Sept 9 will be Radio Day in Malaysia.
Apart from Russia and the Netherlands, Malaysia is the only other country in the world to set aside a special day to celebrate and honour radio stations.

Commercial Radio Malaysia (CRM), the association for commercial radio stations, said every year it will mark the day with special activities to celebrate the medium and encourage the listening public to be a part of it.

CRM chose to launch Radio Day today (09.09.09) to mark the once-in-a-lifetime date in the history of commercial radio.

CRM president Datuk Borhanuddin Osman said many believed the emergence of television and the Internet would sound the death knell for radio. But it not only survived, the number of listeners has been growing.

"When I first joined the radio industry in 1996, advertisers spent about two per cent of their budget on radio. Today it stands at 5.5 per cent," said Borhanuddin, adding that the Internet and music videos have complemented the growth of the radio industry.

"Apart from music, radio is an essential avenue for news breaks, entertainment, public service announcements, consumer feedback, traffic reports and advertising."

In conjunction with Radio Day, staff of all 53 radio stations in the country will take part in a convoy today which will be flagged off from Sri Pentas in Bandar Utama at noon and arrive in Putrajaya at 5pm.

All radio stations will provide updates on the convoy and activities and goodies for listeners.

"We are also looking to giving out scholarships to those interested in pursuing courses related to the industry, and organising an annual Radio Festival in the future," said Borhanuddin after the launch of Radio Day,

Celebrity DJs and management from all 19 private radio stations under CRM and 34 government radio stations under Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) attended the launch, including Media Prima Radio Networks head Ahmad Izham Omar and AMP Radio Networks general manager Kudsia Kahar.

*Article taken from The New Straits Times