World Radio Day

Today is World Radio Day. On this day, in 1946, the first broadcast of the United Nations radio station took place.

This year's theme - "Radio and Trust" - celebrates radio's independence and seriousness.

In a message sent on this occasion, the Director-General of UNESCO talked about how relevant radio remains today, especially in pandemic times, in which it is important not to cause confusion and controversy.

We use the radio more than any other medium, when we need to be informed, says Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, in her message.

She recalls that less than one in five people in Europe consider social media to be a credible source of information; instead, more than half of the population trusts the radio. Radio is often the way learning continues when schools stop. The beginnings of radio are linked to the late 1800s and early 1900s and to Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor who worked in England.

He is the inventor of wireless telegraphy and the radio antenna of electrically grounded radio waves. Later, the Croatian American physicist Nikola Tesla also contributed, along with a few other inventors, to the creation of the first radio, also at the turn of the century. In the meantime, the radio has now come to be broadcast both digitally and on the Internet.

In Romania, an Inscop poll, broadcast last year, showed that most Romanians trust the information broadcast by radio stations rather than any other media channel.

Translated by: Radu Matei