Contents

Dear Listeners, Dear Colleagues

This is the 1998 Annual Report on the Activities of Czech Radio for the Last Year. By way of introduction I shall attempt to give a brief summary of the results of the work we have done, and an outline of key tasks for 1999.

At the Board’s annual general meeting in 1997, the management of Czech Radio (Český rozhlas) set itself the following goals for the year to come: in programming, to continue the consistent diversification of the programmes we broadcast (i.e. to offer you programmes that vary in content and form, but that are always of decent quality); and to maintain, or make a slight improvement on, the listening figures for Czech Radio as a whole.

Throughout 1998, ČRo 1 – Radiožurnál held on to its leading position among radio stations in the Czech Republic, a stop was put to the long-term decline of ČRo 2’s listening figures, and ČRo 3 and ČRo 6 registered slight increases in their numbers of listeners. On the whole the share of the network enjoyed by Czech Radio’s stations has not altered to any significant degree, but the long-term shift that listeners are making away from national radio towards local and regional radio is something that cannot be taken lightly. It has to be said that, with the exception of ČRo České Budějovice, we hardly pose a serious threat to the private sector in this area. Of course, the most important thing is not merely (or even mainly) quantity, but on the other hand we cannot exactly get by with idle talk of the good quality of public radio for a scant elite. Public broadcasting was not conceived in this manner in democratic Europe, and I believe that we can regard European standards as a good, reliable guide.

Czech Radio enjoyed multimedia success when many years of attempts came to fruition in the form of the Declaration of Cooperation between Czech Radio and Czech Television. This Declaration will allow for successful developments to be made in closer collaboration between these two natural media partners in programming, technical, and economic areas.

One of the perpetual tasks of the management at Czech Radio is to pay heed to the economic efficiency of operations and productivity of labour. In this regard, I should emphasize that Czech Radio itself is only able to influence just over half of its own costs (the rest are costs for the services of monopoly suppliers, the rates of which are regulated by the Czech Finance Ministry). On the other hand, Czech Radio is only able to control a fraction of its own income (income from stringently restricted sales in advertising and from business activities), with over 90% of income exclusively controlled by the decisions of Czech Parliament when it sets radio licence fees. I find it irksome that our lawmakers have not yet been persuaded of the need for statutory automatism when increasing these fees. Automatism that will be fair economically, and, in particular, that will not be subject to politics or party ideals. Without this amendment to the Radio and Television Licence Fees Act, Czech Radio is not and will not be a body independent of politics and political parties in the sense defined by the absolute majority of European bodies of legislation and the European Television and Radio Union’s model Act on Public Broadcasting. The deliberations in progress today relating to the current radio licence fee have again been dragging on for over a year and a half. If the fee is not increased by 1 January 2000 we might be faced with problems in financing our own operations in the last year of the millennium, despite the considerable financial reserve we have built up.

Building projects that have been the target of close scrutiny are the reconstruction of Czech Radio’s offices in Hradec Králové and the construction of the studio building that rounds off the Czech Radio complex in Prague’s Vinohrady district. The reconstruction work in Hradec came to a conclusion at the end of 1998, and on 26 February 1999 an opening ceremony was held for the whole building. The ČRo HK studio now operates in a beautiful, functional, extremely modern building (it is the first fully digital radio station within the Czech Radio organization). The first stage of the construction of the studio building was also successfully completed, and we are anticipating that normal operations will begin here in autumn 2000.

In 1998, the Czech Radio management continued its efforts to complete ČRo 2 coverage in the FM waveband. At the end of the year we found ourselves at the outermost limits of our technical capacity. No fundamental improvement in the chances of receiving the Praha station on FM can be expected in the scope of the digitalization of radio broadcasting in the Czech Republic, with the exception of local transmitters (which are limited in their reach).

One of Czech Radio management’s permanent key assignments is to see that the tasks stipulated by the Czech Radio Act are executed. I hope that we will all find sufficient evidence in this Annual Report that we are meeting the duties imposed on us by the law. When taking into account the number of those of you who tune in, it seems that public broadcasting is indeed able to be attractive and tolerable.

In 1998, Czech Radio held a number of events in worthy commemoration of the 75^th anniversary of the launch of radio broadcasting in what was then the Czechoslovak Republic.

To close, I thank all my colleagues for the six years of cooperation we have enjoyed. I wish the next Director General of Czech Radio success, especially in the completion of the technological transformation, and endless programming achievements.

Vlastimil J e ž e k (facsimile)
Director General, Czech Radio

The Programming Division is the backbone of Czech Radio broadcasting. It is the main driving factor behind the fulfillment of Czech Radio’s public mission, including its non-programming activities. The Programming Division is an umbrella organization for four national stations and 8 regional studios. Other components under this division are the International Department, the Programme Archive Department, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Creative Group of Unsalaried Employees on Probation.

In 1998, management of the Programming Division, for which I am responsible, primarily involved the coordination of its different units, and continuing station formatting with special regard for the target groups of listeners. ČRo managed to keep its position as the leader in the Czech Republic’s radio market, where ČRo is viewed as a medium bringing the fastest, objective, balanced, and complete news service, and is also a cultural institution mapping out and providing support for high-quality domestic work in music and literature.

PhDr. Josef H a v e l Director of Programming

In 1997, ČRo 1 - Radiožurnál reinforced its status as a prestigious news and current affairs station. This success is founded on a well-composed permanent programming schedule and consistent programming innovation.

An extensive listener survey on the image of the national stations gave top ranking to the versatile reporting of ČRo 1. One example of its speed of reaction and efficiency was demonstrated in the extreme situations surrounding the floods and changes in government. As the situation developed, the programming schedule changed and ČRo 1 aired an unprecedented number of live broadcasts and contributions from all the locations of prime importance.

Of the new broadcasts and programmes, the early-morning Question of the Day, featuring most of the best-known presenters, attracted a large following. The new Thursday programme Studio Evropa made a major contribution to the incorporation of the Czech Republic into European structures. The new Wednesday slot Living Water furthered environmental awareness. To the Matter, a new late-morning broadcast, complements the successful current-affairs programme Under the Skin, based chiefly on investigative reporting. ČRo 1 has begun to devote much more attention to sport for pleasure, for example in the new Saturday programme Fitness the Czech Way.

The regular Radioforum became the most popular radio discussion programme. The principle of topicality was applied with even greater rigor in order to make current-affairs themes run parallel with news reporting. A new evening programme, Microforum Plus, was introduced, in which reporters from all ČRo 1’s editorial teams try to find answers to the most diverse, and frequently practical, questions left by listeners on a special answering machine.

One of the most demanding programming projects in 1997 was the new news and music programme broadcast live from 2.05 until 5.00 in the morning. This initiative made ČRo 1 the only radio station in the country to offer constant up-to-date news and current-affairs details until the early morning edition of the news.

ČRo 1 also continued its project called In Search of New Stars. A new development was our participation in Scype ’97, a European radio competition for young national talents, held in Denmark last year.

ČRo 1’s finances in 1997 ended in the black to the tune of over four million crowns. Revenues from sponsoring, more or less double those of last year, made a major contribution to this result.

According to the new methods applied by Media Projekt SKMO, daily listening figures for ČRo 1 went up to 17.2% (1,470,000 listeners) in the period from 1 April to 30 September 1997. It had a 16% share of the market. The second most popular private station, Frekvence 1, fell to 10% in the same period (with a market share of 10.3%). ČRo 1’s more professional promotional activity played a significant role in this success.

Alexandr Pícha: ČRo 1 - Radiožurnál in 1997

In 1998, Český rozhlas 2 - PRAHA aimed at becoming a modern current-affairs and entertainment station intended for listeners in the age groups of fifty upwards, a station with programming that would not clash with its sister stations broadcasting nationwide, and a station with a large listener community.

A fundamental change in organization was made right at the beginning of the year, when four ‘temporal’ programme centres were replaced with standard editorial offices, followed by running changes in staff. This paved the way for the basic requirements needed to make a gradual transformation in programming.

The early-morning broadcast of Good Morning was accompanied throughout the year by developments aimed at generating a dynamic programme flow with a fixed content structure and a permanent, small, considerably altered team of presenters. The changes we made related to weekdays, where the different themes of the individual days were replaced by a new schedule applicable from Monday to Friday, with precisely planned invariable features that respect the immediate needs and requirements of listeners as they get up.

In the late-morning Guest in the House, topical contributions, reacting to events at a community and cultural level, were broadcast more frequently. The dramaturgical aspect of morning broadcasting was made more consistent so that it reflected the station format more fully.

Weekday afternoons underwent substantial restructuring. We inserted twenty minutes of entertainment into the after-two slot, and Odyssey through Journeys of Knowledge, Advice Centre, and Culture with the Sky ran as new series. The short daily contributions A Smile For... and Those Who Know, Answer (‘you ask us and we and the experts will give you an answer’) were very popular with listeners.

1998 saw a rise in the share of entertainment programmes in the ČRo 2 – PRAHA broadcasting schedule. One such example of a new programme is the Home Alone serial, which featured Jiří Lábus, Marián Labuda, Vlastimil Brodský, Ivan Mládek, and Marek Eben. Another type of talk show is Don’t Dither and Talk, resting on the skills of Eduard Hrubeš and Jiří Melíšek as authors and presenters. The most significant contribution to contemporary radio work seems to be the series called School of Life, with Milan Lasica and Július Satinský (subtitled A Course for Beginners, Seniors, and the Advanced). It is a combined author/actor improvisation on a given theme, picking up on the famous performances by comedians Voskovec and Werich, but in a different time and different social circumstances. New life was also breathed into the classic radio genre of the sketch, as a topical response to the world around us. Fifty of these short dramatic comedies were performed in 1998, with a team of authors including Miloň Čepelka, Jiří Just, Jiří Melíšek, Vojtěch Steklač and Jiří Strnad, with a cast of popular comedians, and directed by Jan Fuchs; there can be no doubt that they enriched afternoon broadcasting considerably. We started concentrating more on the use of archive recordings of entertainment programmes, with a compilation of them forming a nightly broadcast from midnight until four in the morning under the name of Laughter till Daybreak.

