Today is World Radio Day!
We mark World Radio Day to raise awareness about the importance of radio in shaping the lives of millions throughout the world, from providing people with everyday news to being a way of spreading information quickly to save lives during natural (or human-induced) disasters.
Radio still remains the most dominant and accessible mass medium in most developing nations, including Ethiopia. It is of course also more affordable and accessible than television and has a much wider distribution in rural areas than newspapers. It will probably remain the leading media channel for reaching the majority of the Ethiopian for some years yet.
Radio in Ethiopia was launched when the first provisional radio station was inaugurated in 1933. Short wave broadcasting was resumed in 1941 and then in the subsequent years Radio Ethiopia operated from Addis Ababa, Harar, and Asmara – broadcasting in six languages. I imagine most of the current urban and adult generations of Ethiopians are familiar with the sound of “This is Radio Ethiopia!”
Historically, in addition to Radio Ethiopia, several ‘clandestine’ radio stations with targeted Ethiopian audiences emerged during the turbulent years of the Cold War. Most of these stations were owned by political organisations waging an armed struggle against the communist regime. The Derg spent a tremendous amount of energy trying to jam the transmissions of these stations, including that of the TPLF’s radio.
After the fall of the Derg it was commendable to see the abolition of censorship and the liberalisation of media legislation to allow a private press in Ethiopia. But it’s a shame that the Government hasn’t always stuck to these important constitutional principles when it comes to radio. Broadcasts from stations such as Voice of America VoA, Deutsche Welle DW and the BBC have been jammed at various times in recent years.
There’s also still plenty of room for private radio stations in Ethiopia to grow, particularly beyond urban areas. A heavy share of radio station ownership is still heavily concentrated towards state-owned media agencies. As the Ethiopian economy continues to grow, demands by the people to receive information from a greater range of media sources will also continue to grow. Radio is increasingly competing with television, including satellite channels. Greater provision of quality public and private stations will be vital if it is to continue to remain as relevant to Ethiopia over the next 80 years as it has been for the last 80.