It may be unofficial, but National Radio Day is a holiday that is near and dear to our hearts here at Radio World. Celebrated annually on Aug. 20, the day recognizes the invention of radio and the importance of the medium in our culture, according to the National Radio Day website and various online holiday calendars. The 2016 theme is “Celebrate the Spark of Great Radio.”
Social media will also be a big component of the 2016 celebration. The official website, created in 2015 to expand awareness of the holiday, encourages participating stations and listeners to post selfies and tweets tagging them with #NationalRadioDay. Those interested can follow the National Radio Day Twitter account (@NatlRadioDay) and like its Facebook page.
And if you’re someone who wants to celebrate radio all year ’round, don’t forget two other holidays: World Radio Day (Feb. 13) and College Radio Day (Nov. 4).
In case you’re interested, the origins of this holiday remain shrouded in mystery, but it appears to date back to the 1990s. Annual celebration was repopularized by NPR in 2011.
If you want to get involved, visit the National Radio Day website for ideas and so that the organizers can contact you about opportunities.
Other coordinators include Paul Riismandel, Radio Survivor, Portland, Ore.; Morgan Jaffe, KAOS Community Radio, Olympia, Wash.; Erin Yanke, Ani Haines and Becky Meiers, KBOO Community Radio, Portland, Ore.; Betsy O’Donovan, AIR, Boston; Marie MacDonald, WVAO: The Voice of Athol•Orange, Athol, Mass.; Sally Kane, National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Crawford, Colo.; Peggy Berryhill, The Native Media Resource Center and KGUA, Gualala, Calif.; Candice Mendez, Native Public Media, Flagstaff, Ariz.; María Arambula, WSNK Valdosta Community Radio, Valdosta, Ga.; Nikki Kayser and Maeve Conran, KGNU Community Radio, Boulder, Colo.; Leslie Hardwick and Tony Bova, KWIS Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Plummer, Idaho; Caitlin Reading, Riverwest Radio, Milwaukee, Wis.; Hector Youtsey, KPYT: Voice of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tucson, Ariz.; Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, Vermont Cam, Burlington, Vt.; Joe Newman, Fayetteville Community Radio, Fayetteville, La.; Tom Dooley, WWSX East Sussex Public Broadcasting, Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Sharon Scott, ArtxFM, Louisville, Ky.; Jeffory Simmons, XRAY.FM, Portland, Ore.; Lauree McArdle, Arlington Independent Media, Arlington, Va.; Tatyana Safronova, Takoma Radio, Takoma Park, Md.; Olivia Weitz, The Northwest Hall of Radio History, Pullman, Wash.;Will Floyd, Prometheus Radio Project, Philadelphia; Kenya Lewis, San Francisco; Joe Serocki, WYML, Ingleside, Ill.; Ted Coe, KCSB Community Radio, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Radio World will be writing more about National Radio Day so let us know your own plans.
