World Radio Day highlights enduring importance of radio in the digital age

World Radio Day is celebrated every year on February 13.

To some, radio may seem like a dated medium — with Internet penetration rates rising every year and the use of smartphones increasing, it may seem that radio had its heyday in the analogue era.

However, radio is still an important low-cost medium and a powerful communication tool.

Globally, radio still reaches more people than smartphones and TV.

Radio is uniquely positioned to bring communities together and promote positive dialogue, including discussion on issues of local concern.

It is still the primary method to reach people without access to the Internet, and it is specifically suited to reach remote communities and vulnerable people, including those that are illiterate, disabled, the youth, women and the poor.

In Jordan, radio can offer a platform for citizens far from the capital of Amman to intervene in public debate, irrespective of their educational level and economic status.

In Maan, for example, the radio station Sawt Al Janub runs the only FM frequency in the governorate, broadcasting from one radio tower out of Hussein Bin Talal University.

The small team of reporters, students and volunteers is dedicated to stories that are of interest to the Maan community.

On a recent visit to the radio station, they were preparing reports related to the decrease in university enrolment numbers and the increase in the price of local goods.

While household ownership of conventional radio receivers has been falling in Jordan (and elsewhere), this fall is largely due to platform convergence.

Jordanians still listen to the radio, but in new ways, primarily online and while on the go.

Under the framework of the EU-funded and UNESCO Amman Office-implemented “Support to media in Jordan” project, UNESCO has been actively supporting new and emerging community radio initiatives, as well as already established radio stations, working with them to improve programming, institutional strengthening and management.

And in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the focus on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), which specifically include a target on public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms (SDG16.10), it is ever more crucial to continue supporting these important initiatives.

On World Radio Day, we celebrate radio as the powerful medium that it is, and we encourage all media players, including commercial and community radio alike, to promote access to information, freedom of expression and gender equality over the airwaves and in their communities.

The writer is associate project officer, UNESCO Amman Office. She contributed this article to The Jordan Times.