What is World Radio Day - History, Meaning, Facts and Activities

Laelia Yang February 03, 2021 | 00:00

World Radio Day was proclaimed on 13 February by UNESCO's General Conference. Stay tuned to understand deeper the history, meaning, and celebrations of this day!

Every year on February 13th, World Radio Day celebrates radio as the mass media reaching the widest audience in the world. The day also recognizes the power of radio to promote diversity and build a more inclusive world.

Radio

According to Planeta, Unesco said that Radio is still the most dynamic, reactive, and engaging medium there is, adapting to 21st-century changes and offering new ways to interact and participate. Where social media and audience fragmentation can put us in media bubbles of like-minded people, radio is uniquely positioned to bring communities together and foster positive dialogue for change. By listening to its audiences and responding to their needs, radio provides the diversity of views and voices needed to address the challenges we all face. Radio informs us and transforms us, through entertainment, information, and audience participation. Having a radio means you are never alone – you always have a friend on the radio. "

Radio Waves transmit music, conversations, pictures and data invisibly through the air may be over millions of miles and it happens in thousands of different ways. As discussed above, radio waves are invisible and are undetectable to humans. But we can't ignore that it has a great impact on the society. All the wireless technologies use radio waves to communicate whether a cell phone, a baby monitor, a cordless phone, etc.

History of Radio Day

Photo: timeanddate.com

Radio waves were originally discovered by one Heinrich Hertz, following on the heels of his discovery of electromagnetic radiation. While experiments were performed in using this energy to transmit information, it wasn’t until 1890 that the word radio was first applied, when the radio-conducteur was invented by French Physicist Édouard Branly. Previous to this all forms of communication using this discovery was known as wireless communication, but eventually, radio spread across the world and became the go-to term.

Radio quickly spread to find applications in every conceivable venue, from transmitting information to broadcasting music, and even serving as a way of transmitting stories. Long before there was TV, there was Radio Theater, (incidentally, this also brought along the creation of Foley artists, but that’s another story entirely).

Radio had been recognized as having such a profound impact on the world today that the Spanish Radio Academy put in a formal request to have Feb 13 be established as ‘World Radio Day’ on September 20th, 2010. On September 29 2011 the UNESCO officially proclaimed that it be established the following February. So was that the first World Radio Day was celebrated on February 13, 2012, according to Daysoftheyear.

Marconi vs. Tesla

There is some debate over who actually invented the radio. Many historians give credit to Guglielmo Marconi, a Nobel-Prize winning inventor from Italy. They believe his experiments with wireless telegraphy resulted in an effective system of radio communication. In 1896 Marconi secured the patent for wireless telegraphy in England. One year later, Nikolai Tesla, who had demonstrated a wireless radio in 1893, obtained a patent in the United States. However, Tesla’s patent was granted in 1900. Though the world may never agree on the inventor, it is a fact that Marconi was the first to transmit radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean. This historic moment happened on December 12, 1901.

Signals and Broadcasting

Before 1920, radio signals were used to contact ships at sea. Following WWI, however, civilians began purchasing radios for their homes. By the end of the 1920s, over 100 million homeowners used radios in the United States. At this time, a radio cost about $150. This is equivalent to $1,927 in the year 2020! Today, a mere $20 will purchase a radio.

KDKA in Pittsburgh and the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) in England were the very first radio stations. The first radio broadcast in the U.S. took place on November 2, 1920. Broadcasters announced that Warren Harding beat James Cox in the presidential race. Besides the news, radios provided a source of entertainment. In 1947, 82 out of 100 Americans listened to the radio regularly.

Along with music and news, listeners tuned in to their favorite soap opera, a quiz show, and sporting event. Through the years, the radio has continued to entertain and inform listeners all around the world. Currently, about 44,000 radio stations exist globally. Nearly 75 percent of households in developing countries listen to the radio, reported Nationaldaycalendar.

Objective

According to the United Nations, the objective of World Radio Day is to raise greater awareness among the public and media regarding the importance of radio.

