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Český rozhlas
	Entrance to the Český Rozhlas headquarters in Prague
Country	Czech Republic
Headquarters	Vinohradská 12, Prague, Czech Republic
Programming
Affiliations	EBU
Ownership
Key people	René Zavoral [cs] (CEO)
History
Launch date	18 May 1923; 101 years ago
Links
Website	www.rozhlas.cz

Český rozhlas (ČRo Lit.: Czech Radio) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic operating continuously since 1923. It is the oldest national radio broadcaster in continental Europe and the second oldest in Europe after the BBC.^[1] Český rozhlas was established in 1992 by the Czech Radio Act, which sets out the framework for its operation and financing. It acts as the successor to the previous state-owned Czechoslovak Radio which ceased to exist by 1992.

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. It is based in Prague in a building in Vinohradská třída.

History

Czechoslovak era

Český rozhlas, then Československý rozhlas was established on 18 May 1923, making its first broadcast from a scout tent in the Kbely district of Prague, under the name Radiojournal.^[2] The premises of the station changed numerous times, firstly moving to the district of Hloubětín, before later using locations in the Poštovní nákupny building, the Orbis building and the Národní dům na Vinohradech building, all in Prague.^[2] Since the moves, Czech Radio is located in Prague in the building Vinohradská 12, continuously since 1933.

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.^[2] 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.^[3] In the same year, regional studios in the cities of Plzeň, České Budějovice, Hradec Králové and Ústí nad Labem were launched.^[4]

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.^[3]

Czech era

Logo used between 1996 and 2013

In 1991, the Czech radio group changed its status and became an independent organisation, although as of 2008 was still publicly funded.^[4]^[5] 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.^[6] The headquarters were setup at Vinohradská 12 in Prague, where the old Czechoslovak Radio was based at.^[7] 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 (EBU).^[8] In 1999, Czech Radio launched an experimental digital radio broadcast in Prague.^[9]

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, was sold after the construction phrase in 1996 as it was deemed too big for the station's requirements.^[10]

In 2002, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty station stopped broadcasting in the Czech Republic, with the broadcast rebranded as Czech Radio 6 under the Czech Radio group.^[11] In October 2005, digital television broadcasting was launched on DVB-T, with some of the ČRo's circuits being included in the first multiplex.^[12]

A large expansion of the number of ČRo stations took place in 2005. At that time, the D-dur, Rádio Česko and Leonardo circuits began broadcasting, and in 2006, ČRo Radio Wave station was added.^[13]

Czech Radio launched a new logo in 2013, featuring the letter R with stripes, at a cost of 2.2 million Czech koruna.^[14] 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.^[3] The event, which took place on Wenceslas Square, set a new national record for the longest uninterrupted radio broadcast.^[3] In the same year, ČRo 6, ČRo Radio Czech Republic and ČRo Leonardo were cancelled and replaced by the new station ČRo Plus.

At the end of 2021, the broadcasting of the stations Radiožurnál, Dvojka and Plus on the medium and long wave bands was terminated, and thus the broadcasting of Czech Radio via AM was terminated altogether.^[15] In 2024, the regional station Český rozhlas Region was renamed Český rozhlas Střední Čechy.^[16]

Radio stations

Czech Radio operates 12 national stations and 14 regional stations. All ČRo stations broadcast via internet streaming, most of them digitally via DAB+ and DVB, some of them analogue via terrestrial transmitters.

Digital stations

Logo	Station	Programming
	ČRo Radiožurnál	"Infotainment" station (pop music (Modern AC), news, traffic announcements, sports and other information)
	ČRo Dvojka	Talk and family programmes (formerly ČRo 2 Praha)
	ČRo Vltava	Culture, art and classical music
	ČRo Plus	Spoken word
	ČRo Radiožurnál Sport^[17]	Sports, formerly operated as ČRo Sport from 2014 to 2017^[18]^[19]
	ČRo Radio Wave	Youth radio providing a wide range of podcasts and music programs (via cable, digital, and internet only)
	ČRo D-dur [cs]	Classical music
	ČRo Jazz	Jazz music
	ČRo Pohoda [cs]	Catered for the older generation
	ČRo Rádio Junior [cs]	Children's radio
	Radio Prague International	External broadcasts, six languages available
	iROZHLAS [cs]	Internet radio

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 Střední Čechy are broadcast nationwide.

