 World Radio Day 2024 celebrates the enduring legacy of a timeless communications medium. Along with the remarkable past and dynamic present, radio promises a future filled with astonishing innovations. Today, broadcast radio remains one of the most lively communications media available, disseminating information, entertainment and educational material to vast audiences in countries worldwide. As we enter the second century of radio broadcasting, the medium continues evolving. The transition to digital broadcasting and the rise of podcasting have democratized the creation and distribution of audio content, allowing a diverse array of voices to find resonance in the global soundscape. In recent decades, broadcast radio stations have become a crucial component of the public safety net too. During emergencies, the portability of radio receivers and wide reach of radio broadcasts can disseminate early warnings before and support emergency response and recovery during and after a disaster. Access to timely information can mean the difference between life and death. Radio equipment is readily available, reliable and resilient. Its relatively low-cost importability make it essential for emergency preparedness, response and recovery. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and wildfires all disrupt communication. When power lines are cut or cell towers are destroyed, radio is at hand for broadcasting emergency alerts, coordinating evacuations and providing real-time updates. Toe Lupe Pomulunuku Onesemo, Minister for Communications and Information Technology for Samoa, explains why it's important to protect radio frequencies for emergency services. We need protections around the sea bands and those parts of the spectrum at which we are utilizing for our emergency services and also around our Pacific Island, isolated islands around the middle of the ocean. There's a need for protections around those parts of the spectrum, not only for navigations but also for emergency responses. In small island developing or SID states, radio is the best and sometimes only link between remote, hard-to-reach communities. We need to consider SID states and need this part of the spectrum for their livelihoods and also for security and protection but also in terms of emergencies. In late 2023, International Telecommunication Union ITU members met in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates for the World Radio Communication Conference, WRC 23, where they reviewed, updated and made decisions regarding the global allocation of radio frequency. ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin, in her opening remarks, spoke about the importance of harnessing the potential of radio technology and radio services. This is a moment where we have an opportunity to show that we stand together, that we're here to build a better future together. And to do this we have to harness the potential of radio technology and radio services from terrestrial to space-based communications to the fullest. This potential is enormous. Game-changing digital solutions rely on these radio communication services and can accelerate progress in climate action, in education, in hunger, in poverty, and 70% of all the sustainable development goal targets. Mario Manovich, Director of the ITU Radio Communication Bureau, explains why it's important to protect specific frequency bands. Warning and recovery, all these things, we need special services for that. And it's not just the bands used for early warnings and disaster recovery that strengthen resilience. Mario Manovich explains. We always have the amateur bands that we cherish, you know, it has an historic service but also one that today is very useful when there is an emergency, when there is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster. So radio amateurs are always ready to help and sometimes when the infrastructure, communications infrastructure goes down they are the only ones that remain there to help people. Timothy Ellum, President of the International Amateur Radio Union says there's a large community of amateur radio operators ready to lend a hand in emergencies. During times of crisis, disasters, the commercial communications infrastructure often goes down and you have to fall back and other services and the amateur radio operators are perfectly poised to deal with communication in emergent systems. And there's been very many examples I could give you during typhoons or hurricanes where the commercial systems have collapsed and for the short period before you can get other services up and running amateur radio operators are there on the ground, they have their own equipment, they know what antennas and frequencies to use that are allocated to us in order to get file information back to the emergency services. Timothy Ellum, naturally, is one of those ham radio enthusiasts. We have our own equipment, we have access to a large segment of the spectrum where we can, which we can utilise to be the most effective to transfer information back to the relevant bodies. So, you know, I tell people I'm not an engineer by any means but I know enough and I have my own equipment that in times of crisis I have alternate power supplies and power sources to use, I have equipment I can make a simple antenna out of a wire to communicate effectively and that's done only by voice, we also use voice code still and digital applications as well. In her closing remarks at the World Radio Communication Conference Doreen Bogdan Martin spoke about the WRC outcomes for amateur radio. We saw a well supported compromise for the amateur radio community and of course it's always terrific to see how active that community is. These WRC outcomes will help them to continue to experiment and explore with new technologies as well as supporting technical competence development. Protecting radio frequencies can help to save lives and mitigate the impact of disasters worldwide, now and into the future. You've been listening to an ITU podcast for World Radio Day produced and presented by me, Maximilian Jacobson-Gonzalez written by Jennifer McLeod, studio recording by Daniel Waldo and for further information please visit our website at www.itu.int an ITU digital production