No changes of any substance were made in broadcasting for children. Only the periodicity of the Radio for Your Pillow broadcast was changed, from the original ‘one topic for the whole week’ to ‘a different topic for each day’, and the time put aside for children’s broadcasts on Saturdays and Sundays was shortened.

In 1998, the station was given a music format, which went on to be reflected in the structure of music programmes. New additions included Harmonization, Musical Cocktail Before Five, They Were, Are, and Will Be, Oldies under the Magnifying Glass, and Music from Celluloid, which replaced programmes composed of minority music genres (blues, pop-rock, folk-rock, etc.). On the Road, a programme of country-music melodies and songs with Mirek Černý, made the move from ČRo1 - Radiožurnál to ČRo 2 - PRAHA

Live transmissions are a traditional part of the ČRo 2 - PRAHA broadcasting structure. There were seven outside broadcasts to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the launch of radio broadcasting: from Úpice, Třeboň, Uherské Hradiště, Kadaň, Šumperk, Sušice and Kutná Hora. The current-affairs schedule, lasting the whole day, was rounded off with a live broadcast of a programme from the series Don’t Dither on a Red Light, presented by Eduard Hrubeš.

ČRo 2 – PRAHA’s promotional activity has improved immensely. In this respect there is a presentation on the Internet and a live broadcast in Real Audio format.

The past year at the station was standard and its operations were stable in all respects, with no great changes in any of the principal spheres. It is gratifying to know that the cultural public continues to regard the station as a professional, necessary entity that is unique, both in character–given the current scope offered by radio–and in its high standard of programming. Those interested in classical music, jazz, fiction, and drama, have made their appreciation apparent, in letters and other forms, that there is one station that will satisfy their needs from among the wide palette of radio stations.

At the beginning of the year, we launched a two-year programme project called At the Centre of the Continent, devoted to the beginnings, developments, and current state of Czech culture. One special event that was part of this project was the Days of Culture of Czech Roma, which we broadcast in November. This event was a concentration of excellent Romany literature (somewhat of a discovery for the absolute majority of the non-Romany public) and traditionally excellent Romany musical culture, and a presentation of contemporary social problems of the Romany minority was also given in a number of current-affairs and essayistic programmes.

We continued our tradition of special days creating cultural portraits of foreign metropolises or countries. In June we broadcast Portugal – Country of Discovery (on the occasion of Expo ’98), and in June A Little Country of Many Countries, a programme devoted to Switzerland. On Swiss Day, we collaborated with the Internet news service Webiny, which complemented the entire broadcast with supplementary information, visual materials, and an overview of what the global Internet had on offer regarding the themes under discussion. Without a doubt we broke fresh ground in the Czech environment in this respect.

In accordance with an agreement between Czech Radio and Slovak Radio, we broadcast Slovak Days in November, just as we had the year before. The main element of these days was a reciprocal review of radio drama.

During the year a sociological survey was conducted in two stages, among the station’s current listeners and potential listeners. The listener-oriented research brought an above-average, positive appreciation of all aspects of programming. The results from both groups, however, offered up several matters to be considered regarding partial changes in programming.

In our 6,000 or so hours of music programmes we tried to satisfy the taste and demands of various listening minorities for whom the station is intended. We embraced all the most important music events that took place in the Czech Republic throughout the year. In the main these were the top shows and festivals, such as Prague Spring, Prague Autumn, Moravian Autumn, Český Krumlov International Festival, Musica Iudaica, Bohuslav Martinů Festival, and Days of Contemporary Music.

In conjunction with Czech Television, we performed simultaneous broadcasts of The Best of the Classics for the first three quarters of the year.

In the sphere of classical music, we made 441 studio recordings of a total length of 3,646 minutes. Microphones installed at concert halls gave us a total of 7,771 minutes of music from public concerts and performances. 2,170 minutes of archive recordings were digitally enhanced.

We presented classical music and jazz from the EBU network for Czech listeners to the same extent as in previous years, and we made our own contribution to this network of 53 live broadcasts and recordings. The broadcast of most note was Dvořák’s opera Rusalka from the National Theatre in Prague.

The radio drama and document editorship produced 71 radio plays (including the individual episodes of various series) for Vltava and Praha. This is eleven fewer than last year. The decline in production was caused in part by a lack of funds, and in part by the fact that four large dramas were produced – Mary Stuart, Raduz and Mahulena, The Merchant of Venice, and Faidra. Eight original plays were recorded.

In current affairs, the two series The Notion of the Czech State in the Transformations of the Centuries and Czech Creators of Democracy, part of the At the Centre of the Continent project, met with success. The twenty-one-part Chronicle of a Town advanced an interesting idea. Based on the fortunes of Hlinsko, it shows the whole of Czech twentieth century as it was authentically lived by specific inhabitants of this country.

The new programming development of the year was Vltava for the Children, broken down into a literary part, The Island Where Violins Grow, and a musical part, Headphone.

The Vltava Listeners’ Club continued its activities and prospered, and by the end of the year had over 3,000 members. The increasing interest manifested by young people, mainly students, is pleasing to see. The Club published its four regular editions of Quarterly for its members, and organized 19 club meetings in Prague, Ostrava, Pardubice, České Budějovice, Písek, Hlinsko, and Plzeň.

A great deal of the station’s work was also taken up by the organization of, and full arrangements, for the Concertino Praga and Concerta Bohemia competitions.

Mgr. Oldřich Knitl
Editor-in-Chief, ČRo 3 - Vltava

For the Brno studio, 1998 was primarily a year of inner tension and stagnation in programming. The most fundamental changes, unfortunately, only occurred in the studio’s management. Three people had a taste of the particular joys offered by management at Brno throughout the year: the Technical Deputy, Ing. Bohuslav Coufal, stood in at the beginning of the year, being charged with running the studio after the tragic car crash of JUDr. Tomáš Vencálek, in February the new studio director was appointed ing. arch. Ruzbeh Oweyssi, who was then subsequently replaced at the end of the year by Ludvík Němec after stepping down in October. There was also a change in the post of Editor-in-Chief: Bohuslav Němec, who stayed with us for a mere seven months, was replaced on 1 December by Mgr. Jaromír Ostrý.

It is quite logical, then, that none of the above-mentioned could implement their policies in such a short space of time as to make anything more than cosmetic changes in regional broadcasting. The fact that listening levels remained more or less the same (about 5% in the region) despite the complex situation at the studio can be deemed the greatest success of the year. This bears testimony in part to the professional qualities of a number of programme workers, and in part to the almost unbelievable loyalty and patience shown by our listeners.

It must be stressed, however, that the implied ‘backward development’ does not currently pose a threat to any of the studio’s activities. It is simply, and primarily, an incentive to carry through the preparations for programming and organizational changes swiftly; we plan to prepare and implement many of these changes this year. The main areas in this respect will be improving the standard of our news reporting, injecting dynamism into our presenter-moderated programmes, adjusting the weekday broadcasting format to make it more diverse and topical, and at the mid-year stage we will start broadcasting according to a completely new schedule. We believe a more robust promotional campaign is essential, which should be tied up only in part to this year’s celebrations of the 75^th anniversary of regular radio broadcasts from Brno.

Just as the changes in management at the studio were not reflected to any great degree in our own regional broadcasts, they did not have an impact on the cooperation we enjoy with the national stations either. Of all the regional studios, we were the ones to air the most contributions on ČRo 1 (around 800, and until the end of April we had a Radiožurnál reporter in the studio itself), and the output of the literary and drama team for ČRo 2 and ČRo 3 increased. In all, we broadcast a total of 52,000 minutes on the national stations (which is almost two and a half hours a day); programmes demanding artistically (and therefore in terms of production too) made up the majority here. Of the successes that stand out most, we should make special mention of the participation of Tomáš Sedláček’s documentary Oskar Schindler: Legend and Fact at the Prix Europa, and the radio play by Arnošt Goldflam They will be called out by name, which was put forward for the Prix Italia 99.

The most successful public events include the Open Day in May, the traditional blood donations on the studio premises (June, December), and social-cum-sales event ‘A Radio Gift at Christmas’, which ran for one week. The 32^nd Prix Musical de Radio Brno took on a new format, when space, so often needed but not given, was made for experts and the interested public to discuss the theme of ‘Art on the Radio – Wings and Wares...?’ instead of the usual competition for music programmes.

Despite some partial successes last year, it must be said that on the whole the problems outweighed the successes, so it would be better to round off things briefly. Brno is a stable studio, indeed perhaps too stable. Only now, after seventy years, it is standing at the beginning of a journey towards a truly modern public radio station. Perhaps the path will be a little less twisted from now on, and, let’s hope, happier (first and foremost for our listeners), but of course we cannot expect everything to run as smoothly as we would like. Because there is no doubt this process is going to be an uphill struggle.

