The radio industry should ensure that the “mobile phone becomes the new transistor radio,” delegates at the Radio Asia conference in Hanoi, Vietnam heard on Tuesday.

Simon Kendall, Head of Business Development from BBC World Service said it was possible for radio to sell itself as one of the primary uses of smartphones thanks to radio apps.

A session called ‘Radio in the New Era’ saw speakers discuss some of the challenges facing radio broadcasters.

As research showed young people turning away from radio in some Western markets, it was important that Asian broadcasters keep youths engaged, said Jeff Cohen, Director of Development from World Radio Network (WRN).

European research showed young people don’t buy radio sets and their expectations were very different compared to 10-20 years ago because of technological advances, he said.

The importance of narrow-casting to youths was highlighted by Anurag Batra, CEO of India’s exchange4media website.

He said even if stations deliver smaller audiences, advertisers would pay a premium as they continued to value young consumers highly.

Batra said that executives within all media – not just radio – were doing a lot of “soul-searching” at present.

There was also a warning that while mobile and online were the future, technology was continuously changing.

“You only have to look at how Blackberry’s popularity has diminished to see how quickly the tide can turn,” said Jason Malaure, Chief Technology Officer at All In Media, an app developer.

Asian public broadcasters could learn about attracting young listeners from the commercial sector, said Commercial Radio Australia’s CEO Joan Warner.

Australia is still seeing audience growth among young audiences thanks to clever engagement, she said.