E15.cz: Czech Radio not a priority

Prague, Jan 21 (CTK) - The public Czech Radio (CRo) news station Radio Cesko (Radio Czech), which broadcasts on the frequences of the BBC Radio for six hours a day, will not be further developed, its head Vaclav Sochor told E15.cz news server.

"I was told that it is pointless to further develop Radio Cesko. I should become the core of a planned news and information channel," Sochor said.

Radio Cesko is not among the priority of CRo director general Peter Duhan, a member of the Czech Radio Council said after a meeting held on Thursday according to Lidovky.cz news server.

CRo's spokesman Jakub Cizek told CTK this is not entirely true.

Cizek said several possibilities were being considered. Radio Cesko may either remain on the BBC frequencies in the present or extended format, or broadcast only digitally.

He confirmed that Radio Cesko should be one of the pillars of a future spoken word channel.

Cizek also said CRo's news stations director Hana Hikelova will leave the radio later this month because she and Duhan had different views on the future of the CRo1 Radiozurnal, a popular news and information channel.

Both Duhan and Hikelova ran for the post of CRo's head last summer.

Duhan plans further changes in the CRo's top management in the next months, Lidovky.cz writes.

Before his election last summer, Duhan pledged to make major changes in the Czech public radio broadcaster, concerning both CRO's organisational structure and the profile of individual stations. He promised to lower the number of the staff, among others.

CRo will have a balanced budget this year, with both revenues and expenditures set at about 2.2 billion crowns. The radio plans to invest more in literary and drama production and less in broadcasting in other languages.

At present, CRo has four station with national coverage: CRo1 Radiozurnal, family entertainment CRo 2 Prague, CRo3 Vltava focusing on culture and classics, and magazine style CRo6. It also has four special and 11 regional stations. CRo7 offers broadcasting in foreign languages.