World Radio Day in Finland - a love letter to radio

By James Cridland  (the Managing Director of Media UK, and a radio futurologist: a consultant, writer and public speaker)

The celebration of a day dedicated to radio might not be big in the UK, but in Finland...

 

Despite it being a UNESCO sanctioned event, we hear relatively little about World Radio Day - yesterday - in the UK. There was a small event in London yesterday, but not allied with any particular headline broadcaster.

I, however, was in Helsinki in Finland, where they had an altogether bigger party planned. RadioMedia, the Finnish equivalent of the RAB and RadioCentre, was properly celebrating the day, with a number of attention-grabbing activities.

For the industry, the Finnish equivalent of RAJAR released its figures - mostly good, I gather. There was a conference with speakers including Nik Goodman and Dan McGrath from Bounce; Sam Crowther, the Head of Creative from Bauer in London; and the excellent Valerie Geller, who did a significantly good job of attracting the audience to her speech instead of mine, with the result that a small but select group heard me talking about the future of radio and what we need to do to keep radio relevant.

In the evening was the Finnish equivalent of the Sony Radio Academy Awards: an event that is, incidentally, televised on the Finnish Channel 4. A nice trick to ensure it is on World Radio Day.

A letter was also sent to every politician, reminding them how important radio is. "The letter will remind of their responsibilities when making political and media policy descisions to protect radio, to guarantee that radio has acess to spectrum, and that radio has to be available on several platforms in the future too." The letter was signed by both RadioMedia and the public service broadcaster. 

James Cridland

And then, there's the work RadioMedia did for the public. Pick up a copy of Finland's biggest national newspaper, and you'd have seen a coverwrap promoting "All You Need Is Radio" (above), and a message to listen to the radio at 9.10. Any radio station. Because, at peak audience time, every radio station in Finland broadcast exactly the same thing - a simulcast which would have made it into the history books.  

 

Read More at Media UK

 

(Source: Media UK)