Czech era
In 1991, the Czech Radio Group changed its status and became an independent organisation, despite being publicly funded as of 2008.[1][4] Czech Radio (ČRo) was established by Act of the Czech National Council (No. 484/1991 Coll.) on Czech Radio.
On 1 January 1992, Czech Radio was established as a public radio with property transferred from Czechoslovak Radio. The headquarters were set up at Vinohradská 12 in Prague, where the old Czechoslovak Radio was based at. Operation of regional stations in the Czech Republic was also transferred. On 1 January 1993, Czech Radio became a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). In 1999, Czech Radio launched an experimental digital radio broadcast in Prague.
An envisaged new premises for Czech Radio, a 30-storey building in the district of Pankrác which took 22 years to build at a cost of 1.35 billion Czech koruna, was sold after the construction phrase in 1996 as it was deemed too big for the station's requirements.[5]
In 2002, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty station stopped broadcasting in the Czech Republic, with the broadcast rebranded as Czech Radio 6 under the Czech Radio group.[6] In October 2005, digital television broadcasting was launched on DVB-T, with some of the ČRo's circuits being included in the first multiplex.[7]
A large expansion of the number of ČRo stations took place in 2005. At that time, the D-dur, Rádio Česko and Leonardo circuits began broadcasting, and in 2006, ČRo Radio Wave station was added.[8]
Czech Radio launched a new logo in 2013, featuring the letter R with stripes, at a cost of 2.2 million Czech koruna.[9] The organisation marked 90 years of existence in 2013, celebrating the occasion with a 48-hour broadcast including 90 interviews interspersed with news reports every half-hour.[3] The event, which took place on Wenceslas Square, set a new national record for the longest uninterrupted radio broadcast.[3] In the same year, ČRo 6, ČRo Radio Czech Republic and ČRo Leonardo were cancelled and replaced by the new station ČRo Plus.
At the end of 2021, the broadcasting of the stations Radiožurnál, Dvojka and Plus on the medium and long wave bands was terminated, and thus the broadcasting of Czech Radio via AM was terminated altogether.[10] In 2024, the regional station Český rozhlas Region was renamed Český rozhlas Střední Čechy.[11]
