Being different rocks Czech radio

Michael Hedges August 13, 2008

The Czech radio market has been exciting for years. It’s a dynamic mix of national and regional broadcasters who don’t hesitate to mix things up and public broadcasters who do. And the recent audience survey shows that listeners are checking in and checking out.

The biggest story in the recently released RadioProjekt audience survey for the first half 2008 is the gains by the public broadcaster national news and information channel Radiozurnal (CRo 1).  Though it stays in 4th place Radiozurnal jumped to 8.2% market share from7.0% year on year in the national tally.  All eyes have been on the channel since last autumn when Barbora Tachecí took over as station director. So frightened where the old public radio hands of the former Frekvence 1 program director that petitions were circulated calling for her removal. She lasted 96 days.

In the Prague market Radiozurnal overtook Evorpa 2 as the channel with the most listeners. Clearly, interest in the Barbora Tacheci saga, much of it played out on television, sent listeners to their radios to hear what the fuss was about. Since Tacheci’s removal Radiozurnal has returned to the save and sorry normalcy of public broadcasting.

Other Ceske Rozhlas channels continued to flounder. The network of regional channels (CRo5) increased its market share nationally to 9.1% from 8.1% year on year. CRo 2 Prague, the standard fare general interest channel, made no gain nationally. The channel remained in 7th place among Prague stations. CRo 6, also a talk channel, lost about a quarter of its already miniscule audience. Arts and classical music channel CRo Vltava lost just under a tenth of its audience.

Youth market targeted Radio Wave (CRo 4) never got a bleep in audience surveys. It’s program director was summarily dismissed at the first of the year firing spree because the station aired something nasty that the bosses thought should have been bleeped. At the end of August the station will be taken off its FM frequencies and remanded to the digital dungeon. Apparently Radio Wave was also as step too far.

Radio Impuls remains the top rated channel in the national survey; 14.7% market share, up from 13.7% one year on. It’s held the top spot convincingly since Q3 2006 when it pulled ahead of Evropa 2. Impuls Raaaadio bills itself as a “friendly” channel relying on contemporary music, much of it Czech originals. Frekvence 1 is ranked number two, slipping in market share to 10.4% from 11.2% one year on. Evropa 2, number 3, also slipped - 9.3% from 9.1% year on year.  The three national commercial radio channels are owned by multi-national broadcasters; Radio Impuls by Eurocast of Germany, Lagardère Active Media owning Evropa 2 and Frekvence 1.

While the national survey results are dominated by channels with national reach, results from the regions – the 13 kraje plus Prague – show the influence of local programming.

Radiozurnal replaced Evropa 2 for the top ranking in Prague, Evropa 2 taking a mild hit. Radio Impuls swapped places with Country Radio, which took a rather significant hit.  Frekvence 1 held number 5 and Radio Blanik held 6th position, though Radio Blanik showed a fairly significant increase.

In Central Bohemia, the large region surrounding Prague, Radio Impuls, Radio Blanik and Evropa 2 dominate. In Southern Bohemia, bordering Austria, Radio Impuls maintained is top position while losing audience; Hitradio Faktor gained the 2nd position, trading with regional public channel Ceske Budujovice.

In the western Czech regions, public radio channels fare better. In the Pilsen region public channel Radio Plzen is ranked number one, outranking HitRadio FM Plus. In Karlovy Vary region, bordering Germany, Evropa 2 held to top spot. Also bordering Germany in the Usti nad Labem region Radio Blanik held its top position. In the three western regions top top three channels all lost audience.

In the populous Moravian-Silesian region, bordering Poland, Radio Impuls and Radio Cas flipped positions – Radio Impuls gaining audience significantly as Radio Cas lost significantly. In the South Moravian region of south eastern Czech Republic, bordering Slovakia, Radio Impuls kept its top position while public channel CRo Brno took 2nd place from Frekvence 2 and CRo Radiozurnal jumped to 3rd place with a significant increase in listeners.  South Moravia’s capital city is Brno, the 2nd largest city in the Czech Republic.

Radio in the Czech Republic has shown a wealth of enthusiasm and passion for the medium.  The national channels – public and private – have taken safe positions and, largely, paid the price. The action, more and more, is with the regional and local broadcasters.

The RadioProjekt radio audience survey is released quarterly of two rolling quarters. Persons 12 to79 years are measured.