​About World Radio Day

World Radio Day marks the anniversary of the first broadcast by UN Radio in 1946, when it transmitted its first call sign: "This is the United Nations calling the peoples of the world."

World Radio Day seeks to raise awareness about the importance of radio, facilitate access to information through radio, and enhance networking among broadcasters.

Radio is recognized as a low-cost medium, specifically suited to reach remote communities and vulnerable people: the illiterate, the disabled, women, youth and the poor, while offering a platform to intervene in the public debate, irrespective of people's educational level. Furthermore, radio has a strong and specific role in emergency communication and disaster relief.

Radio is also an effective medium to broadcast news, features, weather reports and entertainment and is a medium that is available everywhere – at home, at work or on the move.

The changing face of radio services, influenced to a great extent by the current trends in media convergence, is taking up new technological forms, such as broadband, mobiles and tablets as well as hybrid radio (which combines FM/DAB broadcasts with the Internet).

However, it is said that up to a billion people still do not have access to radio today. This must change.