Ludvík Němec,
Studio Director

Czech Radio’s most successful regional studio in 1998 was that in České Budějovice: it had a following of 16% of South-Bohemians as at 31 December, and in terms of the whole country the figure comes to 110,000 listeners. The studio’s image is associated with music (mainly popular brass music) and regional information. The partial replacement of the unsatisfactory key signature with new signatures from the ORM Praha Studio contributed to the modernization of the station’s format.

The programme structure plays the major role in the studio’s success. Last year it concentrated on improving the new service. We expanded the number of associates considerably in the individual districts. Reports by České Budějovice reporters often made their way onto ČRo 1 – Radiožurnál; the hottest information was from June 1998, when two military aircraft crashed over České Budějovice. This year we began using the Internet to transfer audio recordings to Radiožurnál.

In current affairs, we devoted a lot of attention once again to investigative work and the programme No Wrappings. We started broadcasting the serial Tourist Trails.

One unusual project was the ten-part serial ‘Czechs in Banat’, which was put together from a working trip by three reporters (Hana Krejčová, Libor Soukup, Aleš Vrzák) to Czech villages in the Romanian mountains. Dana Vitásková took photographs of the journey, and these were exhibited with the České Budějovice reporters’ audio recordings at the Museum of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, and then at the Czech Senate in Prague. Hana Krejčová, series correspondent , won second prize for the programme at Report 98 in the documentary category.

With financial support from the Cabinet Office, we recorded contemporary gypsy music by Roma from České Budějovice (Auv khell – Come and Dance) and Písek (Gypsy Boys). We aired these recordings on the radio, and went on to release them on an audio cassette called Duj,duj,dešuduj in collaboration with ČRo Publishing.

Throughout the year we drove out to visit our listeners in small South-Bohemian towns as part of ‘Holiday Radio’.

In 1998 we began recording some of the Girls’ Day Out programmes live with audience participation at the new Saxana Club. Presenter Miroslava Nezvalová sends invitations to listeners and to competent guests from the ranks of fashion designers, cosmeticians, actresses, etc., to join her at the club.

In the field of art and literature, we managed to produce several works in 1998 that surpassed commonplace production, especially when it came to themes. One example here is the ten-part reading from Elena Lacková's Born under a Lucky Star, the memoirs of the first Romany graduate from Charles University. The work on the previously unknown diaries of Anna Lauermannová-Mikschová was also a breakthrough. In documentaries, we made a series capturing the earliest history of the region called The Memory of the South-Bohemian Countryside.

In the music department, we started running Selector in the fourth quarter, which will make it easier to choose music for sequenced broadcasting.

When producing our own recordings, we concentrated on documenting contemporary work in popular brass music.

During the holidays, we made recordings at the Piano Festival and International Festival of Music in Český Krumlov, organized by the AUVIEX agency.

In 1998 we refurbished the discussion studio to make it a pleasant, creative workplace. The music control room also received new equipment in the form of a mobile mixing desk, which means digital recordings of music programmes can be made in the mobile van and processed immediately as a master copy to be used when issuing a recording on CD or audio cassette.

All reporters have been given mobile telephones, so on-the-spot information can be passed on faster, and small recording devices (minidiscs). A number of reporters began using the Wavelab program for digital editing on their computers at their own offices.

The studio was fully solvent in 1998.

ČRo ČB Structure of Programme Schedule 1998 :

News and current affairs - 36%
Music - 56%
Literature - 5%
Other (culture, sport, advertising, broadcasts for minorities, etc.) - 3%

Marie Šotolová
Studio Director

For the Czech Radio studio at Hradec Králové, 1998 was a year full of anticipation and diligent work, when we had to take on a number of special professions alongside our normal duties.

Right at the beginning of the year we dealt with the competition of tenders for a project studio and a building company so that we could start reconstruction on the new radio building in Havlíčkova Street. The notion that we might be able to start trial broadcasts on the last day of the year from the new studio seemed to many to be an idle daydream. Nevertheless, the Hradec Králové architects Zídka-Plocek-Misík and the main contractor Orlická stavební, from Rychnov nad Kněžnou, gave us guarantees that they could cope with the task at hand. Doubts were raised as soon as they started dismantling the building, with one partition disappearing after another, and huge holes gaping where once there had been ceilings. The reconstruction work began in March and building-site commotion and activity did not even come to a halt on Saturdays and Sundays. As the number of craftsmen increased in the summer, things took a turn for the better, and the new radio station started hatching out into the world. In the end the New Year’s Eve event came off and the trial transmission was a success. Around fifty guests came to visit us, including celebrities from the political and social world, and our closest associates.

Besides the modern interior-design elements, the new Hradec Králové studio is equipped with DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) technology. The transmission room and main transfer switch are the heart of the whole operation, and are fully fitted with modern digital VADIS equipment from the Munich company KLOTZ DIGITAL. The DALET 5 dispatch system is part of the facilities. We are gradually ringing the knell of magnetic tape.

Everyone made preparations throughout the year to cope with the new technology, and it must be said that the results were far above our expectations. Another issue that met with frequent discussion were the open-plan offices. Here, too, life is beginning to settle down and work now goes on as normal.

Hradec Králové’s difficult times will come to an end when the villa in Vrchlická Street is returned to its original owners, drawing a close to operations at the old address stretching back fifty-four years.

While this was been going on, we were, of course, broadcasting, and not without success. In the first half of the year we even figured as one of the most successful regional and local stations in terms of number of listeners. In the second half of the year things took a turn for the worse, so we know what our priority is for the coming year. There can be no doubt that we will manage this, given the conditions in which we are now working.

Changes in the new programming schedule for 1998 sharpened the studio’s orientation towards a news and current-affairs format. A fundamental change (despite being allotted just fifteen minutes) is the programme East-Bohemian Echoes, broadcast weekdays at 1 p.m. At this time developments in the topical events of the day are noted, reporters call in from their journeys around the region, and we approach politicians at all levels about important negotiations. A summary of the news is given on The Day in the Region at 5.45 p.m., which also airs the most important information of the day.

The end of July and August formed their own special chapter, when local summer floods hit the Rychnov and Hradec Králové regions, just as they had a year before in Moravia. Although many of the station’s workers were away on holiday, ČRo HK squared up to this event very well. We made daily trips to the affected spots, held phone-ins, and broadcast information important for the people affected by the floods and for those who wanted to lend a hand. We are still monitoring the cleanup of damage, help and the supply of funds today.

Live broadcasts from various events acquitted themselves well. These were cultural and social events, and broadcasts from attractive places with certain problems (Špindlerův Mlýn in January, the Theatre of European Regions, Kunětická Hora, the horse-breeding farm at Kladruby nad Labem, Dvůr Králové nad Labem, CIAF HK, Gastro Pardubice, Prix Bohemia Radio, etc.). Not only are they interesting for listeners because of their immediacy, they are also a means of presenting the studio.

1998 was the year in which the newly formed Public Relations and Commerce Division found its feet. The priority task was to improve studio promotion, which is something we achieved fairly well. We booked advertising billboards, ‘advertising’ buses in Hradec Králové and in Pardubice (also promoting the other ČRo stations), and so-called swivel panels were assembled for bigboards.

Listener response rises year after year. We are monitoring written communications in greater detail – there are over 12,000 of them every year, if we include competition answers and questionnaires.

One of the most outstanding public-participation events is the survey to find the most charming person of the year connected with a public recording. The winner of the second survey was Zdeněk Svěrák, who was the evening’s guest of honour.

Mgr. Petr Haš
Studio Director

On the whole, 1998 was a year of happiness and success for the ČRo Olomouc studio. Of primary importance is the fact that we managed to increase the number of daily listeners to 48,000, which is an average of 6.5% of the population we serve in the six districts of central and north Moravia. In the course of the year we made a number of consequential external and internal changes at the station aimed at making it more animated and dynamic, at reinforcing and balancing its information and entertainment roles, and at more stringent formatting in the structure of the broadcasting. The programming changes went on to release the initiative and creativeness of reporters and editors, and, countering this, they resulted in a need to make organizational changes in the management of the news and current-affairs editorship, with the subsequent merger of all reporters and presenters into one single Programme Division. Another organizational change was the establishment of a programming and production centre, into which we fused all programming activities involving operation, production, and post-production. The final result was an improvement in mutual communication and collaboration of all of what were previously separate programming units.

In 1998 we also launched the running of the Public Relations and Commerce Division, the activities of which played a role in building up a positive picture of the studio. It must be stressed that we implemented all these difficult organizational changes without giving rise to any destructive influences in the mutual cooperative relations between individuals and sections. Alongside the programming and organizational changes, we also made a number of positive improvements in 1998 in the areas of spatial, operating, and technological setup, and we also stuck to a principle of making economic use of all resources and funds. In general there was a mood of mutual cooperation and openness towards further changes at the studio.

Regional reporting at ČRo Olomouc continued to be of a high standard in 1998. Because we are always trying to gain as many listeners as possible, we began looking for new ways of catching and maintaining the interest of the majority listener. We worked on the rearrangement of the choice of regional information, and the way it was slotted into the programming schedule and presented. In our choice of information, on top of the basic criteria of objectivity, universality, and balance, we also paid heed to listeners’ interests and the impact of information in the region. We concentrated on people stories, we introduced a topic of the day for each day, and we tried to orient the day’s broadcasts from that angle. Current affairs is an area that generally tends to place many more demands on stations than news-reporting. We made progress at Olomouc in this respect last year. The main afternoon current-affairs programme, Current Events, underwent considerable change: the total length of the programme was cut to 25 minutes, it was shifted to the more preferential four-o’clock slot, and the content of the programme was brought more in line with the everyday cares and worries of the listeners. With regard to theme, we expanded current affairs to include a number of shorter programmes – New Region on Thursdays, the daily Police Magazine, Sport Magazine and Sundays and Mondays, and Reporters’ Notepads on Saturdays. The daily Vanes, which excels in its great diversity of theme, could also be placed loosely in among our current-affairs programmes. Religious issues are reflected in the form of Christian Echoes on Sundays, and on Sunday morning we also devote a thirty-minute programme to children. Working in conjunction with the Ethnic Minority Officer at the Olomouc District Authority, we began running a project aimed at the organic insertion of Romany issues into our news and current-affairs programmes with participation by Roma as external associates, who we are gradually training. We also set aside ample space for current affairs from the worlds of culture, art, and the environment.

In the field of literature, we dramatized some of Karel Čapek and Karel Poláček’s stories, but of greater dramaturgical benefit was the project of stories by the local writer Otakar Bystřina. Listeners were interested in some programmes dealing with the Haná-region roots of Bohumil Hrabal’s characters, and V. Gračka’s Olomouc waxworks. In standalone programmes we commemorated the important anniversaries of the historian František Palacký, the Olomouc actor František Řehák, and Eskimo Welzl, the native of Zábřeh. We produced an eight-part reading from the work of Michal Viewegh – Those who Record Fatherly Love – for ČRo 2, and another eight-part reading, this time of E. Glocar’s Olomouc Elegy, for ČRo 3.

In music one of our main aims in 1998 was to incorporate the region’s important music events into our programmes, including the entire range of music styles from folk music (Náměšť Garden, Mohelnice Coach), jazz music (The Czechoslovak Jazz Festival in Přerov and Blues Alive Šumperk) , folk rock (Folk Rock in Velká Bystřice), to, finally, a whole number of classical-music events (The Olomouc International Organ Festival, The International Music Festival of K. Ditters of Dittersdorf in Javorník, and two live broadcasts of castle Concerts in conjunction with the Austrian station ORF Wien, at the castles in Reichenau, Austria, and Kroměříž, here in the Czech Republic, as part of the celebrations of the 150^th anniversary of the Kroměříž Assembly).

Czech Radio Ostrava found itself subject to a number of significant changes in 1998 that concerned programming, technical aspects, marketing, organization, and human resources.

During the first half of the year a fundamental change was made in the studio’s organization structure in accordance with the uniform organization scheme of all ČRo regional stations in force as of 1 January 1998. In this respect individual departments were reorganized, and some redundancies were made, primarily in the technical department and economic and administrative department. Open competitions were held as part of the replacement of management in the positions of studio director, technical deputy director, and the deputy director for economics and administration. The Free Radio Production Editorship was established, as was the Public Relations and Commerce Department.

In programming, we managed to form a balanced broadcasting schedule, with special emphasis on news and current affairs on weekdays, and a looser programme structure with greater freedom of movement for the ‘minority genres’ at weekends. The staff changes in the news and current affairs editorship, with the arrival of new, high-quality reporters, led to a substantial improvement in the standard of form and content of news reports and current-affairs programmes. These positive developments are also documented by the fact that since September 1998 the Ostrava studio has held on firmly to the number one spot in terms of numbers of news reports broadcast monthly on the national station ČRo 1 Radiožurnál.

New current-affairs programmes have been inserted into the broadcasting schedule: Advice Bureau, Economic Magazine, Premiére, Pharmacy, and Beyond the Law.

Since August 1998, we have been using Selector software to make music selections during live broadcasts. This has contributed considerably to the greater balance and ‘professionalization’ of the Ostrava studio’s music format, taking into account the musical preferences of the ‘majority listener’ in the dominating target group of listeners aged between thirty and fifty, and with emphasis on presenting music produced in the Czech Republic.

In music production, we continued the tradition of making and editing recordings of concerts from the region’s prestigious classical, folklore, country, and ethnic music festivals, such as Janáček’s May, Strážnice Festival, Music for Tranquility, Moravian Sparrow, Concert of Opera Stars, and jazz concerts at the Parník Club. We saw systematic developments in our work with the Ostrava Conservatory, the Janáček Philharmonic, choirs, and other music ensembles.

The conversion of all news production to minidiscs was completed. Because we expanded our computer network, work began on our conversion to processing news reports in the Sound editing program, and dispatching reports to the national stations via the Internet. A new mobile trailer was built and fitted with digital technology. We introduced broadcasts of current dynamic data in the RDS system into operations, as well as the digital distribution of the signal for the different ČRo Ostrava transmitters (in collaboration with Czech Radiocommunications).

In public relations and commerce major changes were made in the staff, which resulted in a gradual improvement in the studio’s communication with the public, and we also managed to activate business activity. In the first half of the year an advertising campaign was prepared and launched, making use of press advertisements, promotional leaflets in the public-transport network, commercials on our own advertising space, an illuminated panel in the centre of Ostrava, questionnaire postcards, and an advertising poster on trams in Ostrava. New presentation materials were printed, and the new web-page graphics on the Internet won the Zlatá zmije prize for June 1998. ČRo Ostrava’s main PR activity included working as part of a media partnership at the music festivals Janáček’s May, Moravian Sparrow, Music for Tranquility, the successful organization of the Give Blood with Czech Radio events (four times), the ČRo Ostrava Day at a car salesroom in Frýdek-Místek, and a live broadcast from the Ostrava Town Hall as part of the 80^th anniversary of the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic.

ČRo Ostrava reporters (Marie Dlabalová, Artur Kubica, and Dagmar Misařová) came first, second, and third in the traditional Report ´98 competition.

In terms of overall financing, ČRo Ostrava reported a level balance in its budget expenditure and income, with excessive external costs being compensated by higher external and internal income.

The studio’s main tasks for 1999 are

• To increase listening figures to 60,000 listeners a day and to achieve a consistent trend in increasing our share of the market
• To confirm ČRo Ostrava’s privileged position in the scope of regional reporting on ČRo 1 Radiožurnál
• To fulfil the planned volumes of programme production for the national ČRo 2 and ČRo 3 stations
• To make optimum use of the extension of our own broadcasting to five o’clock in the morning
• To increase the station’s standing and reinforce public confidence in regional public radio broadcasting
• To prepare and implement a high-quality group of events to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the start of broadcasting by the Ostrava studio.

ČRo Ostrava structure of programme schedule

52% - music
41% - news and current affairs
2% - culture
5% - other (sport, advertising, competitions, broadcasts for minorities)

Radio drama 0
Serialized readings 1,167
Other readings 2,021

Studio recordings:

Classical music 569
folklore 78
jazz 0
popular brass music 39
other popular music 16

live broadcasts 900

live music recordings 3,965

1997 was marked by the extension of broadcasting to nineteen hours a day (5 a.m. to midnight). 1998 saw enhanced programming quality, not only in reporting, but also in music and literature, and in the whole broadcasting dramaturgy.

One change of substance, which had come under careful consideration for a long time (made as part of an attempt to rejuvenate morning broadcasting), was the shift of the popular brass music programme 5P from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 1 April. We took this opportunity to extend its running time to the whole hour. Although the decision was taken based on official surveys into the popularity of different music styles at different types throughout the day, not all the listeners (or even our own editors) thought it was the right thing to do. Which meant we were pleasantly surprised by the first listening figures, when the change showed itself to have led to an increase in listeners in the first period of monitoring.

Another fairly bold inroad into our broadcasting methods was when we made the switch to presenting the weekend PANORAMA (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) live. This began in October, with a pair of presenters taking us through the whole weekend, and feedback so far shows it to be very popular with listeners – broadcasting is accompanied by news, topical information, and competitions for the whole of the two days.

Not all changes and new developments were related just to our broadcasting schedule and new programmes. An important project was the introduction of Selector into our broadcasts, which had a great affect on sequenced music, as well as other, non-music programmes. In the last quarter of the year this gave our broadcasting a regular, pronounced rhythm with maximum use of the time available to us.

All these changes passed off without an Editor-in-Chief. Our original man left at the end of 1997, and the position was not filled until half a year of searching later. Unfortunately training a person with no previous experience is a complicated, time-consuming process, no matter how able that person happens to be. In the end our ‘novice’ put a stop to the training and returned to his original occupation at the close of 1998.

In art and literature, the main driving force in our broadcasting is the work on literary themes and authors in REGIOLIT and GRANDION. We removed the stuffy exclusiveness these programmes used to have by using more documentary items and regional resources, which brought them closer to the majority listener. We link up these titles in series that form a link thematically. This also applies to our daily LITERARY CONTACT, a contribution of roughly five minutes broadcast during the afternoon COCKTAIL. The share of music output fell because of the more stringent motivation in scripting recordings. In part this led to a reduction in the overtime work of the sound engineers, caused by poor organization of work in sound production. Commercial studio production also continued, especially with the Plzeň Philharmonic, which resides and works in the building (formerly the PRO).

Rigging up the LAN network throughout nearly the whole of a listed building is a costly affair that is also very complex technically, and placed a large burden on our economic situation and administration. The project, completed with the connection of the digital switchboard, brought the first stage to a close, whereby we were able to relocate the entities using the building so that the whole of the first floor and half of the ground floor is set aside for lessees. Negotiations with them, at a time when the leases are coming to an end and supply is outstripping demand on the property market, brought difficulties that have not as yet been solved. Limited investments at ČRo have meant the next stage has been shelved for the time being – the reconstruction of the broadcasting offices and other vacated workplaces. As a result, the technical and working conditions are temporarily aggravated somewhat, especially for the news team.

The number of employees is stable, 68.6 for the whole of 1998, with minimum fluctuations. By taking on new people we want to exert a little pressure on our main reporters so they improve their performance.

1998 led to the greatest programming modernization and enhancement in broadcasting quality we have ever experienced. And it was evidently due to this that we managed to reinforce our position on the radio market in the region against unusually high numbers of tough rivals. We managed to replace fully the losses in listeners caused by having to leave the most powerful transmitter and difficulties with other transmitters at the end of 1997, but also by the growing discontinuance in broadcasting programmes via cable-piped radio, and the growth in the numbers and quality of private-owned rivals, such as the full-scale advance in broadcasting made by the high-quality country-music station Karolina. Because of this struggle, national private-owned radio stations are still unable to find a niche in the region, and in 1998 the market shares of the ČRo national stations also fell.

- music 51 %
- news  7 %
- sequence broadcasts with current affairs and news 18 %
- entertainment 4 %
- culture 7 %
- education 5 %
- literature and drama 2 %
- other 6 % (religion, advertising, broadcasts for minorities, contact programmes)

Programme type: 1997 1998

(min.) (min.)

Radio drama 229 171

Serialized readings (dramatizations) 1854 845

Other readings 3142 5385

Studio music recordings

- classical music 327 333

- folklore 35 0

- jazz 0 60

- popular brass music 0 0

- other popular music 221 190

Live music broadcasts 0 0

Pie chart?

In 1998 we continued our work on improving the three main pillars of our broadcasting, which can be summarized as follows: Regina Praha provides the most information the most objectively about everything of interest to the inhabitants of Prague and central Bohemia; Regina Praha sets aside as much space as possible in its broadcasting for listeners; of all the radio stations in the country, Regina Praha provides the most far-reaching services for minority groups.

In 1998 we again gave greater scope and depth to our news and current affairs section, and we now give information not only about what is going on in the region, but also about important events in the country as a whole and abroad. There are some new current-affairs programmes – Reporters’ Notebook, and Regina 98 (in this programme we broadcast ampler current-affairs and documentary contributions).

We tried to enrich what we call our contact programmes. Our permanent presenters on the Sunday programme Drop by for a Chat were joined by new colleagues, such as the former television presenter Ota Černý. We also sought out new forms for our afternoon half-hour when listeners tell us stories from episodes in their lives and express their opinions on a wide range of matters, and the odd joke is aired too. Incidentally, when it comes to jokes, we know from surveys that we enjoy the reputation of being a station full of humour and fun; we probably fed this reputation even more by broadcasting jokes and anecdotes before the news.

We are still broadcasting our Communication Club for eight of the nationalities living in the Czech Republic (Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovaks, Roma, and Vietnamese), as well as Shalom aleikhum, our programme for the Jewish community in Prague. Programmes for the blind, physically handicapped, and seniors also made regular appearances on the airwaves of Regina Praha in 1998.

1998 was also a year in which Regina Praha benefited from a huge improvement in our studio building and its immediate vicinity. We began broadcasting from a brand new studio, equipped with the most state-of-the-art radio equipment and computer-cum-radio equipment to be seen in the Czech Republic. We restored the interior (the corridors and staircases) of our building, the former Karlín Community Centre. We reconstructed the garden area around the building and started using it and its summerhouse for public events. On 16 May we held an Open Day, opening the entire building and garden to the public, and we went on to repeat the success of this event at the beginning of September as part of the Regina Festival. We are preparing many more public events for our garden in 1999, and we hope we also manage to ‘renovate’ the reputation of our building and its surroundings as an important social centre in the Prague district of Karlín.

1998 was a year in which we also (and perhaps primarily) prepared fundamental changes in programming. Listener-preference surveys, which are becoming better and better at Czech Radio, indicated that we were wrong in thinking that our broadcasts suited our two regional groups of listeners (Prague and Central Bohemia). Indeed, they seem to be two very different, even diametrically opposed groups: what the one wants, the other refuses, and the overall listening figures for Regina Praha are on the decline. We have decided to reorganize Regina Praha in 1999 to make it a metropolitan radio station. What does that entail? In short, much more, much better news and current affairs from the capital, almost completely live broadcasting, first to 8 p.m., and later to midnight, a dynamic style of presentation, modern music format, different key signature... We want to be listened to, and we want to be needed, by those inhabitants of Prague and its immediate surroundings who are of an active age. It remains to be seen whether we will succeed.

Michal Novotný
Director, ČRo Regina Praha

Structure of programme schedule:

42% music
32% current affairs
11% news
14% other

Czech Radio Ústí nad Labem entered 1998 with a new transmitter (at Proseč na Jablonecku) and two new frequencies. This change led to the studio losing its good signal coverage in the Liberec area, but made the two original frequencies available to the national stations, and paved the way for the studio to become the second regional studio to keep broadcasting after 6 p.m. Suddenly listeners were getting more for their money. Czech Radio Ústí nad Labem gradually extended its broadcasting from an original twelve hours a day to fourteen hours a day.

From the beginning of the year we applied the results of media polls into our broadcasting schedule, and based on the information acquired, profiled our broadcasting to suit the middle-age group. We increased the time devoted to news reporting within the overall broadcasting structure. We air the news on the hour every hour, and every half-hour on early weekday mornings. The proportion of information from North Bohemia that we include in the news comes to about half, the remainder constituting the most important national and international news. Our own special weather forecast for the region has become a natural part of the news.

A new approach was lent to the discussion programme On the Carpet, which maps out specific and topical problems in the north of Bohemia in the form of a live gathering with questions from listeners and sound cuts. New programmes were added that were intended to act as a ‘service’, especially in family matters. Mother and Father’s Weekly was introduced, and Saturday morning’s Family Pack was expanded. We doubled broadcasts of the entertainment programme Czech Radio Entertains and launched new music quizzes, such as Roulette (on Saturdays). We set up our own broadcasting service for Slovak citizens – Slovak Minutes, full of news and interviews from the world of current affairs. Ko amen sam is a brand new item helping non-Roma to understand the background to the Romany community. In terms of music styles, Czech popular music led the way in 1998.

We should not omit the special programming projects that characterized 1998. After a pause going back many years, we renewed live broadcasts, the chief project here being when we ran a broadcast from the opening of the spa season at Teplice. We introduced our first long-term competition, which was mingled in with broadcasting every day. This gave listeners the chance to have some fun as well as listen to the news.

In the studio’s off-air promotion, collaboration with the regional press was a task of prime importance, especially our work with Vydavatelství Labe - Deníky Bohemia, the regional advertising weekly Tip servis, and Koktejl, a magazine born in Ústí. We also ‘discovered’ several new lanes where we could present ourselves – we put our own presentation on the Internet, launched broadcasting in the RDS system, and for the first time in the studio’s history its logo appeared on trolley-buses in Teplice and Ústí nad Labem. The promotion of our new frequencies and of the long-term competition extended to billboards too. The stimulus for a number of activities also proved to be the contact we made with MDR, a public radio station in Saxony.

We joined in with the 75^th anniversary of Czech Radio by holding an Open Day, an accompanying concert, an exhibition of sculpture in the garden, and by organizing a somewhat curious world record where participants walked on their hands. We held another ČRo UL Open Day on what has become the traditional date of 1 September, this time with an exhibition of old radio equipment, an exhibition of photographs from the floods, a concert, and an autograph session featuring Martin Hrdinka. In mid-September we participated in Days of European Heritage, and again we opened up the building to everyone interested in history. The studio also organized the first year of the Day of Regional Universities in Ústí nad Labem, and Review of Club Programmes by the students of grammar schools in Liberec. We became the media partner of a whole number of events. We were not only heard, but seen too, at events ranging from the Czech and Saxon Music Festival, Porta, the Ústí Drama Festival, the balls held by Česká spořitelna and Autostar Velimex, through to Christmas projects for Children.

The number of employees at the studio dropped from 56 to 53. As part of regional diversification, the number in Ústí nad Labem itself fell to 47 to make way for an increase of posts outside the division’s headquarters.

In 1999 the number of posts should become more or less stable. We are expecting operations to start running in Liberec soon, with extra reporters and the preparation of separate news to be broadcast for this region. At the end of the year we are going to introduce a new key signature. An ongoing task is working more intensely with Czech Television, and to join in with the important celebrations held by Ústí nad Labem. By putting all these factors together, especially good broadcasting and high-quality promotion, we want to achieve further increases in our number of listeners.

Programme output :

radio drama, serialized readings, folklore - 0
other readings - 80 min.
classical music – 100 min.
jazz - 30 min.
popular brass music - 50 min
other popular music - 280 min.
total - 540 min.

ČRo 6/RFE is the only station in the country detailing expressly with analyses and current affairs, and as such has no direct rival. An advantage (and also disadvantage) is the fact that its broadcasts include the most commentaries and analyses out of all the Czech electronic media. The station is founded on a tradition of plurality in opinion, domesticated in democracy. Intolerance, cultivated by half a century of the long, profound, influence of totalitarianism, however, has deep roots here. One listener calls in to praise an article to high heaven, and then another calls a few minutes later to condemn the very same contribution. And both present themselves as long-running opponents of totalitarianism. At issue is intolerance towards the opinions of others from parties within the political spectrum that are different from ‘mine’. One of our basic efforts, then, is to improve political culture in the country. Our commentators must not become the same puppets as journalists under the totalitarian regime. They say what they think. We move somewhere around the centre, do not express extreme views, and try to present criticism in a matter of fact, calm tone. We always distinguish between news, which is to be purely objective information, and a commentary, which inevitably contains the author’s subjective opinion. Opinions and points of view are expressed throughout the eighteen and a half hours of broadcasting time, not only in ‘News and Views’. At ČRo 6/RFE there has to be a wide range of opinions and confrontational thinking. The fact that we broadcast in Slovak four hours a day is important, and part of the new broadcasting schedule is covered in a licence and with the money of RFE/RL in Slovakia. We are one of a handful of media that makes a positive attempt at continuing mutual awareness between the countries.

