Radio Asia conference begins today in Singapore

Radio broadcasters, communications academics and representatives of developmental agencies will be among those exchanging views at a new radio industry conference in Singapore which begins today.

Australia’s ABC and Commercial Radio Australia will both present papers at the conference.

RadioAsia 2005 is a new side-event to the annual BroadcastAsia being organised by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in partnership with Singapore Exhibition Services (SES).

The three-day event, which is being supported by the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore, will discuss the impact of emerging and converging radio communications strategies in the Asia-Pacific region.

The conference will be convened by The Media Development Authority’s CEO Chris Chia. There has been an strong repornse to the call for papers according to ABU Secretary-General David Astley.

AMIC Secretary-General Indrajit Banerjee says: “Radio is one of the most accessible and widespread media across the world, yet its very ubiquity means it often falls short of recognition. In seeking to redress this imbalance AMIC is happy to be able to initiate the RadioAsia 2005 Conference, a milestone event.”

RadioAsia is the first conference in the region to bring radio practitioners and academics together to speak on the same platform and address the issues impacting radio today. Most of the speakers and participants will be drawn from across Asia, but there will be many from the US and Europe as well. AMIC and the ABU are planning to publish the papers presented at the conference.

The event will comprise two-and-a-half days of conference sessions and two parallel half-day workshops.

The conference will feature issues such as the development of radio, development communication, community radio, radio and youth, radio regulation as well as audience research and radio advertising.

Industry speakers from ABU member broadcasting organisations including Radio Australia, All India Radio (AIR), Commercial Radio Australia and the BBC, and academics from around the region will discuss topics such as

· Regional Opportunities for Co-operation in Radio Broadcasting in Asia and the Pacific

· UK Digital Broadcasting: Future Strategies from Lessons Learned and

· The Changing Landscape of South Asian Community Radio

Among the papers to be presented by representatives of Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) are Brand Advertising as seen on radio!, Approaches to Regulation of the Commercial Radio Sector and Education and Training for Radio Industry Personnel. CRA will also be sponsoring a cocktail reception.

Crisis and Communications:

A special panel session will be sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), prompted by the recent Asian tsunami disaster which proved to be a testimony to the importance of radio communications, especially shortwave broadcasts. This panel will also seek to encourage discussion on how radio communication can help to revive economies in post-conflict countries.

Cross-media Panel Session: Harnessing Technology and the Web and the Future of Radio Broadcasting:

In recognition of the developments in radio amid a boom of cross-media technologies such as digital mobile broadcasting (DMB), this panel session will discuss the future of radio broadcasting. Presenters at this session include a representative from Nokia who will present an industry update on technology convergence. The future of public service broadcasting and where it is headed will be another topic of discussion.

Half-day workshops:

Two parallel half-day workshop sessions on radio will be conducted by the Radio Netherlands Training Centre and the Deutsche Welle Academy on the afternoon of the third day of the conference.

A limited number of fellowships to developing country radio broadcasters and communications academics will be provided by the organisers through support from UNESCO and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

RadioAsia is on until 17 June at the Singapore Expo facility.