The day also aims to encourage radio stations to provide access to information through their medium and enhance networking and international cooperation among broadcasters.

Theme

Photo: bangkok.unesco.org

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, UNESCO noted.

This edition of WRD is divided into three main sub-themes:

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.

Recent themes have included:

2020: Radio and Diversity

2019: Dialogue, Tolerance, and Peace

2018: Radio and Sports

2017: Radio is You

2016: Radio in Times of Emergency and Disaster

Celebrate World Radio Day

Photo: amexessentials.com

Each year the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrates World Radio Day by planning activities with broadcasters, organizations, and communities around the world, cited Timeanddate.

Nowadays, more people than ever listen to music or get their news over the Internet. If it’s been a while since you’ve listened to the radio, tune in to celebrate. Other ways to participate include:

Listen to songs about the radio, including “Spirit of the Radio” by Rush, “Turn Up the Radio” by Autograph, “On the Radio” by Donna Summer, and “Country on the Radio” by Blake Shelton.
Research the history of the radio and learn how it has shaped our culture.
Imagine what your life would be like without the radio.
Share your memories of listening to the radio as a child.

Messages And Wishes For World Radio Day

Honor the beautiful means of communication that has touched many lives all through time. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

A device that is by the youth for the youth. Celebrate the radios and the invaluable contribution made by them to our society. Best wishes to you on this World Radio Day.

Tell everyone what you love about radio and share its many successful years with friends and family on this day. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

Bring the world closer and share your thoughts via radio with a huge mass of people on this day. Best wishes to you on this World Radio Day.

On this occasion of World Radio Day, we must all remember that inventions never vanish. They just keep on changing their formats and evolving. Bring the world closer and honor radios. Happy World Radio Day.

Every day, every hour, and every minute radio has been the best friend of people all around the globe by providing them with all-time entertainment. Honor radios on this day. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

When the radios go silent our ears will never be able to reach and hear the real news. So, share the love for radios and honor them. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

Radios are powerful; they can reach millions of ears and change minds or people. Love and honor them. Best wishes to you on this World Radio Day.

On this occasion of World Radio Day come together and celebrate radios along with the people who stand behind them and make them extraordinary. Happy World Radio Day.

Celebrate the importance of radio in improving international cooperation on this day and honor radios all around the world. Best wishes to you on this World Radio Day.

Radios have always been a vital instrument of our life. Celebrate them on this day. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

Radios have always helped to give access to information and support free speech. Honor and give respect to them. Best wishes to you on this World Radio Day.

Raise awareness about the most readily available medium to disseminate information that is radios and keep them alive in our society on this day. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

Radios make our daily lives more entertaining and real. Honor and celebrate their contribution to our society on this day. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

Today is World Radio Day. Celebrate this medium of radio by spending time listening to one on this day. Best wishes to you on this World Radio Day.

Radio is an inseparable part of our lives that teach us all, dialogue, tolerance, and peace. Wish you a very happy World Radio Day.

Quotes For World Radio Day

More than eighty years after the world's first station was founded, radio is still the most pervasive, accessible, affordable, and flexible mass medium available, especially in the developing world. – Bruce Girard

Community radios provide profound new opportunities for more inclusive sustainable development. - Denise Gray-Felder

The internet creates more of an appetite for media - it doesn't replace physical books, radio, or TV. - Marissa Mayer

Exponential growth in access to the Internet, satellite television and radio, cell phones, and P.D.A.'s means that breaking news now reaches virtually every corner of the globe. - Dee Dee Myers

Radio on the Internet is yet another world-shrinking example of what communications analysts call the death of distance. - Tim Jones

Podcast listenership is some 20 times what people are listening to on the radio. - Scott Aukerman

I strongly encourage listening to the radio to hear something you haven't heard before. It's a very healthy thing to do. Unless you reload your iPods every couple of weeks, you're listening to and recycling the same music all of the time. - Alvin Lee

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