As the only international radio programming conference of its kind in the Asia-Pacific, the ABU Secretary General says there is a lot riding on the RadioAsia Conference in Jakarta from 7-9 May 2012. According to Dr Javad Mottaghi, RadioAsia 2012 comes at a critical time for radio in both Indonesia and the region.

“The Indonesian radio industry is at the initial stage of a boom period with a lot of competition in the market,” he says. “So the Connect Me to the World conference will play a pivotal role, setting up possible layers of networking platforms not only with Indonesian broadcasters but also for capacity-building in the region.”

The annual event, organized by the ABU in partnership with Singapore Exhibition Services (SES) and Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) brings together leading radio media practitioners, communication specialists, policy makers, and academics from public service, community and commercial radio across the Asia-Pacific and beyond. This year’s event is hosted by Radio Republic Indonesia (RRI).

Vijay Sadhu, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s Senior Executive for Radio and conference organiser, says radio continues to play an important role and retains its popularity around the region.

“Radio and online are both perceived as providing connection with people’s social communities but on different levels.

“It is easy to forget that often low-tech methods of communication can have a much greater reach and impact than the high-tech communications methods of the digital era. Less affluent or remotely located men and women or those in island countries simply do not have access to all the technologies that allow them access to global information, something that city dwellers take for granted.”

The RadioAsia Conference program listing speakers, organisations and discussion topics can be found at www.radioasia.org

source: ABU

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