Radio Flora from Hanover – in Polish

Here is the Polish editorial board at Radio Flora ...
 

Today is the second Tuesday of December 2002. This time, we have allowed our new radio recruits to prepare the weekly Polish feature programme “Polenflug”. We meet in the studio, one hour before the start of the broadcast. Today, we are focusing mainly on topics that directly affect the local Polish community: a report on the young talent concert in Hanover, a presentation of the Association of Polish Engineers, and information about the requirements for studying at German universities. The only exception is the discussion about Olga Tokarczuk’s latest book. Mira Duszek, Antek Stiller and I discuss the programme sequence and presentation, Katarzyna Liesiewitz records the political news items, and Teresa Czaniecka-Kufer talks on the phone with my namesake Grażyna Słomka, since we can’t find her material on our computer. It’s not only her material that’s missing. Since the very beginning, the PC has been the weakest link in our chain of work. Nearly everyone has access to it and prepared recordings are often shifted arbitrarily from one place to another or even deleted. After combing through the entire hard drive, we succeed in fishing out the recordings by Agata Kwiatkowska and Regina Hinkelmann. Fortunately, Mira has brought her recording on a MiniDisc and Antek will speak live, so we’ve only lost one contribution.

Five minutes to go before we go on air. Mira sits at the production desk and prepares the music records, while trying not to disturb our colleagues from “Magazin International”, who are on air. Katarzyna, who has just finished recording the political news, joins her. Antek and I make ourselves comfortable in the studio. We have the programme sequence log, the texts for the presenter, the cultural news items, notes, a jumble of papers, and a glass of water. Two minutes to go before we’re on air. We put on our headphones. The end music for the previous programme is already running.

The voice of the technician on shift abruptly comes through: “One-and-a-half minutes to go,” he says into our internal studio mike, then: “Why is the computer switched off?!” I tear off the headphones and run behind the glass wall. I switch on the computer and enter the password. Just 30 seconds to go. The software takes an age to load up. Finally, it gets going. I take a practised glance at the material. The political news items are missing! “Jingle, words of welcome, then music,” I command, immediately throwing Mira’s carefully planned sequence into disarray right at the start of broadcast. By the time I return to the mic, Antek has already started presenting the show. While the first song is running, we again rifle through the hard drive at the production desk. There are eight recordings all with the same name. Which one contains today’s material? “Kasia, get in the studio, quick!” I say. “If need be, you’ll have to read the text live!” Katarzyna turns pale, but goes into the studio without saying a word. Ten seconds before the song finishes, we find the right recording. Katarzyna isn’t the only one to breathe a sigh of relief. After a start like that, we’re ready for anything. Antek reads his feature like an angel, Mira and Katarzyna help the sound technician incorporate the changes in the programme sequence, and I keep an eye on the clock. We finish the programme on time and without any further hitches. “Thank you for joining us. We’ll be joining you on air at the same time next week.”

This was how Grażyna Kamień-Söffker described a typical “Polenflug” broadcast for the monthly journal “Twoja Gazeta” (No. 2/15, February 2003) to mark the 5th anniversary of the date on which the programme first went on air.