The festival took place in the KBS Hall, which is located in the South Korean capital of Seoul and coincided with the 49th general assembly of the ABU.

The juries selected thirteen entries from twelve radio broadcasters in ten countries to qualify for the final show which was held on 11 October 2012.

[10][12] Initially, the contest (which was supposed to be a two program live broadcast TV show with public voting) was set to premiere in 2009, but it was later rescheduled for March 2010 in Macao and then for November 2010 in Mumbai, at the end being postponed indefinitely "due to the ongoing issues between the organizers and EBU".

In November 2011, the ABU announced that they would organize their own TV and Radio Song Festivals to take place in Seoul, the South Korean capital, to coincide with the 49th General Assembly in October 2012.

The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

The host broadcaster had offered to cover costs for staging the show as well as the accommodation for the participants of ABU TV Song Festival.

[22] At the preliminary round of the Radio Festival, twenty-six participants from fifteen countries across Asia, Australia and the Pacific performed their entries in front of a jury panel.

[23] Twenty-six entries participated in a pre-qualification round, fifteen were selected to proceed to the final of the ABU Radio Song Festival (as shown in the following table).

An international jury awards prizes to their top five favourites after all participating finalists had performed their entries at the ABU Radio Song Festival.

[24] The members of the international jury who awarded prizes to their top five favourites are as follows:[26] Each participating country was invited to broadcast both events across their respective networks and provide commentary in the native languages to add insight and description to the shows.