ČRo Radiožurnál

ČRo Radiožurnál (Czech Radio Radio-Journal) is a national public radio station of the Czech Radio and the second most popular radio station in the country. Almost a million listeners listen to it every day – only the private radio station Rádio Impuls is more popular. The station focuses on news and opinion journalism. It has a large network of news services all over the world and reporters covering the entire Czech Republic. It advocates pluralism and differences of opinion. Its live broadcasts bring authentic views, interviews with interesting people and key political and social events. One of the radio station’s most interesting programmes is the Green Wave, featuring traffic information. It has been broadcast since the 1960s. Radiožurnál broadcasts news every 30 minutes.

The radio station was founded in 1970 – on 31 August the radio station Czechoslovakia I began broadcasting, later renamed Hvězda. It was known under that name until 15 December 1989. In its current form, Radiožurnál was founded on 1 January 1993. Its most important programmes in the 1990s included Speeches from Lány, a space used by the then President Václav Havel for expressing his views and ideas. In 2013, there was an attempt to restore the programme in a modern form, but it was cancelled after a year due to President Miloš Zeman’s vulgarity. The station broadcasts the magazine Twenty Minute of Radiožurnál every day at 5 PM. The programme O Roma Vakeren, about and for the Romani community, is broadcast every Saturday.

Radiožurnál has faced different criticisms. In 2003, it was given the Erratic Boulder award by the Czech Skeptics’ Club Sisyfos for promoting astrology, quantum homeopathy and numerology in prestigious programmes and best broadcast times. Apart from that, many famous figures and staff members of the Czech Radio have criticised Radiožurnál’s music, specifically its lack of diversity and excessive focus on mainstream. The station argued that its aim was to cater to the majority audience. Ondřej Suchan is the station’s current editor-in-chief.