World Radio Day 2017: "Radio is you!"

World Radio Day's official logo looks more like a Shivalingam than a mic!

As proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to mark the anniversary of United Nations Radio signing on in 1946, February 13 is celebrated as World Radio Day. The objectives of the Day, according to UNESCO, are to raise greater awareness among the public and the media of the importance of radio; to encourage decision makers to establish and provide access to information through radio; as well as to enhance networking and international cooperation among broadcasters. The slogan for World Radio Day 2017 is "RADIO IS YOU!"

Radio is still the most dynamic, reactive and engaging medium there is, adapting to 21st century changes and offering new ways to interact and participate. Where social media and audience fragmentation can put us in media bubbles of like-minded people, radio is uniquely positioned to bring communities together and foster positive dialogue for change. By listening to its audiences and responding to their needs, radio provides the diversity of views and voices needed to address the challenges we all face.

With the recent demise of Radio Australia, and the numerous other shortwave broadcasters who have gone dark in recent years, World Radio Day is a time to rally around this once-great broadcast medium that is very difficult to censor or jam, can be easily received in the poorest and most remote countries with little or no access to wi-fi, high-speed internet or even reliable sources of electricity, and will always come through in times of war, revolution or natural disaster. As a source of direct uncensored news from around the world, such as the democratic revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989 that would lead to Patria's Dharmic Revolution, shortwave was "the internet before there was the internet".

Radio in Patria is a model of what radio should be. There are no plans anywhere in Patria to replace terrestrial AM and FM radio stations with digital or so-called "DRM", as is happening in Norway. There are many stations providing relevant local programming, including "all bhajans all the time" Hindu Dharma and Bollywood hits stations similar to Trinidad's Radio Jaagriti-102.7 and Lotus FM in South Africa. For those who like all-news, all-sports and all-talk (even right wing, National Unionist and pro-Trump talk), there are AM stations in Patria that could sound like dead ringers for US AM stations, some of which are affiliates of the Jim Rome and Rush Limbaugh shows. On FM in Patria you will find college and university stations on the traditional left end of the dial (88.1 to 92 MHz), classic rockers, oldies, New Age, classical, and almost any other format you can think of that would be scoffed at as an unprofitable niche in the US or not allowed by Canada's CRTC. In Patria's capital city there is a legendary AM blowtorch with a classic three-letter call (PMC on 846 kHz), whose format is still proudly "full-service": in-depth local and national news, sports coverage (e.g. Castoropolis FC and Caesarea United in the All-Patria Football Federation), talk shows hosted by or featuring as guests politicians from various parties (Amrita, Chakra, SRM, NU, Social Democrat, etc.), Sunday morning Hindu pujas, "trading post" programs (listeners call in offering services or items for sale) and a few music shows on the weekend when there are no live sports events. To virtually no one's surprise, PMC-846 has been the top-rated station in Patria's Capital District market for almost as long as anyone can remember.