René Zavoral (born 1976) is a Czech media executive who has served as Director General of Czech Radio since January 2016. He studied political science at Charles University and worked his way up through Czech Radio's marketing, strategic development and programming divisions before reaching the top post. In 2021 the Czech Radio Council re-elected him for a second six-year term, with seven of nine votes. Under his leadership Czech Radio has held a market share above 27%, with Radiožurnál consistently ranked as the country's most-listened-to station.
Zavoral sharply condemned the government's draft law, which abolishes concessionaire fees and transfers Czech Radio financing to the state budget from January 2027 - according to him, this is an intentional destabilization of public media.
Zavoral warned that if the government's proposal is adopted, Czech Radio will be forced to lay off 150 to 200 of approximately 1,350 employees and reduce regional broadcasting and its foreign news network.
Czech Radio signed a memorandum with Minister of Culture Martin Baxa on the fulfillment of public service for the period 2025-2030.
The Radio Project for Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 confirmed that Czech Radio increased its market share to 27.2% and Radiožurnál remains the most-listened-to station in the Czech Republic with 748 thousand daily listeners.
Zavoral visited the Paris office of the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which called on Czech lawmakers to approve an increase in media fees as a guarantee of public broadcasting independence.
