Innovation and cooperation take centre stage at ABU’s Radio Working Party

The Radio Working Party (RWP) met on 30 September to discuss not only the many Radio activities and achievements of the past year but also how to meet future challenges and to plan its activities for the next year. 

The half day meeting included an expert session on innovative radio formats from around the world, a Radio Pitch session where members proposed co-production opportunities, and a showcase of members’ most successful program initiatives over the past year. 

Radio members from Bhutan, Nepal, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and Romania showcased their initiatives on themes as diverse as Engaging Millennials in Radio, producing live music events and programming a classical music station, examples of successful commercial radio campaigns, mobile journalism initiatives, journeys in sound, and voluntary community radio journalism.  

NHK World’s disaster preparedness radio program BOSAI as well as Radio Romania’s Sound of Your City project were singled out for co-production opportunities and format sharing between Radio Members.

ABU Radio members’ recommendations included finding more opportunities to work together in a practical and effective way such as via reciprocal agreements between members, content exchange and co-productions as well as skills enhancing capacity building initiatives. Radio Members also overwhelmingly supported a proposal to the Programme Committee to formalise the Radio Working Party.