The 7th Radio Asia conference has begun in Jakarta. Speaking at the conference opening, ABU Secretary General Javad Mottaghi said “radio must look to the latest ideas to continue to be sustainable and influential in this region… Radio plays such an important role in the lives of so many people.”
Host broadcaster Radio Republik Indonesia’s President Niken Widiastuti said broadcasters must “demonstrate both the ability to deliver creative content and the ability to deliver it on many platforms.”
The conference is organised by the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC).
Opening the conference, the Indonesian Communications Minister explained the impact of media in his country: “Indonesia has 230 million people spread across an archipelago of over 2 million sq kms. Communications infrastructure across our country is a challenge.”
Indonesia is currently rolling out a fibre optic backbone to major islands, but the nature of the country makes that a difficult task and means that radio is still an extremely important medium throughout the country. Indonesia has a national broadcaster, RRI, some low power community stations and 1250 private commercial broadcasting companies.
“The challenge for radio in the information age is to continue to deliver content with substance, across a range of platforms due to this age of convergence. With new radio you can download, discuss and connect,” said the Minister.
Indonesia has chosen DAB as the national digital standard for the country’s switch to digital. Digital radio is considered a solution to the high demand for FM channels, because it will make more channels available for new and existing licencees.
On the opening day of the conference Radio Australia CEO Mike McCluskey launched the ABU Radio Song Festival, which aims to unearth little known bands across the region and give them exposure through an ABU hosted website. The aim is to make their music available to all ABU member broadcasters and to encourage them through an international competition.
“It will reflect the now, by capturing contemporary culture across new and traditional genres. Music reflects the diversity of cultures within cultures as well as diversity across borders. It will allow stations to play one another’s music on their radio stations and websites. The ABU will host a website which will contain this content and be a gateway into the culture of the countries,” he said.
The first day of the conference opened with workshops in three areas.
Mike Adams from the UK’s Rapid Response Radio Unit shared important information on how to handle emergencies in his morning workshop titled Rapid Response Radio: Life Saving Information in Disaster.
Steve Ahern, from the International Media & Broadcast Academy held a workshop for program directors and managers on how to get the best from their staff. In most countries in the region, regular air checking is not common, so Ahern showed workshops delegates how best to deliver airchecks. He encouraged managers to give clear guidelines for their personalities’ public profiles, especially in social media.
Madanmohan Rao, Research Advisor with the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre held a workshop focused on the impact of social media on radio, designing hybrid “social radio” forms of media with traditional and digital communication in a session titled Social Media: Leveraging Online Communities for Radio.