13 February is World Radio Day!
To celebrate, OFM is inviting its loyal listeners to become part of the sound of your life because “Radio is you”. We want your voice on air 13 February 2017.
To participate, tell us why you love radio. For instance: “Hi, I’m Koos from Vanderbijl and I love radio because the music gets me going in the morning. Listening to OFM is a great start to my day.” Whatsapp your voice note to 082 416 1665 (data tariffs apply) with the keyword radio and your voice could be on air in celebration of World Radio Day 2017!
World Radio Day is a global initiative to celebrate radio as a medium, to improve international cooperation between broadcasters and to encourage major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information, freedom of expression and gender equality over the airwaves.
Radio is the mass media reaching the widest audience in the world. It is also recognised as a powerful communication tool and a low cost medium.
This year, UNESCO focuses on encouraging radio stations around the world, whether a community, private, or public radio station, to have the tools to be the best radio stations they can be. And that means ensuring they are having continued dialogue with the industry, its audience and the public in general.
To read more about World Radio Day visit: http://www.diamundialradio.org/
10 Fun Radio Facts
1. World Radio Day marks the anniversary of the first broadcast by UN Radio in 1946, when it transmitted its first call sign: "This is the United Nations calling the peoples of the world."
2. Guiglielmo Marconi sent the first ever radio transmission in 1896. Despite being known as “the father of radio”, he was only able to transmit radio signals, not voice. Marconi won a Nobel Prize for “contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy” in 1909. Marconi was the great-grandson of John Jameson, founder of Jameson Irish Whiskey.
3. Nikola Tesla was the genius who should have actually received the credit for inventing the radio – As early as 1892, Nikola Tesla created a basic design for radio.
4. The radio got its voice on Christmas Eve 1906. As dozens of ship and amateur radio operators listened for the evening's traffic messages, they were amazed to hear a man's voice calling "CQ, CQ" (which means calling all stations, I have messages) instead of the customary dits and dahs of Morse code.
5. The radio came of age during World War I. Military leaders recognized its value for communicating with the infantry and ships at sea. In 1923, Edwin Armstrong invented the superhetrodyne radio, its basic principles are still used in radio today.
6. On 18 December 1923 the first experimental radio broadcast in South Africa took place in Johannesburg. The Broadcast was of a music concert and was made by the Western Electric Company.
7. According to research, there are approximately 15.4 million radio sets in South Africa, with 30 million listeners tuning in every day.
8. Most radio commercials are only 15 seconds long, yet it is considered one of the most effective ways to reach an audience.
9. AM (Amplitude Modulation) was one of the first radio waves to be used for radio broadcasting. Its wavelength is about as long as a rugby field and the antennas used to transmit them consumed up to 50,000 watts of power.
10. Early developments in radio were called ‘wireless telegraphy’, which is why the radio used to be called the wireless.
The Youth Amateur Radio Club of America offers a good explantion of how radio works. Watch the video here
Video: how does radio work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLMC5R5Me9c
