Czech Radio joins EBU’s international campaign for children
Czech Radio has joined an international campaign called #Say Hi, initiated by the European Broadcasting Union, promoting the values of friendship, inclusion and social kindness among school children. The aim is for as many children as possible from across Europe to simultaneously take part in a common dance, facilitated by the local public broadcasters.
The original idea for the #Say Hi campaign came from the Norwegian national broadcaster. It has been running a similar project aimed against bullying for several years now and has attracted a huge following from across the country, explains Dagmar Jegerová from Radio Junior, Czech Radio’s representative of the project:
“The Covid-19 outbreak this spring has showed that public service media really do have a very important role not only in terms of news broadcasting but also in relation to children, not just in terms of education but also entertainment.
“It was decided by EBU that there should be some kind of a project that would highlight this message of public service media in relation to children. They decided to take the concept that had been developed in Norway and expand it further.”
Altogether 13 EBU member states along with Japan are taking part in the first edition of the #Say Hi campaign.
The song and dance choreography was produced in Norway and subsequently translated into the different national languages and performed by local artists.
The Czech version of the song was written and performed by Vojta D who is a popular pop singer as well as a musical and theatre actor and performer.
At the moment, Rádio Junior, as Czech Radio’s representative of the project, is trying to reach out to the public to get as many followers as possible, explains Dagmar Jegerová:
“We are working with schools and we are also working with different organizations which are in charge of free-time activities, mostly dance and music related, because that’s where we have the biggest chance of getting a positive response. So far the response has been pretty good.
“We are also currently working with some Instagram and TikTok personalities, to promote the project a bit more on social media through people who have a much larger impact than our individual profile might have.”
The project will culminate on November 12 at 12 noon in all of the participating countries, with different kinds of broadcasts, either on television or on the radio.
“They will play the song or the music video and there will be children dancing everywhere, who might film themselves or take pictures and share those pictures on social media.
“There will be a final video of children dancing in different countries. We as Radio Junior, Czech Radio’s representative in the project, are also preparing a video that will be released on November 12 at 12.
“But most importantly we really hope and encourage everybody to tune in at that specific time and just enjoy themselves and have fun and dance!”
