News podcast 5:59 Seznam Zpráv is expecting fundamental changes to the position of the program’s moderator starting September 2. Lenka Kabrhelová is replaced by journalist Kateřina Šafaříková and current podcast editor Barbora Sochorová. Why is this change happening? What will 5:59 mean for the thematic focus of the podcast? And where will Lenka Kabrhelová’s steps lead?
What you will also hear in today’s episode at 5:59
- With what feelings does Kateřina Šafaříková enter her new role as moderator and what does she find inspiring in podcasts in general.
- Which episodes of the 5:59 podcast resonate most with listeners.
- And what, according to Lenka Kabrhelova, is the main mission of this news podcast.
One brand new and one familiar voice. Behind the microphone of the news podcast 5:59, from September 2, the moderator Lenka Kabrhelová will be temporarily replaced by the journalist Kateřina Šafaříková, who will be supplemented by Barbora Sochorová. The first-named was a long-time correspondent in Brussels, she worked for the magazine Respekt, for Lidové i Hospodářské noviny or for the Aktuálně.cz server. She will be seconded by the editor of the 5:59 podcast Barbora Sochorová.
Lenka Kabrhelová, who managed to record or participate in 667 episodes in the two and a half years of the podcast’s existence, is going on maternity leave. However, he plans to return to the podcast studio and editorial office of Seznam Zpráv when it becomes possible. So she hands over the temporary baton to Kateřina Šafaříková, to whom she confides in this special episode her feelings about the role that awaits her soon. Although he does not hide that he is slightly nervous before the sharp start in September, he feels good. For now, she is mainly absorbing the advice she receives from the occasional team and especially from Lenka Kabrhelova.
“For example, if I take the bamboo in front of me, which is called a microphone, as my friend. When I mentally reconciled that I’m now in an environment where I have this friend, I actually feel quite good,” says Šafaříková in the studio of the 5:59 podcast, who, among other things, is the recipient of the prestigious Karel Havlíček Borovský journalism award.
Photo: Michal Turek, Seznam Zpravy
The new presenter of the podcast 5:59 Kateřina Šafaříková.
Šafaříková joins an experienced team that worked together for years at Czech Radio before joining Seznam Zpráv. Barbora Sochorová thus has the opportunity to compare. He mainly reflects on the different dynamics of these two media, one public and the other commercial, and the related challenges that had to be overcome. “Specifically, we in our team had to deal with how we will work with advertising, which is something we are always dealing with. Our listeners probably know or have noticed how we treat her in the podcast. So it was one thing,” Sochorová recounts.
But he considers the biggest challenge to be the ambition to produce a narrative podcast series. It worked. Sochorová recalls the award-winning series Slopné: Who is the murderer? from the author couple Adéla Jelínková and Christine Havranová, two more series of Sekty CZ by Kristina Ciroková and the just ended series Americká jízda, which was devoted to the most important topics connected with the upcoming American presidential elections.
The ambition of the 5:59 podcast is to bring comprehensive and insightful information with exceptional guests about the most important topic of the day.
According to Sochorová, the series Slopné: Who is the murderer? and Sekty CZ are among the most listened to. “It’s actually a bit of a sad reality that we work here every day on the news turn and every day we publish one relevant topic that we serve to the listeners, but if we look at the, let’s say, the top 13 episodes, there are they are mixing the episodes from the series Slopné: Who is the murderer? and parts from the Sekty CZ series,” says the editor and presenter.
Sad themes that resonate
Barbora Sochorová adds that the episodes dedicated to the half-term of Petr Fiala’s government, the tragic shooting at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University last December and the current war conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine also resonated strongly with the audience. “I think our listeners would definitely prefer to listen to more cheerful topics, but these are important topics that we should know about and they are listened to. And I think it’s good,” adds Barbora Sochorová.
In this, he agrees with the idea of Lenka Kabrhelova, who sees the foreign topics broadcasted at 5:59 as one of the uniqueness of this podcast: Her team tries to connect fragments of news into coherent stories, which are presented to the listeners by interesting guests and provide all the important connections and context. In the American Ride series, for example, political reporter Molly Ball from The Wall Street Journal explained the current dynamics of the presidential battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, or journalist Lisa Lerer from The New York Times approached the hot topic of abortion in the US.
Photo: Michal Šula, Seznam Zpravy, Seznam Zpravy
Moderator and journalist Lenka Kabrhelová.
Kabrhelová has a close relationship with foreign journalism. She worked as a foreign correspondent for Czech Radio for five years in Russia and four years in the United States. Kateřina Šafaříková also has similar professional experience. She has spent eight years in Brussels. In addition to English, he also speaks French fluently, and therefore has the ambition to bring episodes with French experts to 5:59 and thus offer newly original episodes in this language.
A guide in the tsunami of information
In the interview, she confides that traveling between Prague and Brussels brought her to podcasts. She often shortened the 900-kilometer journey precisely by listening to podcast episodes, mainly 5:59. Šafaříková considers this podcast to be a professional guide that will enable her to navigate the flood of information in the modern age, thus actually saving her time.
“We all live in a time when we are overwhelmed with information that comes to us basically from all corners. (…) And knowing about that highway or that tsunami and getting information that is relevant, comprehensive, getting it in some context – and in addition precisely in that nice processing, in that beautiful audio package – is, I think, a big bonus, adds Šafaříková, the new presenter of the 5:59 podcast.
In the 5:59 podcast, you will also find out which non-news podcast, which is popular with Kateřina Šafaříková, could provide Lena Kabrhelova with a number of valuable advice and information in the coming period of motherhood. Listen in the player at the beginning of the article.
Editor and co-editor: Barbora Sochorová, Eduard Freisler
Sound design and music: Martin Hůla
Sources of audio samples: 5:59 podcast archive
Podcasts 5:59
The news podcast of Lenka Kabrhelova’s team. One essential topic every weekday in minute six. The most important events in the Czech Republic, in the world, politics, economy, sport and culture through the lens of Seznam Zpráv.
You can find an archive of all parts on our website. Send us your observations, comments or tips via social networks or by e-mail: [email protected].
