Tag Archives: Greece

Voice of Greece faces an uncertain future & possible closure

The Bulgarian DX blog posted the the following item:

GREECE Possible end of an ERT Voice of Greece transmitting on shortwave 9420 kHz via Avlis. The ERT CEO Giorgos Gambritsos, has signed a decree to close down the shortwave transmitting facility at Avlis from March 31, 2022. The news release by ERT is leaving the possibility of shortwave broadcasts to continue only if the Ministry of Defense and Foreign Ministry decide to oversee the continuation of broadcasts on shortwave.

Current schedule of Voice of Greece:
v1800-0805 on 9420 AVL 150 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek, BUT not daily & 0805-1200 very rarely

If the VOG on shortwave is closed permanently, it would be a sad day for me at least. Selfishly, they’ve become one of my staple stations for music and even a benchmark when checking out band conditions. I’ve listened to the Voice of Greece from so many different countries as I’ve travelled over the years; it’s been a constant companion.

With that said, I’m not at all surprised. It must cost a fortune to maintain the Avlis transmitting station and I’m not sure how large their audience is these days.

VOG has weathered many a shut-downs already though–even once broadcasting for weeks without a license.

We’ll post updates as they become available. If any of our readers in Greece learn more from listening to ERT news, please contact me.

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Greek mediumwave station on-track to resume operation

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Many thanks to our friends at The Greek Radio who share this news:

The medium wave broadcasting center of the Greek Radio in Pachi Megara is likely to go live again after three and a half years, since the procedures for the necessary maintenance and repairs have recently been initiated, with a high possibility that one of the two transmitters will operate again soon. It is worth noting that the broadcasting center, which used to host two powerful mediumwave transmitters (the ones of multilingual “Filia” and of EPA Sport) had been subject to looting by burglars, few days after the ERT closure by the Samaras government, which left the premises unattended. Since then, it has not operated again.

Repairs and maintenance

As revealed by official announcements, ERT is launching a tender for the maintenance of the building and electricity poles with a budget of EUR 18,703, while in December they proceeded with a maintenance of the broadcast center and a cleaning of the 100 KW mediumwave transmitter. In November, a dummy load was installed by a team of the ERT subdivision of structural and electromechanical projects and they checked the generator Nautel, which ensures the continuation of the broadcast in case of power outage. They also installed a new grounding network in the main building of the transmitters.

Alongside, there were other smaller operations required for the safe operation of the facilities, such as the placement of fire extinguishers by a private firm, the restoration of the water supply, the maintenance of fence lighting. In October there was also a visit by a private security company, in response to a tender, whereas data were collected for the water insulation and the lighting of the buildings where the transmitters are placed.

Continue reading at The Greek Radio website…

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Update: Cold War Clandestine Radio from Greece

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Saturday, I published a post referencing Cold War Clandestine Radio from Greece with links to Richard Cummings’ excellent website Cold War Radio Vignettes.

My post was written some time earlier and scheduled to publish Saturday while I was traveling. Unfortunately, the Cold War Radio Vignettes articles I had linked to were removed prior to Saturday.

I contacted Richard Cummings who has kindly assembled a small PDF booklet with the text from all of the posts I had referenced and is allowing me to share it here on the SWLing Post.

Richard asks that if any Post readers have information about these clandestine broadcasts and is willing to share it with him, he would me most thankful. His contact information is on the front page of the PDF.

Click here to download the PDF booklet.

Again, many thanks to Richard Cummings for making this free PDF booklet available to us!

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Cold War Clandestine Radio from Greece

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UPDATE: The links to Cold War Radio Radio Vignettes below became inactive just prior to publication. Richard Cummings has kindly assembled the texts I referenced and made a PDF booklet available for SWLing Post readers. Click here to download.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Kim Elliott who (some time ago) shared a link to a series of posts by Richard Cummings from his website, Cold War Radio Vignettes.

Cummings is the author of Cold War Radio: The Dangerous History of American Broadcasting in Europe, 1950-1989 and Radio Free Europe’s “Crusade for Freedom” Rallying Americans Behind Cold War Broadcasting, 1950-1960.

Cumming’s blog is updated frequently and features many fascinating historical “vignettes” regarding Cold War radio broadcasting.

Kim specifically mentioned a series of posts with a focus on Cold War American broadcasting from Greece, suggesting SWLing Post readers might enjoy this bit of Cold War history. I completely agree!

