Today marks World Radio Day (WRD) with a theme “Radio and Peace”

Tinatin Berdzenishvili, Director General of Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), stated that the 2023 slogan “Radio and Peace” emphasises the importance of radio in society.

“As experience shows us, Public Broadcaster, as a provider of verified and reliable information to the public, plays a special role in creating a safe environment. This role is highlighted in society during times of public unrest, war, pandemic, state of emergency, and so forth.

During the ongoing war in Ukraine, GPB First Channel worked closely with the Ukrainian Public Broadcaster.  A number of joint programmes to assist the Ukrainian people have been organised and conducted with the help of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The radio initiatives stood out among them,” Berdzenishvili asserted.

EBU Director General Noel Curran believes “radio has a unique connection with the audience. It’s part of people’s lives.”

“The figures for trust for radio are incredible. They’ve just stayed so solid for so long. So, I think we all face this threat of misinformation/disinformation and I think more and more people want trusted news. They want a medium that they feel they understand, they want a medium that allows them to speak which is another thing the radio does. So, I think that connection with radio and its audience is incredibly strong,” Noel Curran stated.

World Radio Day was proclaimed by UNESCO member states in 2011 and adopted as an International Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012.