How does the station present itself? It is appreciated for its seriousness, matter-of-fact approach to problems and events, its objectivity that goes beyond party politics, and its independence. In all polls and surveys on the trustworthiness of media, we take a leading position. Many of our regular listeners are used to listening to our news and analyses in the early morning and have the feeling that they are acquiring a satisfactory overview of domestic and foreign events, and do not have to follow the news throughout the day when they have many other matters to contend with. Then there are other listeners used to this sort of broadcasting in the late evening. On the whole these are people with a profound interest in politics. We will always be a station for a minority group (albeit important) with its views of events at home and from the different corners of the world. Over the three years that ČRo 6/RFE has been operating, the programme schedule has changed several times. Not much has remained of the programmes from the old RFE, although there is a constant need for programmes such as ‘News and Views’, ‘Voices and Responses from the Regions’, Democracy in Theory and Practice’, and ‘Economics for Everyone’. In ‘Afternoon Live’, already launched in Prague, the responses of listeners continue to be broadcast live, as are telephone queries, and comments on the opinions expressed by politicians, various experts, and specialist doctors and foundations. At present the Euro-Atlantic weekly programme Compass is of clear importance, devoted as it is to the admission of the Czech Republic into European structures. The weekly ‘Centaury’, on the country’s environmental problems, also has a following. ‘News and Views’ now faces competition in the form of the live broadcast of ‘Studio STOP’, with live arguments and discussions.

At the end of 1998 we changed the content of our cooperation with Respekt, and Hospodářské noviny now prepares a weekly news report on the stock exchange. In 1998 we covered the three elections in full (the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, Local Councils, and the two-round Senate elections). As soon as the polling booths closed, we spent Saturday and Sunday broadcasting four and a half hours of live post-election programmes. On weekdays we have eighteen and a half hours of broadcasting time, and sixteen hours a day at weekends.

Nineteen employers currently work at ČRo 6/RFE. A number of external associates also play a part in our broadcasts. In connection with the relocation of ČRo 6/RFE from Vinohradská Avenue to Dykova Street, it has to be said that the collaboration between the administrative section and the technical department was very good, and the technical department also developed healthy cooperation with its colleagues from RFE/RL. In 1998 collaboration with different organizations within the ‘Group of Six’ were stable (these being Voice of America, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and the Slovak RFE offices). They complement each other very well and to all intents and purposes do not overlap in their content. A significant step, however, was made when Czech Radio joined up with RFE. The station is fulfilling its new mission. It is not a replacement, as it once was, to the erstwhile censored media, but provides assistance in the advancement of democracy and orientation in the market economy. RFE was consolidated, and will continue to receive financial aid for the success of the joint venture with Czech Radio, from Washington. In the broadcasts, the Czech, Slovak, American, British, and German stances towards world and domestic events provide a good complement with Russian and French views aired by our reporters in Moscow and Paris. Cooperation with other Czech Radio stations -- Radiožurnál, Praha, and Vltava - is also progressing. In general the name of the station is very well known. However, there is a large problem (which is also apparent in various surveys) in the confusion aroused by having six organizations broadcasting on the same waveband – Czech RFE, Slovak RFE, Czech Radio (with articles from Radiožurnál, Praha, and Vltava), BBC, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle. We have the odd telephone call from listeners who are surprised they have called Radio Free Europe. The problem, then, is the station’s identity. We also have a handicap in the fact that we only broadcast on the medium waveband. This means not only do we have to keep pointing out our broadcasting frequency, but that we have to run an advertising campaign for our broadcasts on the Internet too.

Typical ČRo 6/RFE listeners have university education (according to the latest MEDIA PROJEKT results from the second half of 1998, ČRo 6/RFE is fifth among the seventy-nine Czech stations in the category of university-educated people – 7.7% for the last 14 days, 6.4% per week, 4.7% per day) and a broad outlook, or they are active citizens who just feel the need to expand their education and confront their opinions with the opinions of good political and economic commentators. They appreciate the fact that the station summarizes the verified facts available to it, and looks for connections that frequently go way back into the past, and that it avoids scandalizing sensationalism and is very thorough in checking its facts. As a rule, ‘our’ listeners are not satisfied with the passive consumption of information, and instead ask questions and want to be familiar with relatively new facts that surround them. Serious current news from home and abroad regularly attracts listeners of other stations to tune in.

In the future we want to concentrate on potential listeners that do not know the station, and feed them the urge to tune in, and then to return to it. It is important to make ourselves more known, to give people more opportunities to find our frequency. We would also like to continue our meetings at schools (in 1998, for example, we were invited to the Prague School of Economics twice); we want to reinforce awareness of ČRo 6/RFE among more educated listeners of all age groups, especially students. We would like to direct broadcasting to young people a little more, and invite them to play an active part in our broadcasts. Of course, we also want to keep concentrating on people who form public opinion, economists, politicians, and people interested in broadening their outlook on the world. We would like to devote ourselves to human rights issues on a more regular basis.

Mgr. Pavel Pecháček
Editor-in-Chief, ČRo 6/RSE

1998 was a year in which Radio Praha had to make savings. The budget for foreign broadcasting was seven million crowns down on last year, and German, French, and Spanish broadcasts had to be cancelled on the short waveband. This caused a rumpus among a number of listeners, especially in Germany, and we managed to bring it back in the course of the year. The reduction in the budget meant spending the funds available to us with maximum efficiency – in essence we had to keep the amount of broadcasting at the same level as last year, but with decreased expenditure.

In 1998, the backbone of our broadcasting abroad continued to be half-hour programmes containing information from the Czech Republic. These half-hour slots are broadcast by Radio Praha in Czech, English, German, French, and Spanish on the short waveband. Total output came to 21.5 hours (43 programmes) a day. The highest number of broadcast hours is given over, by tradition, to Czech and English programmes. The English editorship also prepares two fifteen-minute programmes a day for the English-speaking inhabitants of and visitors to Prague. These are broadcast on the BBC’s Prague frequency (101.1 MHz) and Regina Praha frequency (92.6 and 100.7 MHz). These programmes have found their permanent listeners and confirm the global trend: broadcasting abroad need not necessarily mean broadcasting only abroad.

Radio Praha’s well-known, old ill remains the quality of reception on the short waveband. The outdated transmitters in Litomyšl that are used to make broadcasts abroad cannot broadcast at a rate higher than 100 kW, which is too little for quality listening in America and Australia. Radio Praha solved this situation by grouping transmitters on the selected frequencies to double the power (200 kW) and by introducing re-translation. Since 25 October 1998 the half-hour programme of Radio Praha’s English editorship was re-translated via Radio Miami International. The signal is escorted to Florida via satellite, from where it is distributed on short waves. The first responses to the re-translation that we are getting from our coverage of the American Mid-West are positive, and denote the direction future broadcasts abroad will take. Alongside English, in 1998 programmes produced by our Czech and German editorships were also broadcast via the satellite World Radio Network. Distributing Radio Praha programmes via satellite is not without purpose. Satellite broadcasting can serve as a means for further re-translation, and can be used to reach a completely new listening public. WRN in particular distributes the content of its channels (including Radio Praha programmes) to other national and international radio and cable networks.

Another medium to which Radio Praha is paying a lot of attention is the Internet. The programmes of all five of Radio Praha’s language editorships are available on the Internet in text and sound format, and live broadcasting is matter of course now. One service that is particularly appreciated is the daily sending of messages in one of five languages direct to the e-mail accounts of subscribers. The Radio Praha Internet Team serves hundreds of customers in this manner, and more are joining every day. All you need do is access www.radio.cz. The service is free of charge, and customers include the American Ministry of Defence and the World Bank. Besides this, the Radio Praha Internet Team prepares special pages to mark significant anniversaries and events. In 1998 such events included the 30^th anniversary of Prague Spring and the 80^th anniversary of the formation of Czechoslovakia. The success of this project is evidenced by its number of visitors. The average number of visitors to the Radio Praha Internet pages in 1998 came to 100,000 hits a day, and on the anniversaries we mention it was up fivefold.

Radio Praha also puts a lot of effort into publicity. New information leaflets have been published, which are distributed to embassies, compatriot associations, and travel agencies. One successful Radio Praha promotion in 1998 was a competition in German essay-writing, which was organized by Radio Praha in conjunction with the Goethe Institute. Another success was the drawing competition for children called Where I’m at Home on the Network, organized by Radio Praha in collaboration with the Praha radio station and Silicon Graphics. 6,000 drawings were entered in the third year of the competition. After an exhibition at the National Technical Museum, and a travelling exhibition throughout the country, the winning pictures were auctioned and the proceeds – CZK 35,000 – were donated to the Hope Children’s Home in Otrokovice.

As far as listener response is concerned, in 1998 Radio Praha received 12,000 letters from all over the world. What the letters have to say confirms that the Czech Republic and Radio Praha have supporters and listeners on all the continents who deserve our attention. They also indicate that DX listeners, and listening to the radio on short waves, are by no means a thing of the past and need to be improved.

Radio Praha is looking to the future with sober optimism. It managed to make another increase in its foreign broadcasting budget for 1999, and a promise has also been given that the status of ČRo 7 might be reinforced in the Radio and Television Broadcasting Act, currently under preparation.

