Until 1978 Political programone of the main daily broadcasts of the Romanian department from Radio Free Europeintroduced the one whom the entire editorial staff in Munich called Jani Popa.

For Romanian listeners, Ioan/Yani Popa, former general secretary of the editorial office of Current, his name was Ion Magurianu. He was probably kind and every time he started the program from the address formula Ladies and gentlemen, dear listeners, dear friends! Jani Popa had, I was told, something of a grandfather, perhaps, and because he had turned white prematurely, he also had the gift of storytelling, a fact which very often obliged Noel Bernard, the station manager at the time, to sometimes ask him to cut it short his interventions, with which he represented subjects mainly of foreign policy.

When Jani Popa retired for a while Political program was represented by either Victor Chernescu (Romilo Lemonidis) or Radu Vrancha (Cornel Janatos), the latter transferred from Radio news. And so until one day someone who introduced himself as Mihai Soymu appeared at the microphone. The newcomer had impeccable diction, brought with him a kind of restraint, even solemnity, but managed not to appear cold in the slightest. It was he who gave the greeting at the station, which not only made him famous, but even became a distinguishing mark Free Europe in the Romanian language. It’s about that one Let’s hear each other! From which, from a certain moment, the communist censors began to tingle. We only hear each other it became a kind of password. It became something subversive. I remember it Let’s hear each other!, otherwise the old Romanian greeting, appeared in one of D. R. Popescu’s plays. At the pre-premiere viewing of the play with that play, the secretary of propaganda exclaimed both frightened and angry This is from Free Europe. Cut!

Shortly after he took over Political program, the enigmatic Mihai Soymu managed to convince Noel Bernard that some changes were needed in the architecture of the show. Comments from the opening, most often on Romanian topics, were refused for the simple reason that Romanian news consolidated when the controversial Emil Georgescu joined Necula Constantin Munteanu and a little later Şerban Orascu. Review of the international press it was moved to the end of the foreign policy show. And, finally, Mihai Soima will be replaced by Mircea Karp. The real name of the director, who many years earlier served under the name of Dan Mircescu in Voice of America. And as Voice of America was a government radio station, the journalist did not miss the opportunity to return to Romania about 14 times. He was one of the journalists who accompanied Richard Nixon on his historic visit to Bucharest. On March 5, 1977, he was in Bucharest, heading in a rented car from Belgrade to the earthquake-ravaged capital of Romania. And although the strict Code of Ethics, which had to be strictly followed, prohibited the employees of the complex Free Europe-Freedom give too many details about himself, we listeners from Romania would eventually learn that Mircea Karp graduated from the Military School in Dealu Monastery, that he was a career officer, that he fought in the Second World War, and that the persecution at the beginning of the communist regime, which became incredibly harsh on soldiers who were too loyal to the King and the Crown, led him to choose the path of freedom. Freedom for which he would continue to fight with other weapons. This is a word.

When Mircea Karp reached retirement age, director Vlad Georgescu realized that the position could not be permanently separated from the master. Let’s hear each other! He offered a presentation of the weekend editions Political program. The sudden death of the same Vlad Georgescu on November 13, 1988 became a moment of balance for Free Europe in the Romanian language. Therefore, the American leadership decided to completely recall Mr. Mircea Karp. Read the entire article and comments on Contribuotrs.ro