From news and public debate to music and entertainment, radio continues to inform, captivate and inspire us in a way that no other medium can.

But radio is so much more than a forum for information and entertainment. It reaches more people in more places than any other medium. It’s a bridge of communication for remote communities, developing regions and vulnerable populations, sometimes with no other connection to the outside world. Perhaps no other platform can have the real-time reach between people and across cultures.

Radio is also the medium best-adapted to navigate the new digital frontiers that are pushing the media and communication into unchartered waters. Technologies such as the Internet, mobile communication and geolocation have shifted the traditional dynamic in which the media operate, with young people at the fore-front of these converging trends, at the same time embracing radio as enthusiastically as ever.

So let’s come together on 13 February not only to celebrate the importance of radio in our lives today, but to ensure it lives up to its huge potential in the future.