Today is World Radio Day.  U.S. Africa Command is joining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the rest of the world today in promoting this medium for communicating to the masses - radio.

World Radio Day was established by UNESCO as a day dedicated to a communications medium that reaches the widest audiences in the world.  Radio has historically been recognized as a low cost medium to communicate to the masses and particularly in Africa, it’s still considered the best way to reach remote communities.

"Radio gives a voice to the voiceless, it helps educate the illiterate, and it saves lives during natural disasters," said Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO. "On World Radio Day, we celebrate a medium that remains a first choice for women and men across the world. A force for freedom of expression and pluralism, radio is essential to building inclusive knowledge societies and to promoting respect and understanding between people." 

UNESCO’s theme for this year’s World Radio Day is gender equality.

Recognizing the importance of radio as a means of communication, the U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Office includes invites to radio broadcasters when it hosts members of African media and journalists as part of its quarterly media delegation visits to the command.
 

Past delegation visits to AFRICOM have included journalists and broadcasters from Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Algeria and Mauritania, among others.

When these media delegates return to their countries, many use radio broadcasts, among other news formats, to help educate their audiences about what they learned from the command. 

For AFRICOM, these visits have helped partner nations improve their understanding of the U.S. military's role in Africa.

One of the radio professionals invited by AFRICOM to Stuttgart in 2013 commented on the importance of using radio in a developing country like hers.

"In Nigeria radio stations continue to spring up," said Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun, a radio broadcaster with Nigeria Info FM. "In the Lagos market where my station is based there are about 18-20 stations serving a population of about 18 million people. Radio stations have also discovered that there are niche listeners. For example there are about two stations that air completely in pidgin, which is a local patois that is spoken and understood by almost all Nigerians regardless of ethnicity. There is a realization that radio is still very much needed in reaching people in the country. It will take years for radio to lose a prominent place on the Nigerian scene when it comes to modes of communication. New stations continue to spring up to answer the need of the people, but also to be used for political means. Nigeria is a very politically active country and that is one of the biggest reasons radio is still growing because our democracy is also still growing."

For Adeleru-Balogun, the interaction and connection with the audience that radio provides is unparalleled with other forms of communication.

Apart from bringing people together, UNESCO’s Bukova said radio is crucial because it "can carry any message to any place at any time."

In the digital age of social interaction, the importance of radio as a mass communication tool is even more obvious and should never be underplayed by broadcasters.  According to Lance Milsted, station manager with the American Forces Network (AFN) Stuttgart, the digital age actually allows us to reach even more people with radio. 

"Radio has broken out of the confines of just being an over the air signal sent via a transmitter and picked up on a radio," said Milsted.  "AFN currently broadcasts on the internet via AFN 360.  This gives our listeners even more access to our broadcasts." 

According to Milsted, radio further provides a unique opportunity to share and encourage cultural exchange.

"We need to fully harness this power for the benefit of all," said Bukova. "In this spirit, I call today on all broadcasters -- from local community stations to international media outlets -- to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and men in and through radio."

February 13 is endorsed as World Radio Day, the day United Nations radio was established in 1946. The objectives of World Radio Day is to raise greater awareness among the public and the media of the importance of radio; to encourage decision-makers to establish and provide access to information through radio; as well as to enhance networking and international cooperation among broadcasters. 

We at AFRICOM support those who work in radio as providers of a means to keep people everywhere informed and connected to each other.