The theme of this year’s UNESCO World Radio Day is Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace.
Celebrated annually on Feb. 13 since 2012, World Radio Day marks the anniversary of the day the United Nations established United Nations Radio in 1946. Broadcasting from makeshift studios at UN Headquarters in Lake Success, New York, UN Radio signed on with “This is the United Nations calling the peoples of the world.” Lacking its own broadcast facilities, UN Radio initially had other broadcasters relay its programming to different regions, including the CBC’s International Service, the BBC and Voice of America.
Events are being held today in more than 80 countries around the world, including UNESCO headquarters in Paris, celebrating the impact of radio in the pursuit of a more peaceful and tolerant world.
While the Canadian relationship to radio may be changing in the internet age, according to the Numeris Fall 2018 Diary (12+) and Edison Share of Ear Canada 2017, Canadians still consume 445,661,000 hours of radio per week, reaching 85 per cent of the population. Radio still accounts for 61 per cent of all audio consumed by Canadians.
The Media Technology Monitor (MTM) says 22 per cent of Canadians report having listened to radio online in the last month, with 88 per cent of all Canadians still tuning in. That compares to 92 per cent a decade ago. Broken down by age, MTM says 92 per cent of those aged 35-54 are listening to radio, compared to 85 per cent of those over age 65, and 84 per cent of Canadians 18-34.
Happy #WorldRadioDay! 📻
We asked CBC Radio hosts why radio remains one of the most important ways of sharing information. Here’s what they said. pic.twitter.com/xbZGNkMYO1
— CBC Radio (@cbcradio) February 13, 2019
Happy #WorldRadioDay. This medium is like magic. pic.twitter.com/vFkkUn3oiA
— Matt Galloway (@mattgallowaycbc) February 13, 2019
Happy #worldradioday everybody. pic.twitter.com/6qo4SAMoee
— James Cridland (@JamesCridland) February 13, 2019
Guglielmo Marconi was the father of wireless communication and recipient of the 1909 #NobelPrize in Physics. In the late 1800s Marconi was able to use recently discovered radio waves to transmit signals across the English Channel, from Britain to France.#WorldRadioDay pic.twitter.com/73AcXF5zjN
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) February 13, 2019
“Radio is more social than social media”
Interview with author and journalist @JenniferBakody on the intimacy of radio and her experience working in post-conflict DRC! https://t.co/UlrGoqQMXx #WorldRadioDay 📻 pic.twitter.com/aHnj70C38K
— UNESCO (@UNESCO) February 13, 2019