Logo	Station
	ČRo Brno
	ČRo České Budějovice
	ČRo Hradec Králové
	ČRo Karlovy Vary
	ČRo Liberec
	ČRo Olomouc
	ČRo Ostrava
	ČRo Pardubice
	ČRo Plzeň
	ČRo Rádio Praha
	ČRo Sever
	ČRo Střední Čechy
	ČRo Vysočina
	ČRo Zlín

Former stations

Broadcast of Radio 6, Leonardo and Radio Cesko all ended in 2013.^[20]

Station	Programming	Closed
ČRo 6	Analytical-publicist	2013
ČRo Leonardo [cs]	Science	2013
ČRo Rádio Česko [cs]	News and journalism	2013
ČRo Rádio Retro [cs]	Historical	2021

Organization

Financing

The majority of Czech Radio's income comes from radio licence fees, which have been set at CZK 45 per month since 2005.^[21] ČRo's annual income from these fees in 2019 amounted to CZK 2.09 billion, or 91% of Czech Radio's total income of CZK 2.29 billion that year. The remaining few percent of the income is made up of revenues from Czech Radio's own business activities, which include, for example, the sale of limited advertising time, sponsorship revenues and licensing of recordings.

According to Act No. 231/2001 Coll., on the Operation of Radio and Television Broadcasting and on Amendments to Other Acts, the time reserved for advertising and teleshopping may not exceed 3 minutes per day on each Czech Radio station, and a maximum of 5 minutes per day for local stations. Commercial messages may not be included in news, journalistic and educational programmes, with the exception of cultural and sports broadcasts, if advertising is part of them in terms of the conditions of the broadcasting rights.^[22]

Logos

The original logo of Czech Radio was used in 1992-1995. Since 1996, the radio has had a logo created by the Men On The Moon agency, which won the Logo of the Year award in 1997. Since 2013, Czech Radio has used the logo designed by Studio Marvil.^[23]

1992-1995
1996-2013
2013-present

References

^ "History of Czech Radio". Český rozhlas. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Josef Maršík. "Průkopníci rozhlasového vysílání 1923–1925" (PDF) (in Czech). Český rozhlas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Czech Radio celebrates 90 years of air time". The Prague Post. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ ^a ^b "History of Czech Radio". Czech Radio. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ "Controversial radio head removed from post". The Prague Post. 6 February 2008. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ Köpplová 2003, p. 103-104.
^ Ješutová 2003, p. 422.
^ Ješutová 2003, p. 603.
^ Köpplová 2003, p. 149.
^ "It's tall. It's been under construction for 22 years. It's been sold". The Prague Post. 24 January 1996. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Briefly noted". The Prague Post. 2 October 2002. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Nová éra: Digitální televize začala vysílat naostro" (in Czech). Idnes.cz. 21 October 2005. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ POTŮČEK, Jan (13 January 2006). "Startuje Český rozhlas 4 – Rádio Wave pro mladé". Lupa.cz. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ "Český rozhlas má nová loga, za propagaci zaplatí 160 milionů" (in Czech). Mladá fronta DNES. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Legendární vysílače se odmlčí. Končí vysílání rozhlasu na střední a dlouhé vlně" (in Czech). Lupa.cz. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ "Český rozhlas přejmenoval své středočeské vysílání" (in Czech). Lupa.cz. 1 July 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ Blanka Bumbálková & Anna Duchková (28 April 2021). "Radiožurnál připravuje start prvního sportovního rádia v Česku. Už v květnu ho naladíte v síti DAB+ a na internetu" (in Czech). Český rozhlas. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
^ "Digitální stream ČRo Sport po necelých dvou a půl letech ukončil vysílání". 17 January 2017.
^ "Teleko vyřadilo ze svého multiplexu vysílání stanice Český rozhlas Sport".
^ "Do vysílání DAB rozhlasu přibudou tři stanice, tři však také zmizí" (in Czech). Mladá fronta DNES. 22 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Přes 80 % Čechů považuje televizní a rozhlasové poplatky za přiměřené či nízké" (in Czech). Lupa.cz. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
^ "Zákon č. 484/1991 Sb" (in Czech). 1992. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
^ "Český rozhlas má nové logo ve tvaru písmene R" (in Czech). Mediaguru.cz. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2024.

Bibliography

Ješutová, Eva (2003). Od mikrofonu k posluchačům: Z osmi desetiletí českého rozhlasu [From the microphone to listeners: Eighty years with Czech Radio] (in Czech). Prague: Český rozhlas. p. 668. ISBN 80-86762-00-9.
Köpplová, Barbara (2003). Dějiny českých médií v datech: Rozhlas – Televize – Mediální právo (in Czech). Prague: Karolinum. p. 462. ISBN 80-246-0632-1.