Celebrating 70 years

As Chief Executive of Radio Australia, I am proud to celebrate its 70 years of continuous operation on 1 December 2009.

We celebrate not only the resilience and longevity of Radio Australia, but also the enduring reason for its existence – that Australia needs dialogues with her neighbours, and Radio Australia, being a public broadcaster who is absolutely independent editorially, is the best source of information and is best-equipped to conduct those dialogues.

We celebrate not only the effort of the three generations of broadcasters and journalists who have worked so hard and so creatively to engage regional audiences with compelling content, but also the work of technical, administrative and managerial staff who supported them.

We celebrate Radio Australia’s 70 years of achievements in radio, in new media, in marketing, and in partnership. These achievements are measured by the way we’ve touched the lives of our audiences and by the way we’ve represented Australia.

By any objective standard, these are indeed laudable achievements, but let them be judged by the people who matter – our stakeholders and ultimately our audiences. On this website, they share with you their thoughts and experiences regarding Radio Australia.

On behalf of everyone at Radio Australia, I thank you for your continuing support.

About the author

Hanh Tran has been CEO of Radio Australia since 2007. This is the speech he gave at Radio Australia’s 70th birthday party on December 1, 2009.