Radio Archive Workshop

For the first time, in February 2018, colleagues from across the EBU came together for a day-long workshop on the topic of radio archives, organized jointly by the EBU Media and Technology & Innovation departments.

The inspiration for the event came from several EBU Members who had shared concerns about the issues they faced. While the unique materials in their archives constituted an important part of European cultural heritage, and a first-hand record of national and international events, there were a number of challenges they all shared.

One thing was apparent, namely that new digital channels, on-demand audio and social media are all creating a larger space in which archives can be presented to audiences. In a linear world, archives were sometimes neglected in favour of accommodating new material, whereas now they can be presented in a complementary fashion.

This report is intended to inform all EBU Members about topics discussed during the Radio Archive Workshop. It explores best practice relating to the archiving process that can be simplified to four stages:

Preservation > Digitization > Extraction > Exploitation

The report also presents results of the survey conducted with Members after the workshop, recording the progress of their archiving projects, as well as identifying future work that can be done together.