Today is UNESCO World Radio Day:
“a day 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 recognized as a powerful communication tool and a low cost medium.”
In honor of World Radio Day, at Ears To Our World, we sent 60 HumanaLights and 40 self-powered AM/FM/SW radios to be distributed in Haiti through our partners, the Haitian Health Foundation.
We’ve been working steadily in Haiti since 2009, shortly before the 2010 earthquake. You may know that Haiti has most recently been dealing with the effects of Hurricane Matthew which struck on October 4, 2016. Shortly after urgent food and medical supplies started making their way to the island, we began sending radios and other supplies.
The importance of radio access in disaster situations cannot be overstated, and the results getting receivers into the hands of those in need are both immediate and enduring. According to the Knight Foundation, a non-profit organization that advances journalism in the digital age, radio was “the undisputed lifeline for the Haitian public after the [2010] earthquake.” In their report, “Media, Information System and Communities: Lessons from HAITI,” the Foundation asserted, “Of all the available humanitarian information tools, radio was the most effective means to share information with the community and to distribute information to affected populations.”
This remains true today as Haiti rebuilds after Hurricane Matthew.
If you would like to help those who ETOW serves, please consider a donation of any amount. This is unquestionably a meaningful way to give the gift of radio, as well as education on World Radio Day!
A big THANK YOU, Thomas, for your efforts running Ears To Our World. You are helping thousands of people gain access to news, education, and information through the gift of simple radios.
Those of us reading the SWLing Post have the luxury of enjoying, collecting, and DXing with receivers as we wish, and we like to discuss endlessly the many nuances that make up the “magic of radio”. Let’s not forget those for whom radio is a true lifeline, however. Ears To Our World is having a profound impact on many children and adults that interact with–and rely on–radios far differently than most of us do.
Personal lighting is another basic, but vital resource. I for one often take easy, quick access to light–wherever I want it–for granted. How often have I absent-mindedly flipped a light switch during a power outage due to force of habit? Not only are the HumanaLights a great complement to a self-powered radio, they eek out the last bit of energy from batteries that would otherwise be thrown away.
I urge other readers to consider a donation, or better yet– ongoing giving– to Ears To Our World.
73, Guy
Somebody ought to make sure the officers at ABC Australia see this event…..
Too late – the 13th was yesterday, and the website is now counting *up*…
(America – one of the last places in the world to experience anything ?. I blame the International Date Line myself…)