UN celebrates World Radio Day

World Radio Day, marked the 67th anniversary of the United Nations’ first broadcast—“This is the United Nations calling the peoples of the world”—with two panels of UN officials and journalists on radio’s continuing relevance in Conference Room 6 of the United Nations building.

The first “panel” was really just a series of speeches, from Francisco Javier Sanabria, a member of Spain’s mission to the UN; Philippe Kridelka, director of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s New York office; and Stephane Dujarric, director of the News and Media division of the UN’s Department of Public Information. The second panel was a discussion among Bill Siemering, an NPR founder who now works with radio stations in Sierra Leone; Lesedi Mogoatlhe, who trains young radio journalists in South Africa; John Dinges, a professor at Columbia’s journalism school specializing in radio; Amy Costello, reporter for the public radio program The World who now does an investigative podcast; and Anne Bennett, executive director of Hirondelle USA, which helps countries transition from war to peace. Both panels stressed the unique strengths of radio as a medium, especially in the developing world. In short: It’s cheap, it’s easily accessible to both broadcasters and listeners, it’s local, and it’s engaging.