Greek Radio in New York

Radio is an important aspect of Greek American culture. With the three major radio stations—Hellas FM, COSMOS FM, and Aktina FM—collectively averaging over 60 million listeners (HellasFM – Προφίλ 1)³⁸ they play a significant role in helping Greeks to preserve their ethnic identity. By informing listeners about current events of cultural and political importance in Greece and Greek American areas in both Greek and English these radio programs allow first-generation immigrants to remain connected to their homeland, and allow Greeks born in America to establish and maintain a link to their culture.

Hellas FM

Hellas FM is a Greek radio station based in Long Island City (Hellas Fm – Google Search)³⁹.  According to their website—translated from Greek by Google Translate—Hellas FM broadcasts their program in major radio stations worldwide and across the tri-state area 24 hours a day, with approximately 65 million listeners. Discussing issues ranging from politics to entertainment and “good music”, with occasional broadcasts of live concerts and sports events, they work to further the “enhancement and promotion of Greek culture and Greek language” and aim to be “the communication channel of the Greeks in every corner of the world [who share the] common denominator [of] mother Greece” (HellasFM – Προφίλ)³⁸.

The fact that the Hellas FM program broadcasts only in Greek and has a website and Facebook page that are written entirely in Greek suggests that the station is more interested in targeting first-generation Greeks, and second-and-later Greeks with close ties to their parents’ homeland, and suggests they are not interested in reaching out to Greeks and non-Greeks who may not be fluent in Greek.

COSMOS FM

COSMOS FM is a non-commercial radio station based in Astoria (COSMOS FM Contact)⁴⁰. It is run by Greek American Educational Public Information System, Inc. (GAEPIS), a non-profit established in 1987 which states that their mission is to “address the needs of recent immigrants from Greece and Cyprus, Americans of Hellenic descent and Philhellenes” (COSMOS FM About)⁴¹.

The COSMOS FM radio program broadcasts for 13 hours weekly and reaches over 200,000 Hellenic and non-Hellenic listeners each week. The COSMOS FM team consists of about 23 people, including scholars, social activists, high school students, and pastors  (COSMOS FM Team)⁴². The team boasts about the radio programs being “the only daily, bilingual non-commercial Greek radio program in the New York Metropolitan Area”(COSMOS FM About)⁴¹.

Aktina FM

Aktina FM is a radio station that is based in Astoria (CONTACT – Aktina Productions)⁴³ and sponsored by Aktina Productions, Inc. and by CYPRECO of America, two non-profits based in Queens, NY (AKTINA FM – Aktina Productions)⁴⁴.  Aktina FM is recognized by the governments of the United States, Cyprus, and Greece as “[serving with distinction] the needs of the Greek Cypriot and Greek American community, as well as of the general public of all ethnic groups and ages” (AKTINA’S MISSION – Aktina Productions)⁴⁵.

Like COSMOS FM, Aktina FM’s the station features programs in English as well as Greek. On their About page Aktina FM states explicitly that they aim not just to maintain first generation Greek immigrants’ connection to their homeland but also, as Aktina FM puts it, to “promote the rich heritage and culture of Cyprus and Greece among the new generations of Greek Americans” and to “[introduce this rich heritage and culture] to the general audience”(AKTINA’S MISSION – Aktina Productions)⁴⁵. Like COSMOS FM, Aktina FM is interested in advertising its ability to reach a wide audience with varying levels of Greek heritage. For example, the people who run Aktina FM refers to Aktina’s radio show as being “the first and only true bilingual Greek American radio show”, and refers to its TV show as being “the first and only English language Greek American TV show”.

– Jadxia Carbajal