UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

03/04/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/04/2021 03:04

Radios in the Gulf region celebrate World Radio Day 2021

Each year on February 13, UNESCO celebrate the World Radio Day. Proclaimed in 2011 by the Member States of UNESCO, and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 as an International Day, the World Radio Day (WRD) celebrates radio as a powerful medium for celebrating humanity in all its diversity and constitutes a platform for democratic discourse.

At the global level, radio remains the most widely consumed medium. This unique ability to reach out the widest audience means radio can shape a society's experience of diversity, stand as an arena for all voices to speak out, be represented and heard. Radio stations should serve diverse communities, offering a wide variety of programs, viewpoints and content, and reflect the diversity of audiences in their organizations and operations.

On the occasion of World Radio Day 2021 (WRD 2021), UNESCO calls on radio stations to celebrate this event's 10th anniversary and the more than 110 years of radio.

This edition of WRD is placed under the theme 'New World - New Radio: Evolution, Innovation, Connection':

  • EVOLUTION. The world changes, radio evolves.
    This sub-theme refers to the resilience of the radio, to its sustainability ;
  • INNOVATION. The world changes, radio adapts and innovate.
    Radio has had to adapt to new technologies to remain the go-to medium of mobility, accessible everywhere and to everyone;
  • CONNECTION. The world changes, radio connects.
    This sub-theme highlights radio's services to our society-natural disasters, socio-economic crises, epidemics, etc.

UNESCO GCC and Yemen office proposed to its partner's in Kuwait, Qatar and Yemen two activities to celebrate this year edition:

  • Activity 1 - Social Media Campaign: 'What does radio mean to you?' UNESCO invites radio listeners to register themselves on an up to 2 minutes videos or audio recording, explaining how the use of radio has impacted (or not) their lives in the recent years and especially in the COVID 19 era.
  • Activity 2 - The evolution of radio in the Gulf through the eyes of a senior radio professional. UNESCO invites senior radio professionals from the Gulf region to share their experience with radio and how its use, audience, and way of working has changed throughout the years. Those personal narratives will be converted into web-articles that will be shared online, on the UNESCO GCC and Yemen website as well as on its social media.