The High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC) has announced that its founder and vice chairman Oldrich Cip passed away on July 27.
According to the HFCC’s statement, Cip was involved in radio since he was a child, first as an amateur radio hobbyist, later as a staff member of Czechoslovak and then Czech Radio in the international broadcasting departments.
As a college graduate in the field of Humanities, he spent most of his working life as a frequency manager and schedule planner. For a number of years he hosted a DX program on Radio Prague under the pen name Peter Skala.
After the end of the Cold War, Cip believed that broadcasters from both sides of the conflict should come together and develop a new system of planning and coordination for shortwave broadcasting. This led to the establishment of the HFCC in 1991. Cip was chairman of the HFCC until 2015, and served as the group’s vice chairman thereafter.
Cip lived in Prague, although he frequently spent time in his country house, where he enjoyed woodworking, guitar and country music, vintage graphics, photography and time with his family.
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Cip was married with two adult sons, Oldrich Jr. and Vladislav. Vladislav is the HFCC secretary who manages the day-to-day operations of the organization.
