Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

Sign Off: World Radio Day

Sign Off: World Radio Day

Feb 1, 2013 11:00 AM, By Chriss Scherer, editor

Feb. 13 was World Radio Day, as proclaimed by UNESCO in 2010 and endorsed by the United Nations. The day was prompted by a request from the Spanish Radio Academy. The date was chosen to honor the founding of United Nations Radio, which was established on Feb. 13, 1946. The day is intended to celebrate radio as a medium, to improve international cooperation between broadcasters, and to encourage major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information and freedom of expression over the airwaves. World Radio Day is recognized by various countries with activities in partnership with regional, national and international broadcasters, non-governmental organizations, the media and the public.

As part of its recognition of World Radio Day, the United Nations Postal Administration has issued a set of stamps that feature photos from the radio service’s past. The service’s first makeshift studios and offices were in the United Nations headquarters in Lake Success, NY, where it transmitted its first call sign: “This is the United Nations calling the peoples of the world.”

Today, UN Radio produces content that includes weekly and daily radio programs, news spots, features, interviews, sound bites and raw audio for more than 600 outlets around the world. In addition to programming in the six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish), news and features are produced in Kiswahili and Portuguese, and weekly programs are adapted into Bangla, Hindi, Indonesian and Urdu.

January 1954. One of the rebroadcasting rooms of United Nations Radio, in a booth overlooking a Council chamber. (UN Photo/MB) (Click to enlarge.)

March 1947. Radio coverage of United Nations activities is provided by the Department of Public Information and includes short-wave broadcasts of important meetings and daily news broadcasts in the five official languages. (UN Photo) (Click to enlarge.)

March 1947. Radio coverage of United Nations activities is provided by the Department of Public Information and includes short-wave broadcasts of important meetings and daily news broadcasts in the five official languages. (UN Photo) (Click to enlarge.)

March 1970. Audio lines from the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and all other conference rooms terminate in this master control. (UN Photo/Teddy Chen) (Click to enlarge.)

January 1950. Every word spoken in U.N. meetings is recorded on disc for rebroadcast and archives. This photograph shows the recording room. (UN Photo) (Click to enlarge.)

May 1955. The U.N. Radio Division is a vital part of the U.N. Department of Public Information. It operates a worldwide broadcasting service that covers every continent, and maintains a staff of approximately 90 persons from 29 different countries. (UN Photo/MB) (Click to enlarge.)

March 1970. Close-up of special four-track Ampex tape recorders used for recording of United Nations meetings. Each track can record four out of the five official languages which are English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. The recording speed is 3-3/4 i.p.s. (UN Photo/Teddy Chen) (Click to enlarge.)

May 1955. As a vital part of the U.N. Department of Public Information, the United Nations Radio Division is dedicated to the over-all policy of keeping the peoples of the world fully informed of the aims and activities of the U.N. (UN Photo/MB) (Click to enlarge.)

February 2013

KEZW goes green with solar power, safety in the workplace, audio editing software, World Radio Day and the UN, and the MXL BCC-1….

Close