UNESCO celebrates World Radio Day

Numerous stations such as BBC, Radio Exterior de España (REE), Radio France Internationale (RFI), Radio Chine Internationale (CRI), Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD), Radio Orient or the Voice of Russia (VOR) broadcast today from the headquarters of this organization in Paris to commemorate Radio Day.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today commemorates World Radio Day by hosting numerous stations in the lobby of its headquarters in Paris that will broadcast part of their programming from the French capital.

The BBC, Radio Exterior de España (REE), Radio France Internationale (RFI), Radio Chine Internationale (CRI), Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD), Radio Orient and the Voice of Russia (VOR) are some of the stations that will celebrate this day from UNESCO.

As parallel activities, the French historian Jacques Marzac has organized an exhibition of old radios and several debates will take place on radio and youth or short waves and their future.

Behind the commemoration of World Radio Day is the Spaniard Jorge Álvarez, director of the Spanish Radio Academy, who proposed to UNESCO in 2008 to dedicate a day to highlight the role of the medium and the work of airwaves professionals.

It is a day to celebrate radio as a means of communication, to improve international cooperation between broadcasters, to encourage major networks and community radio stations to promote access to information and freedom of expression through the airwaves.

World Radio Day was proclaimed by UNESCO in 2011. This is the second year that World Radio Day has been celebrated, which coincides with the founding of United Nations radio, on February 13, 1946, after its approval by UNESCO in November 2011.

The Secretary General of the UN, the Korean Ban Ki-Moon, joined these celebrations through a video.

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