Indeed, in the first year, when Culture News was still produced by Henrietta Verhoustinska, we experimented a lot. When reporting on the Brazilian Carnival, I put parrots in my hair, on the Day of the Dance I tried to dance a virtuoso circle with all the cords, my colleague Edgars Raginskis sang, adjusted clothes or joked as needed. It is the two of us who have most often said “Good evening, culture lovers!” out of all 2,500 evenings when Culture News was on the screens.
Even later, during the BBC director’s training, it was emphasized to us that despite the fact that we are in the important LTV News Service studio, we can afford to be different. It must be admitted that none of the Culture news managers are professional news people who have studied journalism. Everyone has their own range of interests – cinema, music, civil society, composing.
The beginning was fragile. In the first broadcast, of course, there were technical glitches. As soon as the Culture News header appeared, the audience could hear in the background how in a shrill voice I was trying to get the tuner out of the frame, who was delayed in front of the cameras. The first broadcast was exactly ten years ago – on September 2, 2013. I had to announce the end of Andrej Žagar’s era at the opera house, with my shoulders lifted in excitement. The plot bogged down a bit and I got “something to talk about to fill the air”.
Only later did I learn from the experienced announcer Sandra Zviedra how to get extra seconds for delayed scenes live. For example, elegantly moving to the next page in a pile of papers, as if preparing to announce a new news, slowly saying “We continue today’s news with another important news”, or expertly repeating the content of the news that just came out, as if emphasizing its importance.
At that time, I didn’t learn and didn’t know all that yet. Often after every wrongly pronounced artist’s last name, we received letters with instructions. We always get virtual congratulations for mispronouncing the word “feature film”. I have to admit that I learned the most about language and good pronunciation from Culture news producer Andras Ceriņa. She is always a great advisor when I am unsure about commas or inflections. Andra also taught me the importance of regularly including reviews of foreign cultural news.
However, the most unusual adventures happened under the guidance of producer Tom Treiberg. In the early days, the editorial office of Culture was located on the 15th floor of the Zaķusala high-rise building. Often, when the elevator doors opened, I saw Tom lying there to read a book. So to speak, half a minute of driving 15 floors would be usefully spent. Once the inevitable happened in the news produced by him – the announcer did not come on the air (the alarm clock did not work). At that time, Arnis Blodons ran into the studio, whose performance gave cultural news a new sound and the LTV management’s amazement.
Culture news producer Tom Treiberg’s last day of work celebration.
Of course, during ten years, I also managed to mix up the dates and not appear on the air. That time Madara Rudzīte saved her, who was able to calm down in 15 minutes, put on her dress, run down the long corridor to the studio and read them smiling as if nothing had happened. It is with such or similar incidents that announcers’ biggest nightmares are connected. At night, I don’t dream about a failed math exam, but rather an unbearably slow run to the studio, realizing that I won’t pass. Over the years, a strange reflex related to sound has also developed – as soon as I hear the Culture News jingle on TV, I straighten up and frantically look for the camera. I’ve heard I’m not the only one.
Ten years ago, when Ieva Rozentāle, the head of LTV’s Culture program editorial office, inspired by her Swedish colleagues, offered to introduce similar Culture news in Latvia as well, there were many questions. She tried to convince the management of LTV that the public would be interested in a regular review of cultural news. One of the counterarguments was – will there be enough events to provide 11 minutes of Culture News content every weekday?
Now we can be proud, because such news – exclusively dedicated to culture – is only available in the mentioned Sweden, Austria and Latvia. We are unique in this respect.
It should be noted that there are more events than we can cover. You can watch more about it and the meaning and history of Culture News ten years anniversary in Culture news.
With this column, I would like to congratulate all viewers, colleagues and characters of more than 8,000 stories with the fact that Latvia has a life full of cultural events, which does not fit into the time allotted to us on the air of Culture news! Thanks for watching, rating and being with us!
This week I asked a couple of cultural people why they watch the news we produce, and for example Lolita Thomsone, the director of the Žanis Lipke memorial, answered similarly to Gemma Skulme: “You can’t make it to all cultural events, but you make it! All filmed material remains in cultural history. Also hairstyles .”
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2023-09-02 14:40:42
#Eva #Johansson #Cultural #hairstyles
