Written by: Monika Mudranincová

	Photo: Vojtěch Vlk

We remember her mainly as the uncompromising host of the “21” television show and as the head of the communications department of now-defunct Investiční a poštovní banka. Her face then disappeared from TV screens, but she didn’t retire from the media. Barbora Tachecí (41) is now in charge of programming for the Frekvence 1 radio network.

AFTER EARNING an engineering degree in economics, Barbora Tachecí could stand only six months of working as a foreign currency exchange official for wood and paper exporter Ligna. In 1986 she abandoned her job as an official and went to work for Czechoslovak Radio, following in the professional footsteps of her mother, a veteran radio employee. She drew the greatest attention on television, where in the nineties she co-hosted, along with Jana Bobošíková, the “21” news show. The two co-hosts earned reputations as unbending journalists who stubbornly insisted that their guests respond to inconvenient questions. “It was a novelty at the time. Our attitude set us apart from the others, and we made names for ourselves,” Tachecí recalls.
So why did she leave such a prestigious position for a job with Investiční a poštovní banka (IPB), which finally wound up in forced administration? “I had the feeling that I was stagnating in my television profession,” she says. So she accepted a lucrative offer in 1997 and became the head of the IPB communications department. “At that time IPB was a very solid firm. I had a chance to build my own team and outline the bank’s overall communications strategy. I was successful, and it was a great job,” she reminisces. When the bank collapsed in 2000, she left with a feeling of frustration, which was offset only by her satisfaction at having gained experience with crisis communications.
However, in April of 2002 she once again found herself in the media, having been named programming director for the private Frekvence 1 radio network, where she instituted radical measures. She changed the talk-music ratio, she shuffled news personnel and show hosts, and she added new programs. “I have the feeling that F1 has never been a more professional network than it is today,” says this mother of a ten-year-old son and the life partner of former Czech Television director Ivo Mathé. She claims that she is now satisfied, and that her work is her hobby. Every Tuesday she sits in front of the microphone to grill her guests on the Press klub discussion program.