It was about a decade ago when internet radios first started appearing in Greece. Curiosity about the new medium, the flexibility to choose the music of one's liking, and the freedom in expression and choice of music, made music lovers turn to web radios.
The then-new venture was a success. Listeners “embrace” the online medium, as well as the direct and easy way to communicate with the producer that the chat offered. The fast Internet in the country, as well as the continuous development and use of social media, significantly helped its subsequent development. Over time, many web radios appeared, several remain on the internet “air” to this day, while others disappeared after their owners abandoned their efforts for various reasons. Today, web radios have multiplied. However, few of them have high audience ratings. But how were they created and what is the recipe for their success?
“toradiofono.gr” began broadcasting online almost two years ago, regrouping a group of radio producers from the Greek airwaves who thus continued their work. ““toradiofono.gr” was created out of our need. Out of the need to do what we know, love and is our profession and out of the need of the times,” says Christos Papamichalis, one of the owners and producers of the online station. “Either this means that there is no longer a radio on FM where producers can freely play the music they know better than computers, or it means the need to take our unemployment into our own hands.”
The goal of the station’s producers and contributors “is to prove to ourselves first, but also to the world, that in an era when we are losing everything, we can still make our dream radio,” adds Mr. Papamichalis. “Amagi Radio,” a station inspired and created by Kyriakos Athanasiadis and Maria Tsakou, has exceeded their initial expectations, both in terms of the names of the producers and its audience. “Our audience is constantly growing and it is natural. We started with 20-30 people and today, adding 10 live broadcasts from a second studio in Thessaloniki —which started broadcasting a few days ago—, we are about seventy producers with around 60 live broadcasts,” emphasizes Ms. Tsakou.
The station's goal, as she adds, is: "To be heard. We want to say something, to be something that more and more people will identify with —and therefore become a part of—, a step to say things that are not said elsewhere, to talk about freedom, about beauty, about art, culture, books, about a good life, and all this while listening to music that no one hears on Greek radio."
Thessaloniki’s “Offradio.gr” emerged six years ago after its founders left the FM stations where they had worked for decades, at a time when Facebook was beginning to dominate compared to other social networks. “All roads pointed to …streaming for us. So we made the decision and took the risk to create the first online radio with FM specifications, i.e. studios, professional producers, high quality sound and transmission,” says Demi Papadopoulou, co-founder of Offradio. The station’s team aims “at a popular, up to date and healthy radio station that we and our audience can be proud of.” Its success was in competing with the FM stations’ reach, and they achieved it much earlier than they expected.
In many cases, internet radios can be considered a hobby, since the cost of creating them is not unaffordable. However, the question remains whether web radios can have such a high audience to sustain themselves and attract businesses for advertising. Nevertheless, they have gained a large percentage of music lovers and possibly the future belongs to them.
Source: kathimerini.gr
