Radio Prague

Radio Prague (Český rozhlas 7)
Type Radio network
Country  Czech Republic
Availability International
Owner Český rozhlas
Key people
 Miroslav Krupička (director), Gerald Schubert (editor in chief)
Launch date
 31 August 1936[1]
Official website
 www.radio.cz

Radio Prague (Czech: Český rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha) is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic.

Radio Prague broadcasts in six languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Czech and Russian. It broadcasts programmes about the Czech Republic on satellite and on the Internet. Broadcasting first began on August 31, 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady.

A Radio Prague pennant from 1986

The station broadcasts a total of 24 hours' worth of programmes per day, 3 hours of which are new programmes (one new 30-minute programme in each of the six languages); the remaining 21 hours are rebroadcasts. Rebroadcast programmes have fresh news bulletins. All programmes last for 30 minutes and have a standard layout: news, current affairs magazine and a feature. The theme of the feature changes each day and each section tailors programmes to suit its audience. The weekend broadcasts have a slightly more relaxed structure, they contain less news and more features devoted to the arts, social affairs, music etc.

International cooperation

Radio Prague produces a number of programmes in co-operation with other radio stations, and also for them. Radio Prague's Czech section produces programmes for Czech expatriates through SBS Radio in Australia, Radio Daruvar in Croatia, Radio Timisoara in Romania and several radio stations in the United States. These programmes are sent by cassette, via the Internet or down telephone lines. The Russian section uses the Internet to send its features to two radio stations in Russia. From 2001 to 2008, the English section worked with Radio Slovakia International, Radio Budapest and Radio Polonia to produce a programme called Insight Central Europe, which examined contemporary issues facing Central Europe. The programme was discontinued in August 2008. The English Section also participates in a weekly programme called Network Europe co-produced by Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, Radio Netherlands, Radio Polonia, Radio Prague, Radio Romania International, Radio Slovakia International, Radio Sweden and Radio Ukraine International. The English Section also contributes features to Radio Polonia's Europe East programme. Both the English and German sections co-operate with a number of European radio stations on the Radio E project. The German section works together with Radio Slovakia International to produce a Czech-Slovak magazine programme. The French section contributes towards the Accents d´Europe programme produced by Radio France Internationale. The Spanish section sends programmes to several stations in Latin America.

End of Shortwave Broadcasts

On December 8, 2010, Radio Prague announced via its Facebook page plans to end shortwave broadcasts on January 31, 2011. Part of the post read: " The station’s financing for next year has been drastically reduced by the Foreign Ministry in line with government austerity measures aimed at cutting the state deficit."

In popular culture

Comparison

Estimated total direct programme hours per week of some external radio broadcasters for 1996
Broadcaster 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996[2]
United States VOA, RFE/RL & Radio Martí 497 1,495 1,907 1,901 2,611 1,821
China China Radio International 66 687 1,267 1,350 1,515 1,620
United Kingdom BBC World Service 643 589 723 719 796 1,036
Russia Radio Moscow / Voice of Russia[1][3] 533 1,015 1,908 2,094 1,876 726
Germany Deutsche Welle 0 315 779 804 848 655
Egypt Radio Cairo (ERTU) 0 301 540 546 605 604
Iran IRIB World Service / Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran 12 24 155 175 400 575
India All India Radio 116 157 271 389 456 500
Japan NHK World Radio Japan 0 203 259 259 343 468
France Radio France Internationale 198 326 200 125 379 459
Netherlands Radio Netherlands Worldwide[1] 127 178 335 289 323 392
Israel Israel Radio International[1] 0 91 158 210 253 365
Turkey Voice of Turkey 40 77 88 199 322 364
North Korea Radio Pyongyang / Voice of Korea 0 159 330 597 534 364
Bulgaria Radio Bulgaria[1] 30 117 164 236 320 338
Australia Radio Australia 181 257 350 333 330 307
Albania Radio Tirana (RTSH) 26 63 487 560 451 303
Romania Radio Romania International 30 159 185 198 199 298
Spain Radio Exterior de España[5] 68 202 251 239 403 270
Portugal RDP Internacional[1] 46 133 295 214 203 226
Cuba Radio Havana Cuba 0 0 320 424 352 203
Italy Rai Italia Radio[1] 170 205 165 169 181 203
Canada Radio Canada International[1] 85 80 98 134 195 175
Poland Radio Polonia[1] 131 232 334 337 292 171
South Africa Radio RSA / Channel Africa 0 63 150 183 156 159
Sweden Sveriges Radio International[1] 28 114 140 155 167 149
Hungary Magyar Rádió[1] 76 120 105 127 102 144
Czech Republic Radio Prague[4] 119 196 202 255 131 131
Nigeria Voice of Nigeria 0 0 62 170 120 127
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Radio Belgrade / International Radio of Serbia 80 70 76 72 96 68

Source: International Broadcast Audience Research, June 1996

The list includes about a quarter of the world's external broadcasters whose output is both publicly funded and worldwide. Among those excluded are Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea and various international commercial and religious stations.

Notes:
  1. Does not broadcast on shortwave as of 2014.
  2. 1996 figures as at June; all other years as at December.
  3. Before 1991, broadcasting for the former USSR.
  4. Before 1996, broadcasting for the former Czechoslovakia.
    5.
  5. REE ceased all shortwave broadcasts in October 2014 but announced in December that it would resume shortwave transmission in Spanish only for four hours a day in order to accommodate Spanish fishing trawlers who were otherwise unable to receive REE at sea.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The birth of the international service". History of Radio Prague. Radio Praha. Autumn 2007. Retrieved 2008-08-12.

External links