set free, release, fire, shoot, emit, banish, liberate
放 centers on letting something go outward: setting free, releasing, emitting, or firing. The banish sense is a forceful release, and liberate is a freeing release.
放 combines 方 (likely phonetic) with 攵 (hand holding a stick, suggesting action), expressing the idea of releasing or letting go.
The left side 方 (direction) and right side 攵 (action hand) together suggest directing something outward: releasing, firing, or setting free.
For ホウ, imagine a bird being released from a cage and flying home: home -> ホウ, and the bird is set free.
broadcasting; broadcast; program; announcement
(doing) as one pleases; to one's heart's content; letting (something) go unchecked; leaving uncontrolled; leaving (something) to take its own course
release; unleashing; liberation; emancipation; setting free
leaving as is; leaving alone; leaving unattended; neglecting; abandoning
to fire (gun, arrow, questions, etc.); to shoot; to hit (e.g. baseball); to break wind
opening (a door, window, etc.); leaving open
abandonment; renouncement; renunciation; resignation; abdication; surrender; relinquishing; waiving; giving up
radiation
radiation; emission
emission; release; radiation; discharge; gush
leaving (on, open, unfinished, etc.)
exile; banishment; eviction; deportation; purge; expulsion; ousting
radioactivity
televising; broadcasting; airing
after school (at the end of the day)
arson; setting fire
release; liberation; acquittal
not holding on; not using the hands; letting go one's hold
commercial broadcast
wandering; roaming; drifting
to release; to let go; to free; to set free; to let loose; to turn loose
to throw; to fling; to hurl; to toss
discharge (e.g. of water from a dam)
pasturing (e.g. cattle); letting (an animal) run loose
wild; uninhibited; extravagant; rampant
discharge of water (from a river, dam, etc.); drainage
pasturage; grazing
noninterference; leaving something to take its own course; giving someone a free hand with something
expulsion; ousting; ejection; dismissal; banishment
to abandon; to give up on; to desert
public broadcasting (e.g. NHK, BBC)
to get free (from); to be freed; to be released
radioactive
commercial broadcasting