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Athens International Radio silenced on FM
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Culture
The Athens International Radio 104,4 FM, the foreign language radio of Athens municipality, went off air as the National Telecommunications Commission and a public prosecutor seized the transmitter, after a complaint.
The radio station was operating with temporary permission, issued on the occasion of the Olympic Games in 2004. It broadcasted in 16 languages for foreigners living and working in the Athens, immigrants, expats and tourists alike. A.I.R. FM provided news and entertainment programs and had relay program cooperation agreements with major news networks like BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio France Internationale and China Radio International.
The employees issued a press release denouncing the enforced broadcasting halt, especially “as Athens prepares to welcome the Prime Minister of China, Wen Jiabao in Greece. AIR FM is the exclusive broadcasting vehicle in Greece for China Radio International.
Radio employees indicate that this is a station that offers the public resource of information to immigrants without commercial target and that the closure comes ahead of the first elections in which the immigrants will vote.
The AIR radio continues broadcasting its 24 hours program via Internet Athens International Radio
And the motives are….
This issue raises, of course, many questions about the motives (political? competitive? financing?) of such a decision.
A friend, a journalist, also raised the question as to why the Athens municipality should broadcast an international radio. The friend’s question has to do with a whole dispute about the State Radio & Television company ERT. State broadcast company, Parliament Radio & TV, and the Athens municipality (98,4 & 104,4) radios have been critisized for employing according to political criteria and that they do not apply transparent employment procedures. They are been accused of offering cushy jobs, with no active service and easy earned salaries.
There are voices saying that as the ERT has thousands of employees payed by Greek taxpayers and enforced fees the state ERT should offer such services as live transmissions from the parliament or information and entertainment to foreigners.
Greeks complain about unjust monthly ERT fees that come via Electricity bills. There are cases that you pay TV fees once you have installed an electric light on a grave at the cemetery or the electricity serves only the purpose of providing building stairs with light!
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Dear “Is there anybody out there?”
When useful and important radio stations go silent, it leaves listeners in a funny state of limbo. I’m one of those dinosaurs who likes good, old-fashioned radio and I’m very reluctant to switch on a 1000w, whirring desktop computer to hear “radio” when my little, highly portable transistor (analogue) radio used to do just fine. Two AA batteries ran it for months in any room of my Athens apartment. I fall back on the very much diminished BBC shortwave broadcasts in this part of the world.
Taking Athens Intrnational Radio off the air is another step in the closing down of Greece. It was an excellent service serving a broad community (though we anglophones got the lions share). With it gone, I have a feeling of ignorance and isolation. (Of course, I could listen to Greek radio but I think AIR was quite fair and balanced among the polarized and turbulent Greek media.) It is a good indication of how precarious our modern Internet-based communications actually are. Radio, especially shortwave, wings in over the heads of dictators or even petty bureaucrats.
Athens International Radio had been coming in much better recently. Its old, weaker signal was for years nearly swallowed up by its giant neighbors. You needed to have a pretty good, very selective FM to receive it well. It had obviously been improved lately and my radio even registered that it was now coming in in stereo! I suppose this was too much for some local xenophobes. I thought weak, little AIR was strictly legal and the giant, impinging neighbors were not. So now, after a little flutter with a bigger transmitter, it is off the air. I wonder where the legality actually is?
Ti na kanoume? What can we do?
Rather desolately,
Richard in Athens
Richard,
good to read that AIR radio has devoted listeners like you.Having lived for years in foreign countries I did appreciate a lot radio programs on a language I’d understand..
I wonder about the real motives behind the complaint as well and I am really curious.
But don’t be desolate! You can still listen to AIR on internet.