Solveig Mattsson, YLE; Jan Westerhof, NPB; Ann Sandelin, YLE; Graham Dixon, BBC; Svetlana Dimitrova, BNR

In the words of Graham Dixon, head of development and international relations for BBC Radio, there is no magic solution for everybody.

For BBC Radio 3, culture is diverse and ever-changing: musical styles, lifestyles, new audiences who want to actively participate (for example, on the web). Unfortunately, a recent survey has indicated that 65% of young people in Great Britain could not even come up with the name of a single composer. There is still a lot of work that has to be done to make use of new communications tools and also, according to Graham Dixon, for minorities which could represent the market of the future provided we respect the value system of their cultures.

Having said this, a cultural radio still has to answer some important questions: are we warm and friendly? Do we have a variety of different people on our team? What is our profile? These questions still remain unanswered at a time when ideals and historical values must be maintained but while breathing new life into cultural channels.

Svetlana Dimitrova, BNR, described the cultural channel Radio Christo Botev, which is one of the top six Bulgarian stations. Cultural awards and advertising campaigns have been used to increase public awareness of the channel. Both national and international culture is broadcast with lots of music, listener participation, and also radio plays. The "education" slot includes practical sessions, courses and programmes about European integration. There is a variety of music: classical, light music, both Bulgarian and international. "Culture" is regarded as a way of life and a means of communication for bridging the gap between traditional and contemporary lifestyles and between different peoples.

Solveig Mattsson, YLE, presented a pan-European sitcom project, supported by the EBU Radio Development Fund. Five young writers from Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovakia, Germany and Italy have been selected to co-write a rado sitcom called "Lemmi's Band" (the lives of an ageing rock star and his friends with all their faults and quirks).

Lucas Hurnik, CR; Angiolino Lonardi, RAI; Pascal Crittin, Espace 2 SSR; Vlado Senica, RTVSLO; François Desnoyers, Radio France

Six episodes have been written and will be presented during the Radio Drama Workshop in June 2003.

Jan Westerhof, Radio 1 and 747 AM (NPB), asked whether culture was actually necessary on radio, and why? Can the Netherlands, which has five radio stations, allow itself to have one devoted only to culture or should every public radio station in fact devote attention to culture?

There are hardly any magazine-like programmes about art and culture left on Dutch radio now. But NPB recently launched two programmes that fit in well with contemporary society; the cultural-journalistic magazine Kunststof (Radio 1) and the satirical serial Radio Bergeijk (747 AM). Both have acquired relatively good ratings.

According to Westerhof culture has to remain part of public radio. Airing a separate station for ‘higher’ culture however seems a dated strategy. Culture should be incorporated by all stations and will have to depend primarily on a journalistic approach.

 The last day of the Radio Assembly, Friday 4 April, was chaired by Vlado Senica (RTVSLO) and comprised two debates:

From top to bottom, left to right: Walter Couvreur (VRT); Leif Lønsmann (DR); Josep M. Marti (SER); Marie Wennersten (SR), and the scrutineers during the counting of the votes

Earlier in the morning, the Assembly's last debate was on:

Walter Couvreur (VRT) presented Klara and its new brand image, which was the subject of an article in Diffusion (click here).  

According to Leif Lønsman (DR), no other media does as much for culture as radio, even if at times it is threatened by new media. Radio is always present, reaching out to the listener with radio plays, readings, music and documentaries. Leif Lønsmann highlighted the fact that  in Denmark three out of four FM services are dedicated to culture, and public service radio simultaneously offers 10 services on all its available platforms: FM, DAB, cable, Internet, satellite and mobile phones. 

Josep M. Marti (SER) felt that in the current context of technological developments and globalization, the way that culture is presented by radio has to change.  The concept has to be broadened and must also benefit from the opportunities offered by new media. In a complex world swamped by news and information, ways must be found of simplifying the way information is presented. Objectives must be redefined; programmes redesigned; new resources, broadcasting and listener facilities have to be found.

Marie Wennersten and Karolina Gerdin (SR) asked the following question: how can "interactivity" be adapted to the radio environment? In answer to this, they created an Internet site: a fictitious, make-believe city in which it is possible to walk through and find all the programmes from everywhere in the world. Everything is freely available on this site and it is possible to download programmes or simply listen to radio stations. Well worth the visit: www.sr.se/src