In 2011, UNESCO launched an initiative to announce an International Radio Day. The following year, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) passed the resolution. For this reason, World Radio Day is celebrated every year on February 13th.
The main objectives of this commemoration are to promote radio as an interactive medium that addresses issues of societal interest and to improve cooperation between broadcasters at international level.
According to UNESCO on its web platform, the theme of evocation in 2023 is “radio and peace” because media narratives “can increase tensions or maintain the conditions for peace in a given context.”
In fact, radio remains a heavily consumed medium worldwide, which is why it still retains a great ability to influence public opinion. Their influence on positioning in national and international situations is irrefutable.
One of the advantages is that, unlike more modern technologies, it manages to reach remote places and socialize science, culture, education and information in general. In addition, it is relatively cheap, with the possibility of instant transfer. It can continue to transmit if, in the event of a disaster, other technologies become unusable.
For journalists Zenaida Costales and Lys Alfonso, professors in the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana, this centuries-old medium is strengthened in the face of every crisis. “He knows how to push those emotions and draw on orality, on the imagination to calm fear and trigger feelings and practices through new ways of telling reality,” they wrote.
When asked what the future of radio will be in the internet age, some are skeptical or pessimistic, claiming that it could disappear or remain at a level of very little importance.
However, professionals associated with radio claim that the opposite is happening. Such is the case of the Cuban professors mentioned above, who argue that “with the Internet, solid resources are articulated in a broader discourse and are not lost in the transience of the airwaves. With these possibilities, the medium manages to insert its content into various communication media and uses the properties of network communication.”