News, Background, People
“Happy Day” – a real post horn for Fritz Lüthi
For 38 years, Fritz Lüthi had wanted a three-tone horn for his Postbus. His route runs along narrow, winding streets in the region of the Gantrisch Nature Park. Just in time for Christmas and two years before his retirement, his wish has been fulfilled – in front of the live audience of TV show “Happy Day”.
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The anniversary year celebrating 100 years of Du-Da-Do is coming to an end. It has been a year filled with resounding highlights and broad public engagement. Drivers joined in the celebrations on 17 July, when they sounded their post horns in unison. One man especially would have enjoyed sounding the famous three-tone horn on that special day: PostBus operator Fritz Lüthi from the tiny village of Hinterfultigen in the Gantrisch Nature Park in Bern. He manages the Rüeggisberg route and two school buses for the PostBus school transport service. For decades, Fritz Lüthi dreamed of being able to sound the three-tone horn on at least one of his Postbuses. After all, the streets and lanes he navigates are narrow, steep and winding in places. But strictly speaking, they are not mountain postal routes, which is why his request was repeatedly denied.
Parcel at the SRF Studio
But at long last, in the big post horn anniversary year, he has succeeded. His good friend and long-standing colleague Daniel Allenbach made one more attempt and submitted the post horn request to “Happy Day”, the Saturday evening show on television channel SRF. The show passed on the request to PostBus and received enthusiastic approval. As a result, PostBus Operations sourced a genuine post horn from their stores and sent it to the Happy Day crew in their Leutschenbach studios in Zurich.
A big secret
“Happy Day” was broadcast live on Saturday 21 December 2024. The post horn gift was to be a genuine surprise for Fritz Lüthi under the studio’s Christmas tree. Under the pretext that he had tickets for the show but neither his son nor daughter wanted to go with him, Daniel Allenbach enticed his friend and boss to Zurich. Fritz Lüthi readily agreed, and the two even booked a hotel in Oerlikon. Only Fritz Lüthi’s wife Rosemarie knew in advance what was awaiting her husband in Zurich.
“On cloud nine”
When TV host Röbi Koller invited Fritz and Daniel to the front, the PostBus operator’s surprise was genuine. “I had no idea and I’ve been on cloud nine ever since,” says Fritz Lüthi. “It was a memorable day for me.” After the show, there were drinks and a hearty buffet for the studio guests, which was a welcome addition for the two visitors from Bern. Major rail disruption on their journey to the studio meant they had rushed straight to SRF without stopping for a meal – they didn’t want to miss the show!
Since “Happy Day”, Fritz’s mobile rings constantly, and on the streets, drivers stop to congratulate him. On the PostBus social media channels, too, the TV appearance has earned plenty of hearts and likes. Next year, Fritz Lüthi will make use of his skills as a trained mechanic and the help of three-tone horn mechanic Urs Brönnimann from Riggisberg to undertake the truly complex installation of the post horn. But until then, the horn has pride of place on the Lüthi family’s table in Hinterfultigen.
Click here to watch the Happy Day show from 21 December 2024Target not accessible; the section with Fritz Lüthi is at 01:47:30-01:52:30 (Mundart)
