Český rozhlas (ČRo) is the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

radio broadcaster of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

operating since 1923. It is the oldest radio broadcaster in

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and the second oldest in

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after the BBC. The service broadcasts throughout the Czech Republic nationally and locally. Its four national services are Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava and Plus. Czech Radio operates 12 nationwide stations and another 14 regional stations. All ČRo stations broadcast via internet stream, digital via DAB+ and DVB, and part analog via terrestrial transmitters.

History

Czechoslovak era

', then ' was established on 18 May 1923, making its first broadcast from a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

tent in the Kbely district of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, under the name ''Radiojournal''. The premises of the station changed numerous times, firstly moving to the district of

Hloubětín Hloubětín (, german: Tiefenbach) is a district of Prague located from the centre, belonging mostly to Prague 9, with parts of it also belonging to Prague 14 and Prague 10. There were 10,704 people living in this area in 2001. The area, first ...

, before later using locations in the ''Poštovní nákupny'' building, the ''Orbis'' building and the ''Národní dům na Vinohradech'' building, all in Prague. The first regular announcer of the station, who prepared and presented the news from the daily papers, was Adolf Dobrovolný. He took up the position on 17 January 1924, becoming the station's first professional radio announcer and his position was made permanent on 1 January 1925. He held the position until his death in 1934. A message broadcast on Czech Radio on 5 May 1945 brought about the start of the

Prague uprising The Prague uprising ( cs, Pražské povstání) was a partially successful attempt by the Czech resistance movement to liberate the city of Prague from German occupation in May 1945, during the end of World War II. The preceding six years of o ...

. In the same year, regional studios in the cities of

Plzeň Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabitants. The city is known worldwid ...

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

and

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (, , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of its eponymous region and district. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway ju ...

were launched. The station was taken over by Soviet forces, after short fighting with unarmed civilians, in August 1968, in the first day of the Soviet invasion, although broadcasting managed to continue from alternative locations.

Czech era

In 1991, the Czech radio group changed its status and became an independent organisation, although as of 2008 was still publicly funded. Czech Radio (ČRo) was established by Act of the Czech National Council (No. 484/1991 Coll.) on Czech Radio. On 1 January 1992, Ceský Rozhlas was established as a public radio with property transferred from Czechoslovak Radio. The headquarters were setup at Vinohradská 12 in Prague, where the old Czechoslovak Radio was based at. Operation of regional stations in the Czech Republic was also transferred. On 1 January 1993, Czech Radio became a member of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

(EBU). In 1999, Czech Radio launched an experimental digital radio broadcast in Prague. An envisaged new premises for Czech Radio, a 30-storey building in the district of Pankrác which took 22 years to build at a cost of 1.35 billion

Czech koruna The koruna, or crown, (sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro curre ...

, was sold after the construction phrase in 1996 as it was deemed too big for the station's requirements. In 2002 the

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

station stopped broadcasting in the Czech Republic, with the broadcast rebranded as ''Czech Radio 6'' under the Czech Radio group. Czech Radio launched a new logo in 2013, featuring the letter ''R'' with stripes, at a cost of 2.2 million Czech koruna. The organisation marked 90 years of existence in 2013, celebrating the occasion with a 48-hour broadcast including 90 interviews interspersed with news reports every half-hour. The event, which took place on Wenceslas Square, set a new national record for the longest uninterrupted radio broadcast.

Radio stations

Digital stations

Regional stations

Regional stations broadcast daily from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. (ČRo Brno, Plzeň and Ostrava until 7.30 p.m.) with several breaks. In these breaks, in the evening and at night, the programmes of the Central Bohemian ČRo Region are broadcast nationwide.

Former stations

Broadcast of Radio 6, Leonardo and Radio Cesko all ended in 2013.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*
Official website in English
– Logos of Český Rozhlas stations {{coord, 50, 04, 43, N, 14, 26, 04, E, type:landmark_region:CZ, display=title Radio stations in the Czech Republic European Broadcasting Union members Publicly funded broadcasters State media Mass media companies established in 1923 Radio stations established in 1923