ČT announcer Kamila Moučková read out the Proclamation to All People and informed them about the apprehension of the country’s leading representatives and about the extraordinary meeting of the KSČ. At nine o’clock, the occupational units took over ČT’s headquarters in Gorký Square. What they did not know was that the broadcasting studio was not there – it was located in Měšťanská Beseda’s building in Vladislavova Street.
The studio had been busy all night. Just before midnight, Jiří Hold, TV sound engineer an radio enthusiast caught the news that the Russians were drawing near our borders. That is why he and some other volunteers set off to Vladislavova Street to save reportage magnetophones known under the name of Nagry.
When Měšťanská Beseda was taken over by the army as well, the broadcasting moved to the studio Skaut. From there, the presenter Olga Čuříková read out the news, instead of presenting her usual programme Vlaštovka, later, the news was read by Jiří Svejkovský and the announcer Věra Kudrnová. The television technicians managed to get the broadcasting vehicle right next to the transmitter Cukrák where it started broadcasting before 11 o’clock and had to finish forty-five minutes later when also Cukrák was taken over by the occupants. Spectators could actually see live transmissions of the tanks coming to the transmitter. The TV crew then tried to broadcast their own news from there, but the electricity was cut off.
Then, until ten o’clock in the evening, ČT broadcast from an improvised studio in a Tesla Hloubětín factory office, where they had just developed a new transmitter.
Later on, it was decided on three alternative broadcasting workplaces which operate until August 27th. The first one was in A. S. Popov’s Research Institute for Communication Engineering in Novodvorská Street, where by the way some sequences of the series Píseň pro Rudolfa III were finished in the presence of the scriptwriter Jaroslav Dietl.
The second workplace was on the unfinished concrete frame of the future ČT building in Kavčí Hory. This place was more risky, as Soviet helicopters took off from the nearby stadium Na Děkance.
The third workplace was on the top floor of a high rise apartment in Petřiny. There was the Olympic champion Emil Zátopek and the chess grand master Luděk Pachman who spoke to the nation, Vladimír Škutina who commented on the events and Jiří Kantůrek who acted as the presenter. Many actors from Vinohradské Theatre appeared as guests on the programme.
Source: www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct/historie