Theme: Radio – A century informing, entertaining and educating.
World Radio Day is an international day celebrated on February 13 each year. The day was decided by UNESCO on November, 3, 2011 during its 36th conference. It is a date devoted to the celebration of radio broadcast, improve international cooperation among radio broadcasters and encourage decision makers to create and provide access to information through radio.
The purpose of World Radio Day is to raise greater awareness among the public and the media of the importance of radio. This is done in the hope that we can encourage decision makers to establish and provide access to information through radio. It is also for improving networking and international cooperation between broadcasters.
World Radio Day brings people and countries from all backgrounds together in other to create dialogue for positive change. Radio is also a fantastic way to provide democratic debate over issues such as violence and polical arguments. It can also promote and raise awareness among old and new listeners!
World Radio Day, 2024 will be celebrated on February 13. This will be the eleventh edition of the World Radio Day.
The theme for 2024 World Radio Day is ‘Radio: A century informing, entertaining and educating. It shines a broad floodlight on Radio’s remarkable past, relevant present and promise of a dynamic future. The opportunity provided by the 100 year- plus milestone of radio begs to be trumpeted at full volume. It is an occasion to proudly celebrate the medium’s extensive virtues and on-going potency. It comes at an opportune time, as radio, through statistically popular and enormously trusted by the public faces increased challenges to audience and revenue numbers from digital platforms, pervasive social media, digital and generational divides, the headwinds of censorship and for some media, stifling consolidation, that is induced debt as well as economic hardships exacerbated by a soft advertising market.
The 2024 commemoration highlights
(a) The indelible history of radio and its powerful impact upon news, drama, music, sports, etc.
(b) The ongoing utilitarian value of radio as a relatively free and portable public safety medium during emergencies and power outages brought on by natural and human made disasters such as storms, earthquakes, floods, heat, wildfires, accidents and warfare.
(c) The continuing democratic value of radio to serve as a grassroot catalyst for connectedness within groups including immigrant, religious minority and poverty stricken population as an instantaneous bellwether of public opinion expressed through the auspices of free speech in the public space.
Back home in Nigeria, the British Colonial government founded the first radio service in 1933, named Radio Diffusion Service (RDS). In April 1950, the RDS became the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and introduced radio stations in Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan and Kano. This service was reorganized into the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) on April 1, 1957 by an act of parliament, with a mission to ‘provide as a public service, independent and impartial broadcasting services’.
By 1962, the NBC has expanded its broadcast stations to Sokoto, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Zaria,Jos and Katsina,in the North; Porthacout, Calabar and Onitsha in the East; and Abeokuta, Warri and Ijebu-ode in the West. Each of these stations were considered a subsidiary station of a regional station. In 1961, the federal parliament approved the creation of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) external short wave service in 1961. In 1978, the NBC and the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria (BCNN) were merged to become the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
Radio remains the only key tool that can facilitate grassroots citizens’ participation in nurturing and sustaining true democracy through creating and using information content that is driven by the needs of the grassroots for themselves and by themselves. It enables the citizenry to partake in determining their future through developing the community and educating their people in a manner and language they can understand. Moreover, it enables people from different socio-cultural backgrounds within a community to share information and exchange ideas in a positive and productive manner.
At a time like this, we need to keep utilizing the usefulness of radio to advance peace. War, as an antonym to peace signifies an armed conflict between groups within, but may also translate into a conflict of media narratives. The narrative can increase tensions or maintain conditions for peace in a given context. In reporting and informing the general public, radio stations shape public opinion and frame a narrative that can influence decision making process.
Radio can indeed fuel conflict but in reality, professional radio moderates conflict and/or tension, preventing their escalation or bringing about reconstruction talks. In contexts of distant or immediate tension, relevant programmes and independent news reporting provide the foundation for sustainable democracy and good governance by gathering evidence about what is happening, informing citizens about it in impartial and fact-based terms, explaining what is at stake and brokering dialogue among different groups. An on- air presenter must possess a very pleasant personality. He must be emotionally stable and should have human management skills, thus protecting the integrity of the broadcast station.
Objectivity in presentation is very vital; hence, an on-air presenter should distance himself from his emotions during presentation. He should be credible, factual, articulate, well informed, sincere, warm, good mannered and should have professional integrity. The reliability, trust and viability bestowed on radio should be enhanced and this can only be done by ensuring compliance with broadcasting code. There are more than four hundred (400) codes covering journalistic works around the world, though, various codes may differ in detail of their content and cultural traditions, however, most shared common elements including the principles of truthfulness, accuracy and a fact-based communication, independence, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, respect for others and public accountability. One of the most controversial issues in modern reporting is media bias, particularly on political issues, but also with regard to cultural and other issues.
World Radio Day 2024 celebrates the remarkable achievement of radio for mass communication and its relevancy for the past hundred years, particularly, in freedom of expression, joy and knowledge. As we welcome Radio into its next century, the ‘Society for Journalism Enhancement Initiatives (S4JEI)’ will continue to collaborate with the UNESCO in celebrating and commemorating World Radio Day and other UNESCO international days, towards uniting communities around universal aspirations.
Gbemiga Bamidele, Ph.D is the Convener, Society for Journalism Enhancement Initiatives (S4JEI).
