Members of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) will take part in a round-the-world broadcast relay to celebrate the 4th World Radio Day (WRD) on Friday.

WRD was proclaimed by UNESCO in 2011 to celebrate radio as a medium, improve 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.

This year the theme for WRD is ‘Innovation and youth in radio’ and on February 13 participating broadcasters will devote half-an-hour of their programming to it.

The main organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in partnership with the ABU, will also offer three optional pre-recorded radio features.

These are ‘Radio and Youth’, ‘Radio and Innovation’ and ‘History of Humanitarian Use of Radio: UN Radio’.

Speeches by UN personalities as well as a one-hour rights-free concert live from Geneva by the UN Jazz Orchestra will also be made available.

According to the organisers, this will be a relay following the world’s time zones and there will be a succession of radio stations each handing over to the next participant throughout the day.

Listeners around the world can follow this special WRD program, through an internet stream coordinated via the EBU in Geneva.