Tag Archives: Voice of Greece Shortwave

The Voice of Greece is no longer on shortwave

I suppose I’ve been holding out hope that the Voice of Greece would magically reappear on 9,420 kHz, but they’ve been off the air for 45 days now and we must assume this time it’s for good.

Over the past decade the Voice of Greece seems to have weathered every storm it encountered; even broadcasting for weeks without a license.

We learned in February 2022 that VOG was on the chopping block, then they were given an additional two months on the air, and according to numerous DXers here and on Twitter, the last broadcast seems to have taken place on June 15, 2022.

I certainly haven’t heard them on shortwave since then.

VOG was one of my favorite, reliable sources of music on shortwave and you’ll notice that in many of my radio photos, the dial is tuned to 9,420 kHz because they were such an easy catch here in eastern North America regardless of propagation.

If you miss hearing VOG on shortwave you can, of course, still listen to them online.

I’ve well over one hundred hours of Voice of Greece recordings in my spectrum archives, at the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, and here on the SWLing Post.

In fact, I’m reminded of one of my favorite VOG listening sessions which I’ll share here from the SWLing Post archives. This post was originally published on November 15, 2013:

Voice of Greece: walking in on a party

This Voice of Greece broadcast begins with a piece by Burhan Öcal, with the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble (Photo: National Geographic)

I never know what to expect when I tune around on one of my shortwave radios. Perhaps that’s one of the things I find captivating about the medium; there’s no playlist, no app, no content controls, other than the tuning knob.

Sometimes, I tune to a station, and it’s as though I’ve just opened a door and walked in on a party–one in full swing, with dancing and incredible live music.

That’s exactly what I felt when I tuned to the Voice of Greece last night. I walked in on a party. And I needed no invitation; I was welcomed there.

Hear it, just as I did, starting right in the middle of this party:

Listen above, or click here to download three hours and 31 minutes of musical bliss (until they turned the transmitter off).

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Voice of Greece faces an uncertain future & possible closure

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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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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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The Voice of Greece Avlis shortwave transmitter site may be scrapped

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According to TheGreekRadio.com, 39 shortwave antennas located at the Voice of Greece Avlis transmitter site may soon be sold as scrap metal. It seems this information is based on a statement by ERT employees from Monday (September 16, 2013):

“in the shortwave broadcasting center of Avlis, a representative of a company that sells metal showed up and started taking photos of the site. After we, ERT people, asked him, we got informed that he had been mandated by the Ministry of Finance to give an offer for the dismantling of 39 masts and purchasing the metal as scrap.”

[…]The name of [the] company and the registration plate of the car are available. The union body of ERT notes that this is an area of 1160 acres, featuring 39 metal masts, with a height between 30 and 70 meters each, that function as the shortwave aerials that transmit the “Voice of Greece”, the ERA-pénte, across the world.

“Greek shortwave started operating in 1938 and later was also used sent information to the Greek soldiers fighting Fascists in Albania. The only ones who dared to turn it off were the Nazis during the occupation. Since the liberation, it never stopped to link the country with Greek seafarers and the Diaspora. The Voice of Greece broadcasts information, entertainment, culture and tradition from Greece with programs in 12 languages, all over the globe”.

You can read the full article by clicking here. Many thanks to Andrea Borgnino for the tip.

I’ve predicted that the Voice of Greece may not be on the air even by the end of 2013. I certainly hope I’m wrong, but I simply can’t imagine there will be enough money in the reincarnated ERT budget to pay for the Voice of Greece Avlis shortwave transmitter site.

Follow the tag “ERT Cuts” for the latest developments.

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