Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has directed an ambitious national effort to preserve Egypt’s rich audio-visual heritage by digitizing the archives of the country’s radio and television content. The initiative will also include the creation of a global digital platform dedicated to Radio Quran Karim, the iconic religious broadcaster that has aired continuously since 1964.
The directive came during a high-level meeting today between President El-Sisi and key figures in the media and communications sector, including Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Amr Talaat, Chairman of the National Media Authority Ahmed El-Meslemany, and Presidential Media Advisor Major General Mohsen Abdel Nabi.
According to Presidential Spokesperson Ambassador Mohamed El-Shenawy, the President emphasized the importance of safeguarding the cultural and historical content produced over decades by Egyptian radio and television. He instructed officials to begin a comprehensive program to convert all analogue archives including reels, cassettes, and videotapes into digital formats, ensuring their protection from degradation and enhancing their accessibility for future generations.
“The transformation of these national assets into a digital format will serve not only to preserve them, but also to utilize them through a modern media platform under the National Media Authority,” El-Shenawy stated.
Global Platform for Radio Quran Karim
A major element of the initiative will be the development of a world-class digital platform for Quran Karim Radio Station, Egypt’s flagship religious radio station. The platform will showcase the station’s historic recordings, including the voices of the nation’s most revered Quran reciters, Islamic scholars, and spiritual chanters.
The platform is intended to serve as a global archive for Islamic audio heritage, providing users with access to generations of recitations, religious programming, and educational content. President El-Sisi highlighted the urgency of preserving this spiritual and cultural treasury, noting its significance not only to Egypt but to the broader Muslim world.
Since its inception in 1964, Radio Quran Karim has become a cornerstone of religious broadcasting in the Arab world, and home to some of the most iconic recitations of the Holy Quran. Its preservation, El-Sisi emphasized, is part of a broader national mission to protect and promote Egypt’s religious and cultural identity in the digital age.
Cultural Modernization through Technology
The initiative falls within Egypt’s broader digital transformation strategy, which aims to modernize state institutions, expand access to digital services, and safeguard national heritage through advanced technology. The digitization of Egypt’s state media archives is seen as a cornerstone project with historical, cultural, and economic significance.
Experts believe that once digitized and properly curated, the content, ranging from classic dramas and concerts to historic broadcasts and political speeches, could be made available to the public through paid and educational platforms, opening up new avenues for revenue and global cultural exchange.
While no specific timeline has been announced, preparations are already underway to establish the digital infrastructure needed for both the archive conversion and the launch of the Quran radio website.
The announcement has been widely welcomed by media professionals and cultural figures, who see in the project a long-overdue recognition of Egypt’s pioneering role in Arab media and a step forward in preserving its unique contributions to global culture.
