At the beginning of a journalist’s career, the fear was, of course, much greater, and the professional confidence was much less. Now Jānis is a journalist with 20 years of experience and calls Latvian Television his second home, – indeed, he has spent a long time here, it is hard to believe that such a young Gestus is 40!
Kurzemnieks
Jānis’ childhood was spent on the Kurzeme side, in Užava: “I am a real peasant,” he says. “Although it was still Soviet times – collective farms, border guards and barbed wire along the seashore – I remember my childhood in close contact with nature in all seasons as a wonderful time. There were much fewer cars, but you couldn’t buy a bus ticket to Užava at all. You could get off in Užava, but you had to buy a ticket one stop before or after. It was a forbidden zone. I also remember the queues for bread in Soviet times – you only knew that the bread truck would arrive at some point, and if you were lucky and were one of the first in line at the store, then you could also get the bread white bread with poppy seeds, it was very delicious. I also remember the time of regaining independence, which gave the long-awaited opportunity to walk along the sea without limits.”
“The sea – you can’t live without it.” Photo: from a private archive
“John sings”
Geste’s mother is a music teacher, but when Jāni was invited to sing in the legendary live broadcast of Latvian Television’s Līgo Day concert “Jāņi dīds”, he was no joke: “I look with positive envy at my colleagues who sing freely on stage and for the enjoyment of everyone around me, I I’m definitely not one of them. I also have a big critic at home – my mother, who is professionally educated in music, so I remember this performance with horror. I really don’t even remember what happened there then, I was so worried,” Jānis does not hide his feelings.
Mamma
But mom is mom. A person you can go to when you need support. When Jānis imagines his mother and the feeling of home, the dessert “Floating Islands” comes to mind: “Then I knew that my mother was in a good mood, and she used to make sweet food. And vanilla sauce! I thought that it contained all the essence of my mother!” Jānis smiles.
From a lawyer to a journalist
Not only Jānis, but also his mother had dreams about her son’s profession: “20 years ago, when I started my career here in the news, she was not thrilled, my mother liked my initial path in the legal profession. Seeing the most prominent representatives of this profession, my mother must have thought that they don’t live badly, do they? And suddenly – what is it? Jānis thinks of going to television, where the good clothes are, so to speak, borrowed or given only for the duration of the show,” Jānis laughs.
“Now she has accepted it and is even satisfied because she sees me on TV almost every night. Do I look tired, full or something like that.
And if I’m not on the news one night, my mom sends a question: “What’s wrong with you? Are you okay?”
But I think my parents are not ashamed of where I work. Another question is debatable: how well do I do my job,” the experienced journalist quips about himself.
“With mom Ilzi as a child.” Photo: from a private archive
Journalism and idealism
Jānis connects his choice of profession with idealism, which is perhaps also necessary for every lawyer, if he – like a journalist – does not want to put up with injustice and change the world: “I still think that these two professions are similar, at least as far as we talk about the opportunity to achieve justice. Therefore, it seems that I have not gone very far from what I chose to study at the beginning.”
“The end of elementary school (1998) – during an excursion in Zaķusala.” Photo: from a private archive
“Great Hope”
“Great hope” – that’s exactly the name of the honorable nomination of Ventspils 1st gymnasium, which Jānis Geste also received at one time: “Back then, in my time, this recognition was usually given to students of exact classes. I studied in the humanitarian class, which everyone considered more creative artists who hovers a bit in the air, so I was glad that I still won this award and was able to to hook for the exact ones,” Jānis recalls with a smile.
“Holding the exact ones” was not Jānis’ primary goal, he simply liked to learn: “I was like that from a young age – from the first grades I liked to do everything very neatly, to learn. And until the end of high school, I, like a sponge, I learned more and more. Of course, the teachers you meet along the way are also very important. Latvian language teacher Rozālija Rūde – this is my teacher with a capital letter, who taught me how to gain respect. For a while, she was also the principal, whom you seem to be afraid of , but also not, because if you did something well, she knew how to notice and praise. I remember that once she gave me a three, for which I was very offended: I had studied, prepared carefully, but here – a three! “What about a mark?” I thought at the time. Although – it’s nothing crazy either! But I felt in myself that I don’t want to see such marks, and then I probably didn’t see them anymore,” Jānis says thoughtfully and adds: “Maybe only in Russian, because I didn’t do too well with that.”
Childhood and “Panorama”
For Jānis, when he was small, Latvian Television was the only television and “Panorāma” was the only news program that his parents, like the majority of Latvian residents, always watched: “Everyone at home was glued to the television, what about in the countryside near the farm, where all the work was always done subordinated to “Panorama”, and in the summers, when it was still light for a long time, – also after that.
“Panorama” was a must-have nightly ritual. My parents were sitting on the couch, while my brother and I were lying on the carpet in front of the TV, watching the first black-and-white, then the color program.
