GLAD 20 YEARS - Flipbook - Page 34
Crisis Hits…
and Fuels
Development
Rewind to 2007. TV-Glad was like a flower overdosed in fertiliser. Buds develop, everything grows …
And then TV-Glad is hit by its biggest and until now only big crisis. The merger of 271 municipalities
into 98 and 13 counties into only five regions spelled disaster – even if Glad’s leadership had high
expectations in the run-up to this structural reform.
“Everything came to a stand-still, and employees were no longer referred to us. To cut a long
story short, we had to make a terribly large part of the ordinary staff redundant, which was tough
and really nasty,” reminisces Mikkel Holmbäck – and adds:
“But it actually developed our way of cooperating in Glad. Everyone simply had to contribute
more solving the various tasks, and we realised how much each and every one was actually capable
of. It became a lesson to all of us.”
Several of the flower buds blossomed. Radio Glad saw the light of day and broadcast at Radio
Gladsaxe (no pun; just happens to be a municipality outside Copenhagen). Mark Sonne who is
visually impaired and has been with Glad Radio from the beginning:
“When I started, we had no radio studio, only a Mac computer, and along with a mentor I had to
create a radio station. We had to invent ourselves, build everything from scratch. In the beginning I
made radio versions of the TV section’s production. There was neither time nor money for anything
else. The journey has been both turbulent and chaotic, but also really good, and the radio has grown
into what it is today. This makes me proud.”
Today, Radio Glad produces a multitude of podcasts on a variety of subjects, from beer, opera,
heavy metal over acting to job openings for visually impaired and blind people, which in all modesty
are creative and well worth listening to.
The animation line at the vocational school was wildly popular, so an editorial team was created
where many of the students have since been employed after graduation. The animation business
too, has been highly successful, both internally and externally, and if, in recent years, you’ve noticed
a terrific slightly overweight elf in one of Copenhagen’s public paths, you should know that this is
one of the editorial team’s many original contributions. A general election took place in Denmark
in November 2007, and Glad Theatre launched a wild project. Reporter at TV-Glad Amir Becirovic
stood for election. With the slogan VOTE FOR SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF he got 33 votes.
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