PhDr. Miroslav Krupička
Director, ČRo 7 - Radio Praha

In 1998 a fundamental change was made in the organization of the Czech Radio Technical Division (TD). On 1 January the IT Department (previously the independent IT Division) was incorporated into TD. On 1 April 1998 the Telecommunications Department (formerly part of the Economic and Administrative Division) was incorporated into the IT Department. A name change was also made at the beginning of 1998, and the activities of some departments within the Czech Radio Technical Division were altered.

In 1998, then, TD provided services and activities at its specialized work sites that were closely connected with broadcasting on the whole.

In implementing new technology we fulfilled a number of tasks issuing from growing demands on the technical quality of broadcasting:

• The preparation of a project for the new studio building in Římská Street was a key task for the TD management, and was aimed primarily at optimizing individual studio complexes and connecting them up to programming units. Most stress was placed on the complex for the dispatch of ČRo 1 broadcasts and its link to the Newsroom.
• A new broadcasting site was constructed for ČRo Regina Praha. The site is equipped with a Studer OnAir 2000 digital mixing desk, selected for the new Římská studios. The studio was constructed for the option of dispatching broadcasts directly by the presenter, and will also be used to train workers at the new Římská studio building. In November an addition was made to this site of the Dalet 5 computer editing and dispatch system.
• The reconstruction of the building in Dykova Street for the broadcasting needs of ČRo 6/RFE. Both new control rooms were fitted with new radio technology – the Soundcraft SAC 200 mixing desk, and Studer A807 tape-recorders. New complete local distribution of television and radio transmissions was constructed, as well as reception points for satellite receivers that distribute programmes that contribute to ČRo 6/RFE broadcasting.
• The new mobile studio for ČRo Praha’s programme department, on an Iveco undercarriage, replaced two outdated Liaz R154 live-broadcast buses. The van is equipped with the modern Otari Status mixing desk, which allows difficult recordings to be made in the field in conjunction with a 24-track Otari tape-recorder.
• The transfer of the distribution of national ČRo stations from surface routes to a digital system distributed via the DSF Copernicus satellite was completed, including solutions for the resultant problems arising due to the time delay of the satellite-distributed signal.
• The installation of the Optimod AM modulation processor at the key Liblice medium-wave transmitter increased the quality of sound on ČRo 2 - Praha in Central Bohemia, and increased the transmitter’s range while keeping the same power emitted.
• Operating the ISDN digital communication allows for a two-way modulation connection with all EBU partners, without having to make preliminary bookings of modulation lines; the quality of this communication even allows for live transmissions of classical concerts or operas.
• TD played a major part in fitting out the new building of ČRo Hradec Králové, where modern digital technology from Klotz was installed (a transfer switch and two transmitting controls). The distribution of the signal between the controls and transfer switch takes place in digital form over optic fibres. The Dalet 5 system was also installed, this time in the form of two broadcasting and three editing offices.
• At the end of the year preparations began for DAB trial broadcasting, which should be put into operation sometime around May 1999 in conjunction with Czech Radiocommunications.

In information technology reconstruction took place, with the conversion to structured cabling, of the computer network in the Vinohradská building, which was done without affecting normal operations and with the minimum burden being placed on working conditions there. The new computer network at the Dykova building was completed and put into operation. Participation in project work for the instalment of a computer network at the Hradec Králové studio was also significant. At present IT workers are helping install the new AVIDNews system, which is to replace the current Basys news system.

In the course of the year, the DEC 2100 Server Vinohrady and DEC 2100 Server SAP Žižkov were upgraded, and the ongoing development and maintenance of the structure of the Czech Radio e-mail system progressed (with the introduction of user groups), as did the configuration and administration of Czech Radio servers for the needs of independent virtual servers (Apache) of the ČRo national stations, the configuration of the encoders of the Praha and Vltava stations for the purposes of broadcasting their programmes on their Internet. Internet and Intranet advances were also made. The IRC electronic discussion conference system was installed within Czech Radio’s private network.

In 1998, ČRo searched for a strategic partner for telephone switchboards. Siemens was chosen, and by the end of the year new switchboards had been installed at Regina Praha, ČRo Hradec Králové, and ČRo Plzeň.

A service is supplied by Globix especially for the needs of ČRo reporters abroad (short-term and long-term assignments), which reduces the costs of international telephone calls. A general agreement was also made with EuroTel for the provision of special mobile telephone services.

At the Vinohradská building, the UE 210 telephone switchboard was upgraded, an addition was made to the internal telephone network in the form of a cordless switchboard of the standard DECT Siemens Hicom cordless E type, which makes it possible to connect up selected users of cordless telephones within the whole building into the telephone network.

As far as transmitters are concerned, several new transmitters were put into service for the ČRo stations: from 1 March, České Budějovice/Včelná on frequency 103.7 MHz for ČRo 2 - Praha (private operator) and České Budějovice/Kluk on frequency 96.1 MHz for ČRo 3 - Vltava (private operator), from 1 June 1998 the Lipník nad Bečvou transmitter on frequency 88.7 MHz for ČRo Olomouc (private operator), from 1 September 1998 the Jičín transmitter on frequency 106.9 MHz for ČRo 2 - Praha (private operator), and in the second half of December the Hradec Králové/Hoděšovice transmitter on frequency 104.7 MHz for ČRo 2 - Praha.

Another significant improvement for listeners that occurred this year is the broadcasting of several complementary services (RDS). Based on a contract with Czech Radiocommunications and with the operators of other transmitters, most of the transmitters were fitted with RDS coders. In the meantime static data is being broadcast, i.e. the name of the station, the programme type, information on the time, and a radio text (an invariable text 64 characters in length). For listeners with mobile reception, the most interesting feature is probably the ability to retune to a more powerful transmitter automatically. At present the transmitters of ČRo 2, ČRo 3 and all regional studios have been fitted, and the ČRo 1 transmitters do not yet have the time or radio text. The new coders for ČRo 1 should be fitted at the beginning of 1999.

In January, the distribution of modulations of the national stations ČRo 1, ČRo 2, and ČRo 3 was put into operation via the Copernicus satellite. Receiver points were gradually built onto individual transmitters, and construction here was completed in June. The necessary contracts and agreements on cooperation have been signed with Kabel Plus, Czech Link, Czech Television, Premiéra TV, and Czech Radiocommunications. As of 2 December 1998, modulation from the Czech Radio building has been distributed digitally, which means that, besides the transmission of actual modulation, other supplementary dynamic data can be transferred in the RDS system. We will not be able to make full use of this until Czech Radio has been equipped with the right technology, but the transfer system is ready.

The distribution of the modulations of Czech Radio regional studios to transmitters was technically improved this year too. This year new radio-relay routes were built that secure modulation distribution direct from the studio to the transmitters (without the need for SPT Telecom as a middleman) at ČRo Plzeň, Ústí nad Labem, Olomouc, and Ostrava. ČRo Hradec Králové is prepared and will be put into operation with the new building. This method of distribution makes it possible to transfer RDS dynamic data and picks up on the equipment of transmitters with coders.

For orientation control of some of the specifications of services provided in the sphere of radio-signal distribution in the FM waveband, a major improvement was made this year in the technology of the telecommunications department in Prague, and in the opportunities regarding reception at the individual regional studios. However, the availability of quality operative checks in the field is still lacking (to be specific there is no car permanently equipped for these needs).

Other activities carried out by TD include sound production and live radio broadcasts, with contributions from the Live Radio Broadcasting Department and Sound Production Department. The large projects in 1998 included:

• The 1998 elections – the production of election slots for the individual parties, live broadcasts from all rounds of the elections to the representative bodies
• Live broadcasts from the Winter Olympics in Nagano
• Broadcasts and sound recordings from PRIX Bohemia Radio 98 and Concertino Praga 98
• The coordination of broadcasts from festivals in Jindřichův Hradec and Český Krumlov (for EBU – Euroradio)
• The production of programmes marking historic anniversaries (Munich 1938, August 1968, October 1918)
• The restoration of archive recordings, mainly from the fifties (B. Smetana: The Kiss - 1952, The Secret - 1953, Two Widows - 1956, Libuše - 1965, Dalibor - 1950, A. Dvořák: Rusalka - 1952, String Quartet F-Major - 1951, J. Suk: Radúz and Mahulena –1957, etc.)
• An English and German version of Eben’s opera Jeremias
• For a long-term ČRo 3 - Vltava project, ‘Liturgical Year’, regular recordings of the Schola Gregoriana ensemble at Strahov Monastery
• 9-part dramatization of 40 Days by Franz Werfel
• A new study of J. Zeyer’s tale Radúz and Mahulena

For the coming year, when radio broadcasting preparation and dispatch will be digitized and automated, the Technical Division is to undergo another round of reorganization, which will take place at the beginning of 1999. In the next year the broadcasting office will be reconstructed and the dispatch of ČRo 1 and other national Czech Radio stations will be digitized.