By the way, we had a black and white TV at home for quite some time. It’s hard to believe, it seems like it was recently, but how much everything has changed, what screens we’re looking at now,” states Jānis.
Volunteer
Getting to Latvian Television connects Jānis with Eurovision: “It was 2003, there were preparations for the big and complex Eurovision project and volunteers were being sought. I applied. Not only music-related television professionals worked here, but also, for example , Arta Điga, who was the chief director of the News Service at the time and was responsible for everything related to Internet matters in the Eurovision project. As a volunteer, I somehow got to her,” Geste slowly scrolls the old story. “I was offered to create content for the website, come up with some contests and something else. The work was carried out in Arta’s office, under her leadership. Both Arta’s work and the scope of the Eurovision Song Contest and the complexity of the process in general – it was a huge experience for me as a small cogwheel. And what the other day, Arta asks me if I want to come and try in the news? Well, for me, a 20-year-old law student who was working as an insurance agent writing insurance policies at the time, it was a surprise and a challenge. Now, looking back, I see it as fate, because jurisprudence studies and – even more so – the work of an insurance agent did not go to my heart.
However, I myself did not want to admit that I had gone down a path that I did not really want. Fate helped, saying: “Go the way you want!”. And so I’m still here.”
“2003. The new interns of “Panorama” – together with Sandra Kropa and Liva Ulmani.” Photo: from a private archive
Sidestep
“By the way, I already had a side step in another media,” Jānis evaluates his choice looking back. “At that time, a magazine called “Pele” was published, about technology. And I, being a law student (I don’t know why) had applied to work as a journalist. I created a column about careers and professions. Plus: at that time, Dace Balode and Māris Zanders published the magazine “Neđa” , and there I also applied as a journalist, where I presented my experience as a Eurovision volunteer. Here, if I had only wanted to notice, even before I got to Latvian Television, the media environment connected me, I wanted to work there.”
The first standaps
Standaps – this means an application with an outline of the topic, which the reporter speaks while looking into the camera’s eye. Every journalist usually remembers his first appearance in front of the camera, which in a sense can also be called baptism of fire on television.
“Now, almost every journalist starts and ends his story by speaking the text to the camera, or stand-up, but when I started it was only allowed to be used if you had a special story. For your first standapam matured for a very long time, and we filmed it together with the legendary news cameraman Jānis Bukas or Bucin. We went to film a scene about smells in Cēsis, which in themselves are problematic to show, right? Well, but the task has been received, and we are driving: me, the conscientious young journalist, disheveled and serious. In Cēsis, Bucins places me next to a large pig farm and a large pile of dung.
I happily reported everything, but when I got back, I received a rhetorical question from the producer: did I really think it was appropriate to stand next to a pile of dung in suit pants and a white shirt?
Do I think it looks believable? – that’s my first standaps didn’t get on the air at all,” Jānis shares his melodramatic experience.
“The plot about demography was happier. I encouraged the politicians themselves to get involved in solving fertility issues. Besides, it’s quite practical: if they got down to business, then after nine months the results would already be visible, I joked. The producer laughed and accepted, I only needed to illustrate my story to film a child. What to do? – we drove to Vērmanes garden and started hunting for children,” Jānis describes the reporter’s everyday life with a laugh. “We were lucky – the singer Marta Kukarane came with a baby in a stroller – she agreed to film her sleeping baby, who cooed so peacefully that he didn’t even wake up,” Jānis describes his challenges as a reporter with joy.
“Today, I sometimes miss the unpredictable daily life of a news reporter, because it doesn’t allow me to get into a routine. To be honest, when I was working in the studio, for a moment there was a feeling of routine. Although the events of recent years have made me forget the routine completely, my current work in the studio is also unpredictable.”
Ricochet flying bricks and bee stings
Jānis’ experience as a journalist is rich in many tragicomic stories. While filming a scene during the turmoil caused by the 2009 financial crisis on live air in Old Riga, he was hit by a ricocheting flying brick.
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In another scene, Jānis suffered from a bee attack, from which he got rid, as he says – “by running fast. But I liked the advice of the owners the best, when my head was full of bees: here, put your hat on your head!” laughs Jānis. “That’s a suggestion, when your head is full of bees!”
“The closing concert of the 2018 Song and Dance Festival.” Photo: from a private archive
The feeling of song festival happiness
Although sometimes these moments are challenging and even a health hazard, Jānis is grateful for the opportunities offered by his work: “One of the most beautiful moments is the opportunity to be at the Song Festival, especially in the post-concert part of the singing, dancing and singing together with everyone, which we sincerely did together with my colleague Aija Kincs. May my employer forgive me, but the feeling of happiness even made me forget that I was at work. The song festival seems to be one of the best bonuses of my work, which allows me, who does not sing and dance, to feel like a party participant,” says Jānis, whose favorite song is “Dark night, green grass”: “For me, it is associated with Užava, the sea coast, fog, the whole landscape and feelings. It is a song that I especially look forward to during the holidays.”
