About The Event
World Radio Day is an international day celebrated on 13 February each year, the date is set aside by UNESCO to celebrate radio broadcast, improve international cooperation among radio broadcasters and encourage decision-makers to create and provide access to information through radio, including community radios.
The occasion draws attention to the unique value of radio, which remains the medium to reach the widest audience and is currently taking up new technological forms and devices. There has been tremendous growth in radio that can be attributed to the trust people have in Radio.
The annual state of media report (2021) by the Media Council of Kenya shows radio content in terms of consumption at 74 per cent. This position is unchanged from last year’s. in 2019, radio content consumption was at a high of 84 per cent per a similar survey again by MCK.
The report goes further to detail areas of improvement for more citizens to access its content including issues related to poor frequencies/signals, cover more community-centered content, misleading and too many advertisements that interfere with quality content, biases and airing of adult content during watershed hours.
As the world and country commemorate the World Radio Day the above issues should be of concern to all players. There are more challenges related to the theory of convergence and new technologies. Slowly Kenyan radio outlets are embracing converged approaches to content creation and dissemination, but this is still at very elementary levels. There is need therefore to work with radio management and editors across the country to promote these new beneficial approaches.
Besides, media sustainability continues to be a challenge for the media industry in Kenya and according to a report by Internews in Kenya, all around the world, independent media struggle to survive financially. Advertising models that supported traditional media decades ago don’t exist anymore – in many places they never existed.
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the media to an array of challenges in terms of content and business models. The need to be viable in most local radio stations has continued to be a balancing act between achieving financial sustainability, editorial independence, and serving the public interest. Many local media houses struggle to achieve this balance, and now they are having to deal with a disruption that exposes both their news gathering capabilities and their business models.
The forum will provide a platform for the regulators and stakeholders to discuss and find a lasting solution to the challenges recently experienced
World Radio Day 2023
According to UNESCO, radio continues to be one of the most trusted and accessible media in the world, according to different international reports. The theme of the 2023 edition of World Radio Day is thus devoted to "Radio and Peace".
World Radio Day brings people and communities from all backgrounds together to create dialogue for positive change. Radio is also a fantastic way to provide democratic debate over issues such as violence and political arguments. It can promote and raise awareness among old and new listeners!
UNESCO presents 13 ideas for celebrating February 13, 2023 edition for the WRD as follows:
- Radio the peace maker
- The sounds of peace
- Radio rescue
- From our Granary
- Game is up
- The Radio bookshelf
- Learning to live together
- Sporting radio
- Energizing listeners
- Distribution at stake
- Newsrooms set the tone
- Unforgettable
- In the news.
Kenya Celebrations
The World Radio Day celebrations for 2023 will be held in Mombasa County on February 13, 2022. The choice of the venue is pegged on the number of radio stations and boasts of 15 radio stations and growing. Majority of the media houses broadcast in Kiswahili and local dialect spoken within the County, and this explains the growth of media in the County. Indeed, the rich history in Mombasa also covers the airwaves, with the town notably being among the first to have a radio station-Sauti ya Mvita-when Kenya Broadcasting Services (KBS) was established in 1954, with regional stations set up. The commemoration in the County will provide an ideal opportunity for discussions amongst the stakeholders on the theme with a bid to find solutions to the challenges that affect the media. We will have a series of events starting on February 10 culminating on February 13, with a conference event bringing together different partners and stakeholders to commemorate the day.
MCK Target Objectives
To commemorate the Day, MCK will seek to achieve the following:
- Training and accreditation of 100 media practitioners in coast region
- An informed public on radio stations shaping public opinions and framing a narrative that can influence domestic and international situations and decision-making processes.
- Promote conversations among radio audiences, radio managers, journalists, county government and civil society on the impact of radio in promoting peace and cohesion in Kenya.
[1] More details can be found here: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldradioday.