Gabi Drzewiecka made her debut on Polish Television in March this year, after being for years associated with the TVN group. She is the host of the author’s music program “Gabinet Dźwięku” on Chillizet radio, writes music columns for Glamour magazine and co-hosts the “Triangle” podcast on YouTube.
"Because nowadays everybody can create a podcast, an online page or whatever they want it is easier to become a so called journalist. Unfortunately, my observations are that many people trying to do that job are very sloppy", says Gabi.
Gabi Drzewiecka will discuss how traditional media survives in the AI era at Impact Bucharest, taking place between September 17 and 18. Until then, we talked with her about the transition from radio to television, the Polish music scene, changes in journalism over the past decade, and new media formats.
What brought you to the world of mass-media
It’s actually a very funny story. I was studying psychology (which I ended up having my MA’s degree from) and was looking for a creative job. Psychology was serving me more as a hobby, rather than future plans. I always liked talking to people, having a different day everyday and had a huge love for music. One day I was sitting in a computer room at the university and came up with this idea of reaching out to 4fun TV, which is a polish music television. I found an email adress to the head of production and wrote an email with my pretty empty CV at that time. I expressed my will to be of help on sets. I got invited to a casting for a tv host, which I basically won. Those were my very beginnings. After that came radio, more serious television and a lot of projects that helped shape my craft.
Defining moments in your career
I believe it was after eight years have passed that I realized I am good at what I’m doing, that I gained knowledge by working in different places such as radio, TV, online platforms, hosting big live events or television shows. I’ve been in the industry for 16 years now and I feel that by gaining more experience for the past few years I got more confident pretty recently, actually. If you work hard, are patient, you never stop learning and don’t get bored. It’s all about raising the bar higher and higher. I also need to mention that after years of working non stop I discovered the very simple truth everybody is talking about – balance. I put emphasis on my private life, travelling, resting, resting actively. That brings fuel to creativity. Simple truth, which took me years to realize :)
So, I wouldn’t say that there was one thing that changed me, it was the constant growth and hunger for doing more, gaining experience from it and therefore being better at it and less stressed. It got more about pleasure rather than fear or stress dictated by the ‚Am I good enough?” question.
How was the transition from radio to Polish Television
Before I landed in Polish Television I worked in TVN (Warner Bors. Discovery) for over 10 years. I hosted live events, big shows, sometimes a morning show, did hundreds of interviews and so on. I left TVN and then switched to TVP – Polish Television. The transition was pretty easy for me, since I believed I have achieved everything I could in my previous workplace and my job there was done. I learnt all I could from that experience, met many amazing people, so I will be forever grateful for that. Polish Television offered me projects I always wanted to do and I feel this is the best moment to do so. I am working on my own music show, so stay tuned!
How Radio is surviving
I think the predictions have been haunting all of us for years and yet radio and TV are in a pretty good shape. Obviously not as good as in the 90s or even 2000s because of the incredibly fast growing internet, but still are live and kicking. I don’t think radio will ever dissapear. It is one thing to want to and be able to listen to your own selection of music and the other thing is to have some one serve you music you otherwise might not have found yourself, or you simply want somebody to talk to you and be present during your everyday actions. You may of course find an online radio, but all the traditional ones are also able to being listened to online.
How journalism changed over the past 10 years
Because nowadays everybody can create a podcast, an online page or whatever they want it is easier to become a so called journalist. Unfortunately, my observations are that many people trying to do that job are very sloppy. It is of course a generalisation and I would never want to offend anybody but that’s just my humble observation. The other fact is that the audience, in general doesn’t really see a big difference and doesn’t really care. Again, generalisation, but still :)
The biggest lesson you learned from journalism
I learnt to pay attention to what I am hearing during interviews and adapt my next question to what I’m hearing, as opposed to having a list of questions and waiting for my turn to just ask them. I basically never create a concrete list of questions. I have a bunch of topics in my head and some questions too but I do everything to have a casual conversation instead of a typical interview. I learnt to be patient and use my psychology skills to open people up. I also learnt to follow my intuition.
Your program “Gabinet Dźwięku” on Chillizet radio
This show is the apple of my eye. I’ve been doing it for many, many years now. It’s a weekly show, where I have two empty hours to feel with music of my selection and talk about it. I search the internet to find songs I feel are great. Most of them are totally alternative but sometimes I do play artists widely known. It’s all about the quality of the music.
Podcasts and "the new thing"
There was a moment where basically everybody had a podcast and I thought that the market would be so full and fed up with it that people would get bored but what I’m observing is that there is space and audience for everybody. So many interesting platforms are being created that you have such a variety of choice it is mind blowing. I drive my car or go to the gym and listen to so many different podcasts. Some of them are super inspiring, some are of poor quality, but you learn to choose what’s most interesting for you. I’m not always super up to date with every new thing but in the world of short tik toks it is extremely interesting to see that 1 or 2 hour long podcats have such a massive audience.
The Polish musical scene
The Polish music scene is at its best right now. We have so many great artists, especially representing the alternative and rap scene. The audience has a constant hunger for music, so concerts and festivals are doing great! There’s so much going on that if you wanted to attend all the great shows and festivals, you would have to constantly be on the move! Our artists work hard, are very characteristic and charismatic. If I were to name a few artists you should definitely check out I would say Kasia Lins, Kathia, Kaśka Sochacka, Krzysztof Zalewski, Bartek Królik, Vito Bambino, Natalia Przybysz, Plots and many more.
Your expectations from Bucharest Impact
I am a huge fan of Impact so I cannot wait to see what the Bucharest edition brings to the table! I love the international networking vibes, the fact that you can meet so many amazing people from all over the world in one place. You can gain knowlegde, inspiration, friends, business opportunities and i know that is exactly what will happen. I can’t even begin to express how excited I am to be a part of the Romanian edition! I hope to see you there!
