State radio calls healthy new baby Kosmos
State-run radio, ERA, which began broadcasting to the country back in 1938, has just delivered a new «baby,» Kosmos 93.6 FM, as its producers like to describe the new station established to cater to the country’s growing interest in the World Music scene. The station, which went on air just over a month ago and has yet to launch a promotional campaign, is already beginning to attract enthusiastic listeners, either through accidental discovery on the FM dial or through word of mouth. «We’re not looking at being just a jazz, latin, rock, dance or Greek station. We intend to cover good music’s entire fabric,» said Georges Perot, the station’s communications manager and one of 18 well-informed producers. «Our listeners are already expressing a strong thirst for discovery, as are we. There’s more to this world than pop music and ‘Big Brother,’» he added, referring to Greece’s first-ever reality show which was launched recently and is enjoying high ratings. Considering local FM radio’s total offering, Kosmos 93.6 FM comes as a badly needed addition for listeners with an avid global musical interest. The station is presently broadcasting in the capital and surrounding regions but plans to send its signal to the entire country in the near future. Thessaloniki will begin receiving the station’s signal early in the new year. Listeners will also be able to tune in over the Internet within the next few days, Perot said. Kosmos 93.6 FM is the latest addition to the local music scene’s ripening World Music element. WOMAD, the internationally renowned traveling World Music festival, finally made it here last summer; top-selling «ethnic» acts such as Cuba’s collective of veterans, Buena Vista Social Club, have toured here; and a guild of local artists seem to be finding a voice abroad. «It’s funny, we come back from big festivals abroad and almost feel like we don’t have anywhere to play here,» Stasinopoulou said. «Playing to foreign audiences seems to work up grit inside you, a kind of pride for the country you’re representing,» Stasinopoulou said. «At home, fans may have followed you for years. They’re more familiar with what you do, and, ironically, that can make things more difficult.»
