World Radio Day was observed today (Monday) to highlight the importance of radio as a key medium of information, education and promoting freedom of expression across cultures.

The theme for this year's World Radio Day is "Radio and Peace".

Radio Pakistan organized a grand dialogue among FM Channels, Stream Channels and OTT platforms to discuss the emerging new digital broadcasting ecosystem at National Broadcasting House in Islamabad on Monday.

Radio is an important source of mass communication in the present era which remains vital during war, peace, catastrophe and pandemic.

Speakers at a grand dialogue on emerging digital broadcasting have stressed the need for collaboration among the key stakeholders to flourish collectively and better serve the nation with positive and constructive information. 

These views were expressed by representatives from FMs, Stream Channels and OTT platforms at the dialogue organized by Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation as part of World Radio Day celebrations at Radio Pakistan Headquarters in Islamabad today.

The heads of various private FM channels, Stream Channels and technology companies, academicians and health experts contributed their valuable inputs into the discussion.

They were of the view that the private FMs can benefit from Radio Pakistan's rich content for informing and entraining people in a more effective way. Radio Pakistan can also collaborate with the educational institutions to produce quality human resource in the field of mass communication.

Addressing the ceremony, Secretary Information and Broadcasting Shahera Shahid said the radio industry will be fully facilitated to flourish.

She said Radio Pakistan and PTV have rich content, and a system is being developed to ensure its availability to everyone.

 Alluding to Radio Pakistan's largest outreach in the country, she said the equipment of national broadcaster is being upgraded with digital technology to improve sound quality.

In his remarks, Director General Radio Pakistan Tahir Hassan said the emerging trends of digital broadcasting demand collaboration among the relevant organizations. He highlighted the measures being taken to improve performance of the state broadcaster. 

Addressing the event, Chief Executive Officer FM-105 Zulfiqar Shah said we are ready to collaborate with Radio Pakistan for larger benefit of people. He said the private FMs can relay news bulletins being aired by Radio Pakistan.

He suggested establishing a state of the art broadcasting academy by Radio Pakistan to equip the youth with modern techniques of radio broadcasting.

Zulfiqar Shah also proposed that the government should take advantage and use the platform of Radio for disseminating public service messages.

CEO of an IT company Wahaj Siraj said today the broadcast media is confronting with multiple challenges regarding creativity and innovation and we have to think out of the box solution to tackle them.

Dr Javed Haroon Qureshi, CEO of a Radio Engineering Company, in his remarks, said Radio Pakistan is rich in creating impressive content and we have to disseminate this content.

In her remarks, Dr. Salma Siddique, Dean Department of Social Sciences NUST, said NUST is ready to collaborate with Radio Pakistan in establishing a Training Academy to train the youth in broadcasting.

She said let's join hands to use this platform of Grand Dialogue for Radio Pakistan.

Dr Yasir Niazi, CEO of IMDC, addressing the ceremony, said his organization is ready to cooperate with Radio Pakistan in imparting education and creating awareness among the masses regarding health issues.

He said we are available for Radio Pakistan with all our resources. He said radio will continue to be a popular medium for people.

Tassuwar Zaman of China Media Group said the collaboration between Radio Pakistan and China Radio International is proving effective to promote friendship between the two countries and bring peoples of the two countries closer.

Wakeel Khan from Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority said PEMRA will continue to facilitate the radio industry, helping it to inform and entertain people in a better way.

Apart from the main event organized at Radio Pakistan Islamabad, similar dialogues were also held at the PBC stations in provincial headquarters including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit.