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"The Voice of Greece"
ERA-5, the Fifth Programme of Greek Radio, is perhaps better known as The Voice of
Greece. It broadcasts on short-wave for 31 hours a day (the 7 additional hours being relayed simultaneously from another studio)to 14 geographical regions around the world,
both in Greek and in 15 other languages, namely: Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish,
Swedish and Turkish.
The Voice of Greece is directed at the millions of Greeks abroad who are spread over the
five continents of the world; hundreds of thousands of Greek students abroad (mainly in Europe and North America); tens of thousands Greek seamen sailing the high seas; and
countless numbers of listeners of non-Greek descent.
With 19 news bulletins in Greek and 31 bulletins in the Programme's 15 foreign languages
every day, The Voice of Greece is a source of reliable information on a wide spectrum of developments in Greece and its involvement in the broader region as a whole.
The Voice of Greece transmits broadcasts to the millions of Greeks living abroad not just
on the political forum, with the focus on major national issues, but also on important matters of economic interest, cultural developments, sports news, shipping matters and
regional affairs, along with special programmes devoted to music, literature, history, folklore, tourism and issues of particular concern to overseas Greeks.
HISTORY
Greece's first radio broadcasting station, Athens Radio Station, opened in the spring of
1938 with a 15 kw transmitter located in the suburb of Liosia and a broadcasting studio in the Zappeion Mansion, in central Athens.
The first attempts at establishing a short-wave service were made immediately after the
outbreak of war between Greece and Italy in October, 194O: a small transmitter in the centre of Athens broadcast programmes from the Athens Radio Station to the Front and
the Balkan countries. A service specifically for short-wave broadcasts was set up in 1947, after the end of the Nazi and Italian occupation, when a 7.5 kw transmitter undertook
daily broadcasts to Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, the Balkans and Russia, with 4 special broadcasts for Greek seamen.
The news bulletins were broadcast daily in 8 foreign languages (Albanian, Bulgarian,
English, French, Rumanian, Russian, Serbo-Croat and Turkish) and once a week in Arabic.There was also a very varied musical programme. The short-wave broadcast
centre also began operating in 1972 from two 11O kw transmitters at Avlida, 37 km north-west of Athens, with antennae directed towards all corners of the world.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
In 1975, a year after the fall of the military dictatorship, the short-wave programme was
formally named The Voice of Greece, under the jurisdiction of the then Radio News Service.
Almost 15 years later, with the establishment of the single organisation which called itself
Greek Radio and Television (ERT), the short-wave service became known as The Fifth Programme of Greek Radio-The Voice of Greece, coming under the jurisdiction of Greek
Radio's General Directorate along with the other four Programmes.
The radical renovation programme which the institution underwent in the autumn of 1996,
and which the General Directorate of Greek Radio and the Directorate of the Fifth Programme have been systematically implementing since the beginning of 1997, is aimed
at gradually changing the image and appeal of The Voice of Greece into The Voice of Hellenism.
By means of special broadcasts and by supplementing other programmes - including
news bulletins - with items relating to the activities of Greeks of the Diaspora, we can predict the day when The Voice of Greece will reflect all the daily happenings in the Greek
world and the world of Greeks abroad.An example of this philosophy are programmes
such as the magazine programme entitled "Nea ... Ellinika" ("Greek News"), "Ton Ellinon I
Kinotites" ("The Greek Communities") and "Live Wire" ("Zontani Grammi").
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