UNESCO announced that the theme for World Radio Day this year would be “Radio and Climate Change”, a more challenging one to acknowledge than last years “Looking Forward to Radio’s Next Century”.
In recent times the Australian radio industry has risen to do above and beyond to provide service and action to the results of such change, but what are they also doing to tackle the topic head on?
Starting in the community sector, before getting to the many programs that address theme of the environment and the impact of climate change, the main picture was taken by Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) Head of Development Declan Kelly. His role sees him work remotely and in remote areas as one of the great champions of who and where radio can reach. But, when he gets back to the CBAA offices, first thing he does is check out what new stickers have made it to the member sticker board, or add a new one himself. He’s working on filling the whole board and was excited to see their newest station, Radio Margaret River, making their debut.
At last year’s CBAA conference I was witness to one of the most powerful key note addresses from the Former Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons around the power of community and leadership in times of crisis. After were the CBAA Awards where the Tony Staley Award for Excellence in Community Broadcasting and Outstanding Station Leadership were awarded to 2DRY FM and its manager Megan Williams. A podcast that Megan and Dan Schulz created, called Water Watch, covering life, culture and the big issues on Australia’s waterways, received a Walkley nomination for long format audio.
Other shows across the community radio network include:
New CEO of Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) Lizzie Young told Radioinfo that the enduring importance of radio, for all Australians, is her message for World Radio Day:
“It’s critical to remember that, unlike lots of other media platforms, radio is unique. It’s local in a way that others can’t be. It’s trusted: news and information services that are fact-checked. Disinformation and misinformation has become an enormous issue in the world, and certainly, we offer the counter to that, which is local, trusted information.
I think about the regional radio stations that are so embedded in their community, and they’re doing the Saturday sports and they’re calling the local football game, and they’re doing things for the local school and the local community and charities, and when there’s issues, how they band together the community and help communities get back on their feet after natural disasters. In an emergency situation, you do turn to your local radio, and that’s why radio is so important for information in those situations.”
Convenor, AFTRS Graduate Diploma Radio and Podcasting Natalie Pozdeev added her thoughts around why radio remains so important for news and information:
- Most stable and accessible platform during bushfire or other emergency with thousands of hours of emergency information each year
- Radio breaks news as fast (or faster) than the internet, with journalists working to fact check and get the news out, and report on local stories
- There is over 50,000 hours of content per week
- Over 50,000 hours of Australian news every year
- And, for regional Australia, over 2 million hours of local content every year
Said Lizzie Young, “World Radio Day is a great reminder of how important it is for us all to protect the radio sector and about the uniqueness of it as a medium against all the others. We’ve seen the impact of global technology and the global platforms, and what that’s done to the media industry as a whole, so I see World Radio Day as a reminder of its importance.”
radioinfo is a partner with World Radio Day. As a partner gift, we are giving you a free chapter from Steve Ahern’s text book, Making Radio. Download it here.