Days Until World Radio Day

About World Radio Day

February 13 marks the anniversary of the 1946 launch of United Nations Radio, and was designated by UNESCO in 2011 before being adopted as a full UN International Day by the General Assembly in 2012.

The observance celebrates radio as a medium for information access, freedom of expression, and connecting communities, particularly in regions with limited access to other forms of media.

Radio remains, according to UNESCO's own reasoning for the day, one of the most widely accessible mass media technologies in low-income and rural regions where internet access is still limited or unreliable.

UNESCO's own radio archives, including recordings from decades of United Nations Radio broadcasts, are used in part to mark the observance with historical retrospectives in some years.

UNESCO's messaging around the day has increasingly addressed radio's continued relevance during humanitarian emergencies, when internet and mobile networks are frequently disrupted but battery- or crank-powered radios can still reach affected populations.