RadioAsia opens with a call for industry to work with mobile and social media

Broadcasters must develop the space where radio meets mobile devices and social media, delegates to the Asia-Pacific’s premier radio programming conference have been told.

The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr Nguyen Tan Dung, opened the conference saying radio must meet the needs of the people around the world.

“It enriches the people and helps them in times of natural disaster and other challenges,” he said.

Giving the keynote address on the opening day of the 2013 RadioAsia conference in Hanoi, Joan Warner of Commercial Radio Australia said radio had a strong future despite competition and broadcasters needed to be innovative in content production and the use of new social media.

“The audience is mobile, social and interactive, so it is vital that radio is in this space,” she said.

More than 400 radio industry leaders from the Asia-Pacific and around the world gathered in Vietnam to discuss the theme “Radio and Social Media: Where to Next? 

Organised by the ABU and the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, and hosted by Voice of Vietnam, the conference was opened by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr Nguyen Tan Dung, who said his government had developed and modernised the Vietnamese news media to meet the needs of Vietnamese people and the world.

Angie Man of Radio Television Hong Kong pointed out that at the same time as one baby was born in the world, three mobile phones were made, there were 4.8 billion mobile users on the planet and the mobile subscriber population was growing four times faster than the world’s population.

The BBC’s Simon Kendall said radio listening was growing across all platforms. The most recent radio survey in Britain showed the second highest reach ever for radio, with 90 percent of people listening.

“Radio and mobile combined are closer to audiences than other types of media,” he said.