World Radio Day celebrated in Mongolia and China

A newly established community radio station in rural Mongolia - © UNESCO

The first World Radio Day was celebrated yesterday in Mongolia and China by main national and local broadcasters, print and online media. The celebration campaign included feature programmes on the history of radio and the origin of the Day, news bulletins and interviews with national broadcast managers and representatives of UNESCO.

 

The Mongolian National Radio (MNR) and the Ulaanbaatar-based Radio FM 103,6 run news about the Day on their morning bulletins, including translation into Mongolian of the message of the UNESCO Director-General. A 50-minute call-in live show was dedicated to World Radio Day by MNR, while FM 103,6 produced a feature programme focusing on the history of radio and on audience’s preferences. TV channel Education produced a 20-minute programme about the Day, while Daily News national newspaper interviewed Ms Munkhzul Chuluunbat, national expert working on a Japan-funded and UNESCO-implemented project supporting the creation of 10 community radio stations in remote regions, three of which also celebrated the Day in their programmes. 

The China National Radio (CNR) broadcast a seven-minute programme about World Radio Day in its main news bulletin. The Day was also a headline on CNR website with the article “The first World Radio Day: Waves Influencing the World across Time and Space”. CNR’s journalist interviewed a Chinese broadcast manager, as well as UNESCO representatives Mirta Lourenco, Chief of Section for Media and Society, and Andrea Cairola, Advisor for Communication and Information at the Beijing Office. The interviews covered the origin of the Day and the importance of radio in developing countries. The news article has then been reposted on several major Chinese websites including the People’s Daily, 163.com and Sohu.com. 

An entry about World Radio Day has been created in Baidu Baike (a Chinese online encyclopaedia) and netizens have been discussing the celebration on social media, such as the popular microblog platform Weibo, which had more than 100 mentions of the Day. China Radio International (CRI) produced a feature programme, including vox pops on how radio is affecting the life of people. 

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) posted an article on its website introducing the Day, with the quotes from the messages by the Director-General of UNESCO and the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on radio’s importance.

(Source : UNESCO)