Today is World Day Radio

Today is the World Day of Radio.

UNESCO proclaimed 13 February as World Day Radio, which is the most widely available of the media and is able to cover up to 95% of the world population.

"Radio is a medium of information that reaches the widest possible audience, and, most important, the most marginalized section of our society," said the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, in his address at the World Day of Radio.

UNESCO head drew attention to the importance of radio as a communication system in emergency and disaster relief.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, more than 75% of families in all countries of the world have at least one radio. Today more and more people use the radio as a source of information and communication via broadband Internet.

Irina Bokova stressed that free, independent and pluralistic radio is central to the community and is a vital prerequisite for the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The organization called on radio stations around the world to take an active part in the celebration of the World Radio Day, which this year will mark the first time.

For more than 60 years, UNESCO has undertaken a number of initiatives in the field of radio communications, with special attention to the development of local broadcasting, as well as the use of radio in the delivery of humanitarian assistance in emergency situations for which it was created a portable "Radio-in-a- Box ".

UNESCO recalled that the World Radio Day is timed to the anniversary of the February 13, 1946 United Nations Radio. - 17D-