World Radio Day

February 13 marks World Radio Day, a tribute to the oldest and most enduring mass medium one that has outlived wars, political upheavals and technological revolutions. Long before television screens flickered to life and long before digital feeds reformed the rhythm of news, it was the human voice that traveled through the airwaves, steady and unfiltered.

Radio has crossed borders without passports and reached audiences without algorithms. It has carried breaking news, music, dissent and comfort into cars, kitchens, refugee camps and front lines. In moments of crisis, it has been a lifeline, in times of peace, a companion.

The birth of Lebanese radio

On 31 May 1938, Lebanon’s first official radio station, Radio Orient, began broadcasting from Beirut during the French Mandate period. The station was owned by the French government and aired programs in both Arabic and French, targeting audiences in Lebanon and Syria. After independence, the official Radio Lebanon was established in 1946, becoming the main platform for news, cultural programs, and arts programming, and playing a key role in shaping Lebanon’s media identity. The radio still exists today, offering online streaming as well.

Radio in the Lebanese civil war

When Lebanon’s civil war erupted in April 1975, the country’s media landscape fractured as rapidly as its territory. What had been a largely state-regulated broadcasting sector splintered into a dense network of militia-run radio stations that mirrored the sectarian and geographic divisions reshaping the country.

Among the most prominent wartime stations were Voice of Lebanon, founded in 1975 and aligned with the Kataeb Party; Radio Free Lebanon, associated with the Lebanese Forces; Voice of the Mountain, linked to the Progressive Socialist Party; and Voice of the People, operated by the Lebanese Communist Party.

By the mid-1980s, Lebanese media studies and government records estimated that between 40 and 60 unlicensed radio stations were operating across a country of roughly 3 million people. The proliferation was extraordinary, but so was the demand. Radio was the most accessible medium of the era. By the late 1970s, more than 70 percent of Lebanese households owned a radio, according to regional surveys. Television ownership was lower and more vulnerable to electricity cuts, which became routine during periods of heavy shelling. Battery-powered radios, inexpensive and portable, ensured continuous access to news even during prolonged blackouts.

For civilians, radio was often a lifeline. Stations announced road closures, ceasefire agreements, and areas under bombardment. Families listened for updates about missing relatives or humanitarian corridors.

Yet radio was far from neutral. Stations functioned as operational arms of the factions that controlled them. They broadcast real-time military communication, called fighters to specific checkpoints, announced “martyrdom” notices, and issued warnings about enemy movements. Researchers of conflict media have documented how partisan rhetoric deepened sectarian narratives and, at times, amplified unverified or exaggerated battlefield claims. In a war that left approximately 150,000 people dead and displaced nearly one million about one-third of the population information itself became a strategic weapon.

The 1989 Taif Agreement sought to restore state authority, including over media. In 1994, Parliament passed Broadcast Law No. 382 to regulate and license private radio and television stations. Licensing reforms reduced the number of legal national radio stations to fewer than 20 by the mid-1990s, integrating or shuttering many wartime broadcasters.

The digital era and the future of radio

Today, Lebanese radio’s immediacy remains unmatched. It continues to serve as a vital medium proving that the power of the human voice cannot be replaced. World Radio Day is a reminder that radio is a medium of communication, as well as a historical and cultural institution. In Lebanon, it represents resilience, connection, and the ongoing pursuit of informed, engaged communities.