The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is proud to announce that the EBU .radio Top Level Domain name (TLD) has been recognized as a Community top-level domain name by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN).

“We are thrilled about the news and are very proud to be recognized by ICANN as the organization representing the world radio community and as the best placed to serve its interests,” said Jean-Paul Philippot, President of the EBU.

The examination process lasted over 6 months and went through a special evaluation procedure named CPE (Community Priority Evaluation) conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – a branch of the famous UK magazine.

For the EBU this announcement brings a one-time opportunity to "communitize" the world's oldest broadcasting medium as never before. “We congratulate all the World’s Broadcasting Unions for their achievement as this is not only an acknowledgment for EBU but for the international radio community as a whole,” added Mr. Philippot.

The .radio TLD is a diversified community-based application representing the interests of around 50,000 radio stations with a potential reach of some 5.5 billion listeners.

It has the unanimous support of the seven broadcasting unions that are part of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) and other radio associations and organizations worldwide, such as the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB), the Union Radiophonique et Télévisuelle Internationale (URTI), the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), The Association of European Radios (AER); the Association of TV and Radio Sales House (EGTA). The application was also supported by other organizations engaged in the future of radio, such as the World Association of Radio Amateurs (IARU) and the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

“The EBU will now administer the .radio TLD assisted by other organizations in a neutral, reliable and not-for-profit way to the benefits of the world radio community,” said Ingrid Deltenre, Director General of the EBU.

The EBU will soon launch and coordinate a governance body (World Radio Advisory Board, WRAB) to manage this new internet space together with the representatives of the main radio organizations which supported the EBU application.

Beneficiaries of this new TLD include licensed broadcasters, large and small radio stations from across the world, unions and related organizations, trade-mark owners, licensed radio amateurs, web radios and radio professionals.

The launch of the new .radio TLD is foreseen in 2015.