Successful completion of the webinar series “Radio, its importance and its future”.

The School of Social Communication - Journalism and the Department of Telecommunications Law opened an important space to talk about radio, where experts who have developed much of their professional experience in this media reflected and shared their vision and experiences in radio, the transformations it has undergone and the challenges faced in the face of the fourth industrial revolution.

For Luz Amalia Camacho, dean of the School of Social Communication – Journalism, “today more than ever, radio and sound content are setting the guidelines for new developments, and for this reason we at the Externado are committed to the training of communicators with these new narratives”.

History and validity of radio

In the first academic space held on August 24, renowned journalists with great trajectory in Colombian radio analyzed, in an interdisciplinary manner, the actions, operation, deployment, coverage and coming of radio as a means of communication and information par excellence. This space was attended by Judith Sarmiento, lawyer and journalist; Ricardo Alarcón, former manager and former president of Caracol Radio; and Darío Arizmedi, journalist and former news director of Caracol Radio; who spoke with external communicator Darío Fernando Patiño.

Hernando Parra Nieto, President of our University, highlighted and thanked the radio for being one of the most important actors in the democratic development of the country. “The radio has been that unconditional companion of the early mornings, of the passing of the day and of the long nights and has been a fundamental actor in the defense of democracy, in the search for development and realization of the greatest projects, or in overcoming many of the most frightening and difficult moments of our society”, he said.

The challenges present in Radio content. Platforms and new contents

The second forum was held on August 26 and included the participation of Juanita Kremer, director of La Nube de Blu Radio and Desenrédese de Caracol

Internacional; Dora Brausin, Deputy Radio Manager at RTVC; and David Trujillo Patiño, external communicator and producer of Radio Ambulante; and was moderated by Externadista communicator Hayfa Numa, commercial broadcaster.

For two hours, the guests reflected on the challenges facing radio in the face of new platforms, the scope and benefits of traditional radio, the role of women in the medium, and the opportunities of the podcast industry in the Americas.

The Radio of the future in the fourth industrial revolution

The last virtual forum was held on August 31, with the participation of David Luna, former Vice Minister of Information and Communications Technologies; Isaac Moreno, expert in analog and digital sound broadcasting from Spain; and Juan José Ramírez, expert in sound broadcasting and ICT consultant in public entities and the private sector; under the moderation of Fernando Barrero Chavés, CAFAM’s director of culture and communications.

During the meeting, Isaac Moreno assured that “Internet is here to stay and it is a new way of consuming Radio that many people like and it will be difficult to get rid of, but I prefer analog radio and radio broadcasting because it is free, resistant and resilient; if all services fail, radio is still present, and it is the first to resurface because it is the easiest to raise. It is safe because it is practically listened to anonymously, unlike the internet which transmits the identity of the users.”

For his part, David Luna said: “Public radio is institutional, not governmental, and therefore plays a fundamental role in society and in the protection of institutions”.

The three forums are hosted on the Facebook channel of their organizers, through the pages @ComunicacionExternado and @DerechoTIC_UEC.