Workshops
Radio - The new challenges
Organized by
the European Broadcasting Union and
Asociacion Internacional de Radiodifusion - International
Association of Broadcasting (AIR-IAB)
11 December, 2003.
Radio is the most widespread, used and trusted mass media. The strength of radio is its low cost and that it can be present and used everywhere. The development of digital radio creates new opportunities, but also new challenges for public, private and community broadcasters alike. This workshop turned an eye towards the future of radio in the Information Society where the next generation of listeners faces more choices than ever before about their media and how they consume it.
Content
Programme
1. Radio - the great communicator
Moderator:
-
Ole Molgaard, Denmarks Radio
Panel:
- Michael McEwen, NABA/WBU
- Hans-Dieter Hillmoth, Hit Radio FFT
- Philip Harding, BBC
- Jean-Luc Hesse, France Inter
- George Christensen, 1 FM Gambia
- Sylvain Lafrance, Société Radio Canada
- Barch Rupenian, Concierto FM, Uruguay
2. Reaching the community
Moderator:
- Luis Ajenjo Isasi, Radio Cooperativa, Chile
Panel:
- Malte Lind, Swedish Radio
- Baltasar Pazos, Radio Núcleo Oro, Mexico
- Joanne Clark, IRIN/UN
- Jean-Marie Etter, Fondation Hirondelle
- Armen Oganessian, Voice of Russia
- Nigel Milan, SBSC Australia
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Report
by Raina Konstantinova, EBU
 The workshop looked into the challenges posed by the radio of the future, assuming its role as the omnipresent, low-cost and reliable communicator. In an interactive manner the speakers focused on the digital future of radio, giving bigger and better choices to listeners and putting traditional radio on new platforms - terrestrial, satellite, cable Internet, digital television, set-top boxes, mobile phones and other wireless devices.
Radio, despite all predictions, proved to be the media for all, and is thriving everywhere.
Its audiences are soaring. It has the mandate to inform, educate and entertain, to provide for the
expression of a range of opinions and to be accessible to all. Yet, the radio of tomorrow is faced with
a number of challenges. The digital challenges represent only one of them. There are the big issues of
new content and formats, of interactivity, of fair and objective reporting and information, of high
quality entertainment, of youth programmes, of social cohesion, of increasing the role of local and
regional radios as a focal point for the communities.
In a troubled world, the role of radio when
disaster strikes is indispensable. Wars, violent conflicts, floods, earthquakes happen all the time.
And radio is the only reliable media to help. In such bitter times people prefer the transistor radio
to food.
In the wake of frequent wars and national boundary changes, many individuals, groups and even
whole nations were forced to leave their traditional home, settling in other countries to live and work
in a new environment. The strive for ethno-cultural identification at the local level and for
integration into the new society is a challenge for radio broadcasters which they need to approach in a highly professional and responsible manner.
But first and foremost, radio professionals should never compromise on their values - integrity, independence, impartiality, trust. They should play their part in establishing a global conversation and remove some of the misunderstanding and apprehension of the world today by being a catalyst for dialogue, debate and mutual understanding.
This will be the radio broadcasters' contribution to making the world a better place in the years to come.
All participants agreed that the future of radio is digital, but it is its content, ubiquity, availability and integrity that makes it indispensable.
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Notes for a Broadcasters' Action plan
- Digitization moves radio from a single distribution to a multi-system operating on multiple platforms. This transition must be prepared by all.
- Radio audiences are soaring. Radio is more and more the No.1 media, as it remains the omni-present, low cost, reliable communicator.
- The quality and pertinence of radio information is thus of central significance.
- Radio is particularly indispensable when disaster strikes – in such bitter times, people prefer the transistor radio to food.
- Since migrations will only accelerate in the globalized world, radio has an increasing role in serving minorities and organizing cultural dialogue.
Guillaume Chenevière, Executive Director of the WEMF
Resources
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