Inputs by Mohd. Omar Malik
Every year, on February 13th, the world celebrates World Radio Day.
The purpose of this international day is to honor and emphasize the importance of radio, one of the oldest and most popularly used mediums of communication.
Although there are much faster and more feasible mediums of communication available to us today, the significant role of radio cannot be ignored. Even today, there are thousands of people who only rely on
radio for getting news and entertainment.
This date was first proclaimed by UNESCO in 2011. Though it was later adopted by The UN General Assembly in 2012 as an international day. Since then, February 13 has been observed. 13th February was the day on which the UN established the United Nations Radio, way back in 1946.
The theme of World Radio Day 2022 is ‘Radio and Trust’. The 3 sub-themes of the 11th World Radio Day are ‘Trust in radio journalism’, ‘Trust and accessibility’ and ‘Trust and viability of radio stations’.
The importance of radio
Imagine being in the middle of the ocean. How do you communicate with the shore?
The radio!
For many decades, the radio has been a reliable mode of communication over long distances. In battlefields and at sea, the radio has saved lives.
In India, the All India Radio was established in Delhi in 1936. We also know it as Akashvani (the sound from the sky). Television, in contrast, came only in 1959 – more than 2 decades later.
For this entire period, the All India Radio carried news and entertainment to the most remote parts of the country. A licence was required to own a radio and TV all the way till the 1970s, and the license was officially abolished only in 1991!
The radio also brought alive radio plays (one of Agatha Christie’s mysteries is based on a radio play) and even today, we look for radio signals from faraway galaxies.
We bring you a nostalgia of radio images. Image Credit: Old Indian Ads, Indian History pics, Marconi Company Limited (for image of a young Marconi)
