[WORLD RADIO DAY] Through the very best of times, when peace has been the liberating breath of an inspired nation, and when, in the very worst of times, the shrill sirens of war have sounded and blocked out good will, radio has been paramount to citizens, communities, and countries.
Radio has been a source of communication, connectivity, comfort, and companionship through good and bad, throughout the ages and across the vast geography of the globe.
Radio is at the heartbeat of any nation; it offers a real-time temperature gauge of the national mood and wellbeing, of the current day trials and triumphs of leaders. Across the world, in the richest cosmopolitan centres frequented by celebrities, or in the small hovels of rural parishes, where the common folk live, radio is a way of daily life.
Mario Maniewicz, director of the International Telecommunications Union, in a 2022 interview with the United Nations News, spoke of radio as “the universal medium that leaves no one behind”, and how it “continues to reign supreme” over other forms of mass media channels. Maniewicz referred to radio as a “powerful medium for celebrating humanity in all its diversity and constitutes a platform for democratic discourse”.
It is the ever-ready, ever-steady companion of the everyman and the everywoman, especially in Africa, where its reach on the continent’s 54 countries is unsurpassed, and well ahead of other technologically savvy and sophisticated media and communication platforms.
Secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Gutteres, wrote in 2019, of how even in today’s world of digital communications, radio reaches more people than any other media platform.
The theme for World Radio Day 2023 is Radio and Peace. It is a day when UNESCO highlights independent radio as a pillar for conflict prevention and peace-building. It is a tribute to radio’s capacity to “shape public opinion and frame a narrative that can influence domestic and international situations and decision-making processes.
The United Nation’s Secretary General, speaking at a 2019 World Radio Day, remarked how “radio is a powerful tool that continues to promote dialogue, tolerance and peace” and how for the United Nations, “especially our peacekeeping operations, radio is a vital way of informing, reuniting and empowering people”.
As we mark and reflect on World Radio Day, we do so in an era where radio is making a world of difference in Africa. On the African continent, radio has told the heroic struggles and titanic success stories, of nations, of leaders and of ordinary citizens, during both times of war and peace. Radio has given voice and expression to people and causes across the breadth of Africa; across gender, geography, race and age, income or literacy levels.
In Africa, radio connects the most remote of people to a world of possibilities and to a horizon of dreams well beyond the village’s tallest mountain top.
Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, chairperson and founder of the APO Group said it well: “Put simply, radios are essential to African people. They go where newer technologies cannot reach. They travel beyond electricity and mobile range, and overcome stubborn barriers caused by poor literacy and education. For millions of African people, their radios are their lifeline. Their connection to the outside world.”
Radio is an economically and culturally accessible audio-visual panorama of information in Africa. Often rooted in and with its strong ties to the communities it serves, it has a highly credible and trusted source of news, information. Co-founder of Oceanix, and United Nation’s advisor, Itai Madamombe, wrote how community radio stations have enabled isolated communities across Africa to voice their own concerns.
“On air, ordinary citizens discuss issues that are central to them, such as gender relations and combatting HIV/AIDS. They share farming tips and income generation ideas and explore ways to improve education.” ~ Itai Madamombe
During the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the radio became a premium source of emergency information, updates, health, and scholarly support across the continent. The Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics, records how 8 in 10 Kenyans received the mainstay of their news and information about the Covid-19 virus and global pandemic from radio.
“People turn to radio first when disaster strikes,” according to NGO, Lifeline Energy. “Survivors need to find lost loved ones, access food, shelter or medical aid. It provides psycho-social support to those traumatised. During pandemics, radio reaches far and wide with life-saving information and is a calm voice. It’s the most effective way of delivering information in remote corners where having the right knowledge can mean the difference between a harvest and hunger, between feeling confident or humiliated, or even between life and death”.
In South Africa, radio has not only recorded history but has been an intrinsic part of history. In South Africa, the Primedia Group’s independent radio stations provided a platform for many anti-apartheid leaders including the country’s first democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Our very own Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a 2013 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, “my humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together”.
The Primedia brand is all about connectivity; the ability to reach out to our audiences in good times and bad times, to stand up for them during times of darkness and celebrate them during times of celebration, to providing crucial life-saving tips and information during crises, and life-enhancing, and even life-changing information and advice. The voice of our diverse audiences are part of our signature tune of our stations, and an authentic reflection of our unwavering commitment to our audiences and to building an empowered democracy.
Lauretta Ngakane is group head of corporate communications at Primedia.