Below, I’ve linked to a total of six posts Cummings published on the topic. Enjoy:

Cold War American Clandestine Radio Broadcasting over the Iron Curtain from Greece

Cold War American Clandestine Radio Broadcasting over the Iron Curtain from Greece, to Ukraine

Cold War American Clandestine Radio Broadcasting over the Iron Curtain from Greece: “Future of Romania — Voice of National Resistance”

Cold War American Clandestine Radio Broadcasting over the Iron Curtain from Greece: Nasha Rossiya (Our Russia)

Want more?

If you enjoy Cold War radio history, I strongly recommend that you bookmark Cold War Radio Vignettes. I’m placing a permanent link in our sidebar.

Thanks again for the tip, Kim!

UPDATE: It appears the posts have been removed from the Cold War Radio Vignettes site. I will contact the owner and see if they can be re-posted.

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Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece

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For your listening pleasure: the Voice of Greece.

This was recorded on 29 June 2015 starting around 01:50 UTC on 9,420 kHz using my WinRadio Excalibur and my horizontal delta loop external (wire) antenna.

I’m very pleased with this off-air recording because it contains several minutes of multi-language station IDs in the last 10 minutes or so of the broadcast.

Click here to download this recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

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Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Greece

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Early this morning, around 01:14 UTC, I tuned to 9,420 kHz with the Elad FDM-S2 and heard the Voice of Greece for the first time since the Greek national broadcaster, ERT had been restored.

SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, also noted the strong signal from Greece. He has kindly shared the following information which he also posted in the DXLD Yahoo group:

“Greece is back on 9420 kHz this evening after being absent for some days and is now carrying the Voice of Greece […] program and not ERT from Athens or Thessaloniki. Noted with good signals in eastern Canada at 01:40 UTC. Radio audio is about half a minute delayed with respect to Internet stream: […](http://www.ert.gr/i-foni-tis-elladas/?). Not noted on other frequencies.

[…]9420 kHz signed off just after [02:00] UTC. Internet stream continued. And I should correct myself when I mentioned “not ERT from Athens or Thessaloniki.” Should have said not ERA from Athens or Thessaloniki. ERA is the abbreviation for Hellenic Radio […], as opposed to ERT which stands for Hellenic Radio-Television […]. ERT1, ERT2, etc. are TV stations while ERA1, ERA2, etc. are radio stations. This is a bit like BB1, BBC2, …, and BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, and so on.”

Richard followed up a few hours later:

“I continued listening to the Internet stream after the SW transmission ended, and at 02:57 UTC, the station identified itself in both Greek (“Edo Athina, I Foni Tis Elladas”) and English (“This is Athens. You are listening to the Voice of Greece”) several times, followed by the traditional interval signal and then what I believe to be the Greek national anthem at 03:00 UTC. A program of Greek music then ensued.”

Many thanks for sharing the details, Richard. My recording actually ended when VOG signed off–I suppose I caught about the last 46 minutes of the broadcast.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

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Shortwave listeners hear the Voice of Greece once again

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SWLing Post contributor, Moshe, writes with some good news from the Voice of Greece:

I’m listening to VOG at 9420kHz, At 11:27 local time 08:27UTC, 11/06/2015 the station identified itself as “Ezo Athina, I Foni Dis Elladas”: “This Is Athens, The Voice Of Greece”.

Immediately after receiving Moshe’s message, another Post contributor, Merkouris, provided the following details:

It would be of interest to the SWLing Post readers that, as of today June 11, the Greek public broadcaster ERT is back on the air with three TV channels and eight Radio programmes, including the “Voice of Greece”.

TV channels:
ERT1,
ERT2,
ERT3 (Thessaloniki)

Radio programmes:
Proto Programma (1st Programme),
Deftero Programma (2nd Programme),
Trito Programma (3rd Programme),
Kosmos (Musics of the world),
ERA Spor (Sports programme),
RS Makedonia (Thessaloniki),
Foni Tis Elladas (Voice of Greece)

The web site http://www.ert.gr/ is also up with news and streams of all tv and radio channels.

Right now at 10:45 UTC the Voice of Greece is on the air on 9420 kHz.

Many thanks to both Moshe and Merkouris for this information!

A little background…

If you haven’t been following the story, in June 2013, Greek National TV & Radio (ERT) was shut down and so was the Voice of Greece (well…officially, at least). Only a few hours after VOG went off the air that night, they came back on the air with live protest coverage.

In fact, since that night–exactly two years ago today–Greece has been broadcasting on shortwave intermittently as a relay of ERT Open and/or Elliniki Radiofonia.

I hope that now VOG is officially back on the air, their shortwave broadcasts will be daily once again. Tonight, I will certainly be tuned to 9,420 kHz!

Update: the BBC News has recently posted this excellent article with photos and videos on their website.

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