13 February is World Radio Day — a day to celebrate radio as a medium; to improve international cooperation between broadcasters; and to encourage major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information, freedom of expression and gender equality over the airwaves.
As radio continues to evolve in the digital age, it remains the medium that reaches the widest audience worldwide. It is essential to furthering UNESCO’s commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Through World Radio Day celebrations around the world, UNESCO will promote gender equality by:
- Sensitizing radio station owners, executives, journalists, and governments to develop gender-related policies and strategies for radio
- Eliminating stereotypes and promoting multidimensional portrayal in radio
- Building radio skills for youth radio production, with a focus on girls as producers, hosts, reporters
- Promoting Safety of women radio journalists
We invite all countries to celebrate World Radio Day by planning activities in partnership with regional, national and international broadcasters, non-governmental organizations, the media and the public.
On 13 February, let’s celebrate women in radio and those who support them!
15 Ways to Celebrate World Radio Day
- Help broadcast audio, video and written messages from UNESCO’s Director-General on World Radio Day in all public, private and community radio. (Forthcoming)
- Broadcast messages from World Radio Day supporters including UNESCO Artists for Peace, industry experts and celebrity advocates for Radio. (2014 messages forthcoming | Past messages)
- Produce a radio programme or public service announcement on one of UNESCO’s sub-themes for World Radio Day 2014 to be broadcast repeatedly on 13 February 2014.
- Sensitizing radio station owners, executives, journalists, and governments to develop gender-related policies and strategies for radio
- Eliminating stereotypes and promoting multidimensional portrayal in radio
- Building radio skills for youth radio production, with a focus on girls as producers, hosts, reporters
- Promoting Safety of women radio journalists
- Organize and broadcast World Radio Day themed debates and discussions with media stakeholders (broadcasters, policy-makers, academics, legal community) on the issue of gender equality in radio.
- Organize phone-in radio shows so listeners can discuss the importance of radio, share memories of great moments in radio history, and give their views on gender equality.
- Interview local, regional and national radio personalities on World Radio Day.
- Share recordings of your radio show and other World Radio Day themed broadcasts onUNESCO’s World Radio Day SoundCloud page.
- Add a link to your favourite radio programme on gender equality and empowerment of women to our worldwide map. [link forthcoming]
- Hold training sessions for young broadcasters using UNESCO’s Youth Radio Toolkit
- Display and distribute training courseware on Radio Production from UNESCO’s Open Training Platform.
- Display and distribute free UNESCO products about broadcasting
- Join the National Commission for UNESCO in your country to facilitate celebrating national events.
- Place our World Radio Day Banner on your social media channel or website and encourage newspapers, radio, television and website editors to place a banner on their sites during World Radio Day on 13 February.
- Celebrate World Radio Day with the World Association of Community Broadcasters(AMARC), worldradioday.org or local community radio associations.
- Record a World Radio Day message and share it with the world. [link forthcoming]
