NEW DELHI: The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union will hold separate radio and television song festivals in 2012.

The Programme Committee of the ABU meeting here was informed that Radio Australia will be overall host Secretariat for the radio festival, while KBS-Korea will be hosting the 2012 event. KBS will also host the 2012 TV festival. It is hoped that both festivals will become annual events.

Radio Australia's CEO Michael McCluskey told the Committee's annual meeting that the radio festival would promote cultural diversity through the sharing of music.

Each country taking part would hold a national competition to choose its representative. Contestants would be unsigned singers and their songs would reflect the culture of their country. All the music would also be available online.

The format is yet to be finalized but it is likely the festival would be limited to singers aged 18 to 40.

James Jeon of KBS said the TV festival, to be held in Seoul, will be for professional singers. It would be invitational and non-competitive, featuring popular singers and groups.

The show will be recorded rather than shown live so that captions could be added in the languages of the countries taking part.