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Vladimír Fišer, the legendary radio announcer who in 1968 announced the news of the Russian-led invasion of Czechoslovakia has died at the age of 81. A popular radio personality Fišer excelled as a talk show host, a presenter of radio plays and a dubber artist, but in the minds of the Czech people he will always be remembered at “the voice of 1968”.

Hamburg’s decision to pull out of a competition to host the Olympics has complicated the future of a dilapidated Czech-owned lot at a port in the city, Czech Radio reported. There had been plans to exchange it for another site in the German city before residents voted against hosting the Olympics in a referendum. The Czech minister of transport, Dan Ťok, said Prague would now have to renegotiate the matter with the Hamburg authorities. Czechoslovakia took a 99-year lease on the port in 1929 and the facility was used until 2001, when the Czech operator went bankrupt.

The hitherto head of public broadcaster Czech Radio’s governing council, Michal Stehlík, has resigned. His place will be taken by the former deputy chairman of the council, Petr Šafařík. Šafařík is a university teacher and publicist and a former member of the Green Party. Michal Stehlík gave the reason for his resignation as the events surrounding last month’s decision by Czech Radio’s general director, Peter Duhan, to step down. He was facing a call for his resignation over the employment of one of his sons at the radio, a move which is clearly ruled out under the broadcaster’s rules.

The outgoing head of Czech Radio, Peter Duhan, whose resignation was accepted by Czech Radio’s supervisory council earlier this week, will receive 10 months’ severance pay amounting to at least two million crowns, according to the news website aktualne.cz. The final sum could be higher if the council grants Mr Duhan an annual bonus as high as 480 thousand crowns. Mr Duhan resigned this week, citing health reasons, ahead of a meeting of the supervisory council which was investigating the employment of his son, not allowed under existing regulations. Mr Duhan, 69, oversaw broad changes at Czech Radio, including the introduction of new moderators and a new logo.

The head of public broadcaster Czech Radio, Peter Duhan, has resigned from his post, citing health reasons, the chairman of the Czech Radio’s supervisory council, Michal Stehlík, said after an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday. Mr Duhan has been suspected by the council of breaking its rules with the employment of his son, Andrej, by the radio station. He had previously issued a statement saying that he has not done anything illegal. Mr Duhan, who is 69, will remain in the post until November 3.

The head of public broadcaster Czech Radio, Peter Duhan, is suspected by its supervisory council of breaking its rules with the employment of his son, Andrej, by the radio station, the Czech News Agency reported on Wednesday. It said that the chairman of the council, Michal Stehlík, expressed doubts about the legality of the move at Wednesday’s supervisory council meeting. Duhan was reported not to have attended the council meeting citing health reasons. Deputy head of the radio, René Zavoral, confirmed Andrej had been employed until August 31. Michal Stehlík said he wanted a written explanation from Duhan and added that he was prepared to call a special meeting of the council on the matter.

This Friday marks the 47th anniversary of invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led troops in 1968, which crushed the short-lived Prague Spring reform movement and brought in political and moral decline which lasted until the late 1980’s. On Friday, the event was commemorated at a traditional ceremony in front of the Czech Radio building, which bore witness to one of the most brutal clashes between civilian protesters and the occupying forces.

10:55 on Thursday morning was an important occasion in the history of radio in the Czech Republic as it was the exact moment that full digital broadcasting was launched in the country. The new network, named DAB Praha, carries nine Czech Radio stations, some of which were previously only accessible online. For now the service is just available in the capital and Central Bohemia, but there are plans to roll it out to other parts of the country in the next few years.

One of the early atrocities of World War Two was the violent suppression of protests by Czech university students on 28 October 1939. This was just over six months after German troops had marched into Prague. One student was killed and three weeks later a further nine were executed. Twelve hundred more were sent to concentration camps. The news caused outrage in countries fighting Nazi Germany and 17 November was declared International Students’ Day. With the help of staff from the Czech Radio archive, David Vaughan and students from the Anglo-American

We have often drawn from Czech Radio’s sound archives in our broadcasts, as they make up one of the richest radio archives in the world, offering insight into the history of this country going back well over eighty years. In the last four years I have been working with journalism students from the Anglo-American University in Prague to explore some of the recordings lying long forgotten in the archives. This year a group of my students came across a moving and unusual – even experimental – drama documentary made in 1967 by the English Section of