Vaclav Havel To Chair First RFE/RL Editorial Meeting
On Friday, March 27th, RFE/RL will complete another milestone in its venerable 60 year history: former Czech President and human rights activist Vaclav Havel will chair the company’s first editorial meeting in its new state-of-the-art broadcasting headquarters in Prague.
The first editorial meeting is a key step in relocating all of RFE/RL’s more than 500 Prague-based employees to the new facility in Hagibor, ten minutes from Prague’s city center. The five-story, 236,000 sq/ft building features the latest broadcast infrastructure and multimedia technology and adheres to highest standards in energy-efficiency and security.
At the invitation of then President Vaclav Havel, RFE/RL moved from Munich to Prague in 1995 and was based in the fomer Czechoslovak parliament building for almost 15 years.
The relocation to a new facility began in Januray 2009. In February, Radio Free Iraq was the first of RFE/RL’s 18 language services to start broadcasting from its new studios.
On March 13, US NATO Ambassador Kurt Volker was the first official visitor to RFE/RL’s new building.
The move will be concluded in May when the former RFE/RL headquarters will be turned over to the National Museum of the Czech Republic.