This month Gippsland FM’s Greek Cypriot Variety Program will be celebrating 37 years of broadcasting.
“I am very lucky and proud that I am still presenting the show,” volunteer broadcaster Mr George Andreou told Neos Kosmos.
“We have reached 37 years and I hope to make it to 40.”
Started in 1977 by Peter Politakins, the humble beginning of the program was in a tin shed in Churchill.
Mr Andreou took over as presenter after coming across the local radio program while flipping through radio stations one evening.
“I was intrigued, and invited myself to the studio one evening and got talking to the presenter,” he told a local publication.
“It wasn’t long after that I found myself in charge of the decks and presenting the program myself!”
The program, which airs every Tuesday evening from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm on 104.7 Gippsland FM, is the only Greek radio program in the area and the longest running ethnic program in Australia.
Mr Andreou runs the program with wife Irene, playing Greek music on a request basis, in addition to broadcasting religious programs at Easter and Christmas, whilst also conducting informative interviews on current issues affecting the Greek Australian and wider community in the Greek language.
“We feel that the show is a way of connecting the Greek community, with each other and with the old country, and we feel we are making an important contribution to society,” said Mr Andreou.
In recognition of his contribution to the community, Mr Andreou was awarded a lifelong membership of Gippsland FM in 1995, and presented with the Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence for his outstanding contribution to the Greek Orthodox community of Gippsland.