginnings?
I started as a Young Front and Young World correspondent in the mid-1960s. At that time, I worked as an educator and leisure instructor at the boarding school of the Railway School in Česká Třebová. There were many sports and cultural events there during the year. For example, we had the Theater Circle, Reces Club, Club of Friends of Jaroslav Foglar. We organized scooter races and much more. I wrote reports about everything in the local district and regional newspapers and in the already mentioned MF and MS.
When I finished in Třebová and returned to Pilsen, I started working again as a leisure instructor – in the then Union of High School Students and Apprentices. There was also space to write here – about paddlers, girls’ soccer, literature, about events at the Dominik Club.
When?
It was on 1.10.1970.
And how did your beginnings continue in employment?
All I had to do was a pen, a typewriter and a telephone. But then they called Prague via the exchange. It also took ten minutes to connect! – So it is not technically possible to compare that time with today. There was more collegiality, I had daily contact with people, I got to know work in the field, in factories, on construction sites or in schools. I learned all journalistic genres that you won’t even find in newspapers today.
Does anyone today know correctly what a gloss, column, judge, report and interview is? No. Today, newspapers, television and radio are dominated by advertising money. And that’s very sad.
But I am glad that during my work I was able to meet and meet such personalities as Karel Pacner, Milan Syruček, Oldřich Vejvoda, Jaroslav Šálek, Rudolf Křesťan and many others.
What would you say to today’s daily newspaper cost reduction?
I’ll probably be very brief here. To learn to read the newspaper, listen to the radio or television, the journalists did it themselves. But I would not blame them because I have to work for those who pay. However, with the growing pressure on advertising space, even those sections that people then lack logically disappear. Everything around us runs and flies faster. So many things are simplified, there is an effort to speak with one voice and other opinions are not very tolerated. People then look for an alternative. For example, on the Internet.
The focus of the book is Pilsen. But what about the complete west, which includes Karlovy Vary or Cheb? The book is less about those areas!
Our interest was focused only on Pilsen. But if it continues, the content will expand to the areas you mentioned, where there is a lot worth noting.
I am not alone in noticing a general phenomenon: the outflow of creators to Prague. Some will stay there after their studies and others will run away from Pilsen over time. I am also talking about culture in general, and of course also about sports. Do we have to take this for granted?
It depends on the people and what you want to achieve in the profession. Sometimes, I admit, they only seem to be interested in money and careers. And that is unfortunately not enough.
Where and when will the book be presented?
We are counting on several autograph signings, but even here there are many obstacles. Today we come across them in bookstores, so we are looking for other premises. We will inform those interested about everything. – You know, we didn’t expect any obstacles at this point. Rather, we believed that it would help stores sell other products. Oh yeah, we were wrong. Times are really changing.
Entered by: Ivo Fencl