She was the first Polish television announcer. She was fired from her job for one sentence

You can read more similar articles on the home page

Maria Krzyżanowska started a new stage in the history of Polish media. The woman was the first TV announcer in the country. Her announcement of the broadcast from over 70 years ago is still considered a special event.

She worked in radio for years. She got into television thanks to her mentor

Maria Krzyżanowska was born in Łomża on February 2, 1930. From an early age she was associated with the media. Her father owned a local printing shop. Already in the late 1940s, the woman started working in Poland. Over the following years, she completed many language courses and enrolled in journalism studies. Mastering perfect diction and proper use of the voice, he taught her e.g. Juliusz Stefan Petry, who was the first director of Polish Radio Lviv before the war.

Maria’s mentor was also responsible for including her in the first Polish television broadcast. When the woman met him on the street, he offered her participation in this unusual event. At that time, Juliusz Petry was a co-organizer of Telewizja Polska. Maria was chosen as the announcer not only because of her voice-over skills, but also because of her physique. – The studio was very tiny, if I had been sixty-six, I would not have become an announcer – a woman in an interview in 1982. Krzyżanowska agreed to Petry’s proposal and thus became the first Polish television announcer.

One sentence cost her her job. After leaving television, she made a huge career in radio

The career of Maria Krzyżanowska, also known as Maśka, did not last long. After only a year of working as an announcer, she was fired. Reason? One mistake in the sentence announcing the final stage of the program. Polish Television presented a special autumn program as part of the Month of Deepening Polish-Soviet Friendship. Years later, the announcer reminded her of her failure in the 1992 documentary “History of Television”. – In one breath I made the final announcement: At the end of Polish-Soviet friendship, we broadcast an entertainment program – she mentioned. There was silence in the studio, and Maria’s husband quickly explained how big a gaffe she had made. The impassive woman replied only “well, it’s hard.” A replacement was quickly found in its place. It was Barbara Marszel.

After leaving television, Maria returned to Polish Radio. The woman gained a lot of publicity thanks to her reports, i.e. “Two hours, 40 minutes and 15 seconds I was with my fiancée.” The broadcast, which the journalist created together with Krystyna Melion, consisted in tracking down and revealing matrimonial cheaters. Today, the materials collected by women are part of the Pearls of Polish Radio Reportage.