Next Monday is World Radio Day.  It seeks to raise awareness about the importance of radio, facilitate access to information through radio, and enhance relationships among broadcasters. More activities are planned for the big day, including extensive coverage on ABC Radio, festivities at Adstream and international tips on how to celebrate radio’s first international day.

World Radio Day aims to promote radio and to celebrate the service radio provides.  Radio is generally the cheapest form of media for people who might not be able to afford access to other media every day.

ABC WORLD RADIO DAY ACTIVITIES

Since its launch more than a century ago, radio has shown itself to be not only one of humanity’s most useful inventions, but also the most universal media, being free and accessible to the majority of the world’s population. Radio allows large numbers of people to get information, not only on what is happening in their communities, but also on what is happening around the world, and people are able to share information. As Australia’s national public broadcaster, the ABC thinks the importance of radio should be recognised and celebrated worldwide.

The ABC is coming up to its 80th birthday in July this year and radio is where it all began. There were 12 stations when it launched in 1932, broadcasting live music, sport and information programs for about 11 hours each day. By mid 1939 there were 26 stations broadcasting around 16 hours a day, a total of 132,158 hours over the year. When he launched the ABC then-Prime Minister Joseph Lyons said it would “serve all sections and to satisfy the diversified tastes of the public”.

Now there are four national radio networks – Radio National, ABC Classic FM, triple j and ABC News Radio, as well as ABC Local Radio with nine metropolitan stations and 51 regional stations throughout Australia. There are also 10 digital radio stations in each mainland capital city, including simulcast of the four national networks and metropolitan local services, as well as digital-only services ABC Dig Music, ABC Jazz, ABC Country, triple j Unearthed, ABC Grandstand and ABC Extra, a part-time channel.

On average, 4.4 million Australian tuned in ABC Radio every week during 2011.

To celebrate World Radio Day, ABC Radio is urging people to create some audio that tells “what radio means to you.” The national broadcaster will select entries from its audience to broadcast on the day. Details here.

Adstream is planning to celebrate World Radio Day with a function for invited guests at its offices at St Leonards. See www.adstream.com.au

And from The UNESCO website, here are some ideas on how to celebrate World Radio Day:

• Help broadcast the message of UNESCO’s Director-General on World Radio Day.

• Select a theme on radio and produce a radio program or a small public service message to be played repeatedly on 13 February 2012.

• Organise a debate/discussions involving stakeholders (broadcasters, policy-makers, academics, legal fraternity) on the relevance of radio in citizens’ lives.

• Organize phone-in radio shows so that the audience or the community can say why radio is important to them or which were the great radio moments they remember.

• Interview radio personalities and replay UNESCO’s interview on WRD.

• Replay UNESCO’s collection of sound bites on famous UNESCO moments.

• Display and distribute radio training courseware from UNESCO’s Open Training Platform or IMBAcademy.com.au

• Encourage all newspapers/radio/television website editors to place a banner on World Radio Day on 13 February.

See more at the link below.