The Czech radio market has seen its first two months of operation of a unique broadcasting format. Since April this year, EDU Rádio, the first private station in the country focused exclusively on education, awareness, and supplementary teaching, has been operating in the digital airwaves. The project is backed by Petr Žáček and Pavel Bartoš, founders of the European Academy of Education (EAV), who decided to use DAB+ digital technology to distribute free tutoring to the general public.
The station is currently available to listeners in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region via digital multiplex on channel 8D, as well as in the network of the operator Fiera touch in South, North, East Bohemia and Vysočina, and also online on the RadioHub platform. EDU Rádio can also be tuned in by viewers of the Regional Network 11 TV multiplex. The primary target group is high school and university students, to whom the radio offers a free alternative to paid courses. The program concept is based on a combination of a musical component, consisting of hits from the nineties to the present, and targeted educational inputs.
“Quality tutoring is a highly sought-after commodity today. We want to explain subjects clearly and entertainingly through the radio so that students don't have to spend afternoons in expensive courses,” says Petr Žáček about the project's strategy.
The content focuses on practical explanations of topics from key fields such as economics, chemistry, mathematics, foreign languages, and logistics. These explanatory blocks are designed as twenty-minute segments. The radio also serves as an information channel for current events in the Czech education system, covering topics of entrance exams, maturita exams, and state final exams. Discussions with experts on systemic problems in education are also part of the scheme.
The project founders combined their experience in pedagogy and telecommunication infrastructure. Pavel Bartoš has long focused on didactic tools and the implementation of artificial intelligence in teaching, while Petr Žáček previously worked in the television environment (TV OK+, TV Dakr) and in the management of cable operators. Together, they have previously built telecommunication networks in the Louny and Žatec regions.
“We noticed that students lacked the opportunity to learn passively outside of school desks. We therefore decided to translate our experience from the academic environment into a format that is accessible to everyone and free of charge,” explains Pavel Bartoš's motivation.
The EDU Rádio project fully utilizes the possibilities of the digital standard DAB+, which allows for the creation of specialized stations outside the previously limited FM band. The station relies on a student-centric method, striving to adapt educational content to the current needs and time possibilities of listeners in an informal environment outside of school classrooms.