Jaromír Holý
Director, Technical Division

Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOČR)

Czech Radio Children’s Choir (DPS ČRo)

Czech Radio Disman Children’s Ensemble (DRDS)

competitions and festivals

Festivals and competitions held by Czech Radio

Prix Bohemia Radio

Jaromír Dadák (Chairman)
Jaroslav Svěcený
Libor Soukup
František Poul
Marek Zwyrikowski
Milena Koláčná (Secretary)

Jiří Hraše (Chairman)
Věra Heroldová - Šťovíčková
Vlastimil Hankus
Pavel Pecháček
Josef Kleibl
Jana Odvárková (Secretary)

1. Jan Pokorný (ČRo 1 - RADIOŽURNÁL)
2. Lucie Výborná (Frekvence 1)
3. Pavel Kudrna (ČRo 1 - RADIOŽURNÁL)

1. Foreign Correspondents’ Notebook (ČRo 1 - RADIOŽURNÁL)
2. Good Morning (ČRo 2 - PRAHA)
3. Requests (Frekvence 1)
4. Ladies’ Club (Frekvence 1)
5. - 6. Two on One (ČRo 1 - RADIOŽURNÁL), Guest in the House (ČRo 2 - PRAHA)

Concerto Bohemia

Concertino Praga

The 30^th annual CP South-Bohemian Festival took place from 15 to 23 June. It included eight concerts in six towns (Jindřichův Hradec, Žirovnice, Český Krumlov, Trhové Sviny, České Budějovice, and Passau – the concert here was held in collaboration with Bavarian Radio). Live broadcasts and recordings were offered in the EBU network via the international programme exchange.

Besides the laureates of the 32^nd competition, Dmitri Dyemyashkin (piano) and Sergei Suvorov (cello) from Russia, Marjolaine Locher (violin), Korbinian Altenberger (violin), Gerhard Vielhaber (piano), and Claudius Popp (cello) from Germany, Lauma Skride (piano) from Latvia, Jean-Phillip Sylvestr (piano) from Canada, Johannes Happenhofer (violin) from Austria, Jan Bartoš (piano), Daniela Razáková (violin), Jan Szakál (cello), and Jakub Tylman (cello) from the Czech Republic, appearances were also made at the festival by the soloists Alena Čechová (laureate 1991 and 1993), Ludmila Peterková (laureate 1984), Václav Hudeček (laureate 1966, 1967), the conductors Petr Vronský and Szolt Hamar from Hungary (winner of the Maestro Pedro de Freitas Branco Prize, Lisbon 1997), and the České Budějovice South-Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra.

The national round of the 33^rd annual CP took place in October, with 26 entrants (playing the flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, and the trumpet). The jury was headed by Professor Václav Junek from the Music Faculty of the Academy of the Performing Arts.

Forty-nine recordings from 17 countries were entered in the international competition; three were disqualified for not keeping to the deadline. The international jury, chaired by Professor Jiří Hlaváč (with two representatives from EBU present) decided on the winners as follows:

FLUTE

1^st prize - Denis Buriakov, Russia
2^nd - not awarded
Special Mention (no order)
Jana Brydniaková, Czech Republic
Ieva Rutenale, Latvia
Birgit Fluch, Austria

OBOE

1^st prize - Dana Wichterlová, Czech Republic
2^nd prize - not awarded
Special Mention
Ivan Podyomov, Russia

CLARINET

1^st prize - László Kuti, Hungary
2^nd prize - not awarded
Special Mention - Gábor Galavics, Hungary

FRENCH HORN

1^st prize - Szabolcs Zempléni, Hungary
2^nd prize - not awarded
Special Mention - Gábor Acsai

TRUMPET

1^st prize - not awarded
2^nd prize - not awarded
Special Mention - not made

Special Mentions for the best performances of compulsory pieces:
flute Ieva Rutentale (J. Teml: Pantomima)
oboe Dana Wichterlová (S. Bodorová: Magicon)
clarinet László Kuti (V. Kalabis: Suita)
French horn Szabolcs Zempléni (J. Kofroň: Sonatina, 2^nd and 3^rd movement)
Trumpet Kaspar-Laurenz Märting, Germany (J. Matěj: Canzona)

The new competition rules and conditions will be formulated within the first quarter of 1999; the actual meeting is again planned for October, picking up on Brno’s International Music Festival – Moravian Autumn, which the ČRo Brno studio has co-organized for several years now. Stimulation in formulating the theme for the Prix 1999 will include the 75^th anniversary of the Brno studio and the importance of the music it produces within Czech Radio as a whole.

ČRo participation in international projects Kopečková

Presentations of Czech music abroad

International competitions and festivals

Other Projects

SPORT

Jarmila Kopečková
Head of the International Department

Programme Archives Ješutová

IV. Czech Radio Publicity

Cooperation with Czech Television

75^th anniversary celebrations

Advertising campaigns, advertisements

The licensing campaign was probably the most far-reaching; the public was informed of its legal duty to pay radio licence fees, described in leaflets at post offices throughout the country, a TV commercial on Czech Television and TV NOVA, and a radio commercial on public and private stations.

Internet/Intranet

Other activities

Czech Radio Publishing Procházka

Now in the fourth year of its existence, Czech Radio’s publishing activity continued intensifying relations between the publisher (producer) and customer (distributor or seller). As is the case in other business sectors, here too it takes a while before customers and sellers get used to a new brand and begin to acknowledge its quality. With this type of goods this plays an especially important role, as business partners appraise the content and processing. We should not omit to mention public interest in CDs and cassettes bearing the Czech Radio label, of which over 50,000 were sold in 1998, and the financial profit from these sales is also not insignificant. It would be appropriate to emphasize, in this respect, that publishing costs are borne by Czech Radio Publishing itself, and licence-payers do not pay a single penny.

Czech Radio Publishing released 29 titles on audio CD and cassettes in 1998 in the sphere of classical music and popular music, including the spoken word. Czech Radio Publishing mainly releases titles from the rich archives of Czech Radio, which is less demanding financially, but we also managed to make eight new recordings in 1998, which were music projects from the spheres of classical, jazz, rock, and pop music recorded at Czech Radio studios.

We continued our work with the OSA Foundation in supporting Czech music, where the number of titles came to nine; in the end there should be a total of 20 CDs in 1999. The OSA Foundation managed to obtain a grant for this project that amounted to CZK 2,000,000. Two CD projects from the work of L. Janáček were carried out in conjunction with the Works for the Nation Foundation to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Radioservis a.s.

Kateřina Steinicová
Director, Radioservis a.s.

Czech Radio listening figures and listeners

Compared with the year previous, Czech Radio listening figures in 1998 did not register any dramatic changes. There was just a slight drop in the share of public radio in the Czech radio environment as a whole, falling by a little less than one per cent compared with 1997. Of more note were the changes in the second half of 1998. The reason behind this shift seems to be the current trend of listening figures for the national stations dropping off in favour of private local and regional stations. Other factors also have a role to play here, such as the end of the cable-piped radio service. These developments mean public radio is faced with the question of to what extent it wants to react to the given changes in order to offset these influences efficiently. The results of listener-preference surveys indicate that the ratio of speaking to music is a limiting factor. Young listeners in particular prefer listening to radio stations with a high proportion of music content which specializes in certain segments of music taste within pop music. A diverse range of programme types and genres based on the spoken word, which is typical for public media plans, whether in information and current affairs or in relation to literary and dramatic genres, is of more interest to older listeners, whose taste has been formed by the traditional type of radio broadcasts. The issue as to how to adapt the style of radio broadcasting to meet the demands of the current listening public (and to bring it in line with the range offered by private stations), while maintaining the quality of radio production, is the cardinal problem of public broadcasting, and not just in the Czech Republic.

ČRo 1 - Radiožurnál

ČRo 2 - Praha

ČRo 3 - Vltava

ČRo 6/Radio Free Europe

Czech Radio finances in 1998

Czech Radio economic systems Bossová (black frame) Hrdina

Radio licence fees

System of Asset Management
The Czech Radio asset management system that had been put in place the previous year was functioning smoothly in 1998. The Economic and Administrative Division began coordinating asset records for the entire organization, and it also organizes investment projects at the Czech Radio studios and helps in implementing them.

Accounting and Taxation
The long-term cooperation we enjoy with tax consultants and auditors has resulted in accounting that meets all legal standards. In 1998, we placed a lot of attention on the complex accounting and tax spheres. Czech Radio’s accounting system is regulated in a manner enabling internal audits to single out most errors and discrepancies. This meant the preliminary accounting audit for 1998, which was prepared in November 1998, turned out very well.

Developments in Czech Radio Economy
The figures presented in the following tables are only preliminary. They are based on information known to us as at 15 February 1999. Amendments will be made to the figures as and when they become known from our tax return and the audit of our accounts. Czech Radio’s final financial results will be known in June 1999.

ČRo Commercial Activities

Advertising
The most important commercial activity at ČRo remains the sale of radio advertising. Advertising on the national stations was dealt with exclusively by the IP Praha agency. Advertising time takes up just 0.2% of total broadcasting time; the national stations are restricted to three minutes’ advertising space a day, and the regional studios five minutes a day. Advertising space is mainly sold on the most popular station in the Czech Republic, ČRo 1 – Radiožurnál, and on ČRo 2 - Praha.

Sponsoring, cooperation, bartering
In 1998, Czech Radio obtained sponsoring of CZK 23M. Of this, IP Praha’s contribution came to net income of CZK 11M. In cooperation projects, ČRo managed to net CZK 13M. Barter agreements were entered into to a total sum of CZK 36M. Good cooperation with ČRo stations played a significant role in these results.

Renting (of studios and radio equipment)
Just as in past years, demand outstripped supply, and in 1998 revenues came to CZK 1,843,068.

Licences, transcriptions for institutions and listeners
Czech Radio is in possession of a huge number of unique recordings, which it makes available for commercial and non-commercial use. For transferring the radio rights attached to audio recordings, ČRo obtained CZK 415,538 last year. For transcriptions of audio recordings for commercial purposes, the organization obtained CZK 72,270 and for transcriptions of audio recordings for listeners CZK 25,358.