Czech Radio

Český rozhlas (ČRo) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic, which has operated since 1923. The service broadcasts throughout the Czech Republic nationally and locally. Its four national services are Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava and Plus. 13 regional stations are also provided. Czech Radio celebrated 90 years of existence in 2013.

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. 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.

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.

Radio 1 (Czech Republic)

Czech Radio 1 is an alternative radio broadcasting company based in Prague, Czech Republic. It can be tuned at 91.9 MHz in and around the city. Its musical style is unique for Czech radio stations.

It was the first private radio station in the country. Started out as a pirate station, now works as a regular FM station that is also favourited amongst Czechs living abroad who are listening to it online. It is a freeform format.

Radio 1 tends to focus on interesting music, culture and serious work (as the moderators see it), namely on alternative and independent music of all genres (electronic, rock, jazz, reggae, ambient, etc.) rather than pop-style music. They officially began broadcasting in the spring of 1991 as the first Czech privately owned commercial radio.

Radio 1 has about 30 specialist shows including Blue Train (jazz session), CD Nonstop (a whole CD recording is played every day), Film o páté ("five o'clock film" - current movies program), French Connection (news from the alternative French music scene), Hard Music (heavy metal and related music program), Hitparáda Radia 1 ("the hit parade of Radio 1" - foreign music top 40), Knižní servis ("the book service" - new books discussion), Reggae club (reggae), Shadowbox (news from the d'n'b scene), Velká sedma ("the great seven" - Czech music hit parade), Všechny hudby světa ("all music of the world" - world music program) or Zátiší ("the still life" - discussion program with invited guests). It is also one of the few Czech radios to have shows held by English speaking moderators.