The Prague Post Online: News: Radio Wave loses out on analog

October 7th, 2008

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Radio Wave loses out on analog

Industry regulators say the station was illegal, but not everyone agrees

July 23rd, 2008 issue

After a long-standing debate over its legality, Czech Public Radio member station Radio Wave has been ordered to discontinue its FM analog broadcast as of Aug. 30. Czech Radio Council member Dana Jaklová made the announcement June 16.

The decision was handed down by the Council for Radio and TV Broadcasting (RRTV), and agreed upon at a May 28 meeting of the Czech Radio Council. Czech Public Radio General Director Václav Kasík, was bound to honor the decision.

But Radio Wave — a nonprofit, youth-targeted station — has a number of fans on the ground at Czech Public Radio, many of whom back the station’s right to continue its analog — as well as its existing digital — broadcast.

“We are convinced of Radio Wave’s lawful broadcast,” said Czech Radio Marketing and PR Director René Zavoral. He added that Radio Wave was established with the agreement of the Radio Council, but that the council seems to have since changed its opinion of the station. “Now there are two strong regulatory and control authorities — the Czech Radio Council and the RRTV. Kasík wants to respect their actual opinion, so he has no choice.”

The controversy over Radio Wave started shortly after the station debuted in January 2006. Although it was intended as a digital station, because only a limited number of Czech listeners had digital receivers, it was broadcast from an analog tower that already carried a central Bohemian regional news station. The resulting interference caused the existing station to suffer from spotty coverage.

It was Jaklová, who first criticized Radio Wave’s broadcast as being in possible violation of Czech Public Radio’s charter, which says regional broadcasts are guaranteed to be available to listeners everywhere.

Shortly after Radio Wave’s launch, the RRTV fined it 1 million Kč. When the station appealed, the municipal court ruled that Radio Wave was in fact a legal station. After a later review at Kasík’s request, the Institute of State and Law at the Czech Academy of Sciences also found Radio Wave’s broadcast to be lawful.

But allegations of illegality continued, led by Jaklová, a member of the Civic Democratic Party. While she cited the letter of the law, many Czech radio employees speculated early on that her work as a commercial media lobbyist was behind her attacks.

Jaklová continued to cite legal technicalities in a July 15 interview for Digizone.cz, a digital broadcast news site. Czech Radio Law, she pointed out, defines a station by the term “regional studio,” and grants it the right to use an analog broadcast. However, when the Czech Radio Council approved the establishment of Radio Wave, it left out the word, “regional.”

“I was not a member of the council when this situation happened,” she said, adding, however, that, “If I had been present at this meeting, I would have definitely voted against establishing [the station].”

Many remain unconvinced of the grievance’s legitimacy. “The ambiguity in the Czech Radio law was and is the reason for this case,” Zavoral said. “We are convinced of Radio Wave’s lawful broadcast, but the council has the opposite opinion.”

— Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

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