A debate held by the ABU Radio Working Party meeting in Hanoi moderated by consultant Steve Ahern has concluded that radio still has a role in the future of Asia-Pacific media – but not in its original form.
Part of the ABU’s 50th General Assembly events, speakers from Radio Television Hong Kong and Voice of Vietnam argued that radio’s future contrasts sharply with that of print, but that radio is increasingly part of a suit of different media delivering content to consumers
Opposing, the ABC’s Deborah Steele said the broadcast airwaves ‘are not as relevant as they used to be. – in the Pacific, radio is still king, but in Asia and Australia that is no longer the case, the audience wants more,’ she said.
Kabul Budiono from Radio Republik Indonesia said that in a big country such as Indonesia, where 80 per cent of the population lived in rural areas, radio was still important but that consumption patterns are changing rapidly.
The debate saw perspectives from as far afield as Norway, where digital radio has revitalised radio consumption, and India, where enthusiasm for radio had increased as a result of competition and Fiji where television was growing but radio was still king.
The debate also saw Norihito Saito, a Senior Producer at NHK Japan, describe the importance of NHK Radio’s role in delivering safety information, though much information is migrating to the internet. Ruxandra Obreja, President of Digital Radio Mondiale, was adamant that ‘we need to sell radio again, we must market the new features of digital radio to listeners and to governments’.
Xia Jixuan, Vice President of China Radio International spoke of CRI’s use of what it calls ‘micro-films’, short videos that supported radio with multimedia content, while Behrouz Razavinejad, a Senior Advisor at IRIB, said that radio is an important part of Iran’s culture. And in two video messages, Commercial Radio Australia’s Joan Warner and Radio New Zealand’s Paul Bushnell presented case studies on how to develop radio.
