World Radio Day: French-Language Radio Stations in Africa in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

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A special webinar will be held on Friday, February 13. This strategic event will bring together key players in the broadcasting industry to explore a timely topic: “AI: A Driver of Growth for Local Radio.”

Pontarlier, February 9, 2026 – At the initiative of FOMECAF (Forum of Christian Media in Francophone Africa), and in observance of World Radio Day, a special webinar will be held on Friday, February 13. This strategic event will bring together key players in the broadcasting industry to explore a timely topic: “AI: A Driver of Development for Community Radio.”

AI: An Assistant, Not a Replacement
Far from the fears that journalists will be replaced by robots, this conference aims to demonstrate how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can become a strategic ally for African broadcasters. In the face of technical, financial, and infrastructure challenges, AI offers concrete solutions to free up editorial time and improve audio quality.

Two Experts for a 360° Perspective
To guide this discussion, FOMECAF brings together two complementary perspectives:

Jonathan Darboux (Benin): Specialist in technological solutions for the African context. He will discuss the tools available to optimize production, even with low bandwidth.
Emmanuel Ziehli (Switzerland): International media expert. He will share his insights on preserving ethics and human warmth. In particular, he will discuss the experience of the Swiss radio station Couleur 3, illustrating why editorial and legal responsibility must remain fundamentally human.

“AI should not be viewed as a Western import, but as an opportunity to better serve local listeners by converting speech to text and noise into crystal-clear sound,” emphasizes Mawuéna Abotchi, permanent secretary of FOMECAF, the event’s organizer.

Highlights (non-exhaustive list): Practical solutions for the field
The webinar will feature practical case studies tailored to the realities of African radio stations:

Transcript: To convert broadcasts into web articles or archive oral history without tedious manual data entry.

Local News Reporting: AI as an Assistant for Organizing Local News Briefs and Prioritizing Information Gathered in the Field.

Technical Support for Malfunctions: Use AI models to diagnose hardware issues (transmitters, consoles) when the engineer is not on site.

Translation: Switch from French to national/local languages to strengthen the station’s community ties.

Practical Information
Date: Friday, February 13, 2026
Time: 2:00 p.m. GMT
Location: Online (Webinar)
Free registration: https://bit.ly/4rKu5UF

Press Contact: FOMECAF Mawuéna Abotchi, Permanent Secretary fomecaf@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +228 92 48 20 78

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