Radio can survive by delivering its content in new ways and cultivating audience interaction, the President Director of Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), Dr I Hendrasmo, has said.

Speaking at the ABU’s 2022 RadioAsia conference in Kuala Lumpur on 5 September, he said he had confidence in the future of radio because it could enhance culture.

Traditional radio listening in Indonesia had decreased by 37 percentage points, from 50 percent to 13 percent, while internet usage had dramatically increased, he said. So RRI had increased its services on new platforms to continue to deliver its mission.

David Hua, the Director of Language and Audience Services at SBS Australia, said there were similar sobering statistics in most countries, but it came down to how one defined the word radio.

“People are connected to radio in different ways. Linear broadcast radio is still important to many, especially those who cannot connect via internet and data, while other types of new radio content connect in different ways.”

Sanjiv Dosajh, Assistant Director General of Programmes at All India Radio, talked about the huge diversity of languages, geographies and cultures in India.

A challenge for radio was to keep reaching the younger population, he said. “They are shifting to web radio and social media platforms so we are developing new programmes on new platforms for them.”

Dan Santa, the Director of International Relations at Radio Romania, said radio had an important public mission and as long as it continued to fulfil this mission there would be a well-defined future for radio.

Keith Williams, Vice President of RCS Asia Pacific, said radio had succeeded to this point because of the content and nothing had changed about that despite different means of delivery.