He might not be on the ‘road to Greece’ any more but Arthur Giamalidis has moved up the radio ranks.

The 23 year old, who you may remember as the host of Syn FM community radio show, Road to Greece is now a producer and announcer on Hot 100FM, the biggest radio station in Darwin.

This was the break that Giamalidis, originally from Melbourne was looking for, after spending the last 6 months on an exchange program in the USA studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting.

“I came back to Australia in November for a wedding and wanted to get into the industry, whether it be acting or radio so I applied for the job. I used my experience from Syn FM to produce a demo ad and segment from the show and they liked what they saw.  I have been at the job for two weeks now”.

The transition from working voluntarily at a community radio station to a full time producer position at a commercial radio station has been a challenging one for Giamalidis.

“I work 11 hours a day, starting at 7am producing advertisements, followed by announcing in the studio from 10am-2pm, and squeeze in dinner and the gym in my break. Then it is back to the studio at night to create advertisements and on Saturday I broadcast on Hot Sessions (a program is similar to Overdrive on Nova)”. Whilst Giamalidis enjoys the challenge, his heart lies in the US.

“I was studying at the College of the Arts at MontClaire State University, where Bruce Willis started his career. It was one of the best experiences of my life both acting wise and life wise. I joined an American fraternity, pi Kappa and although I had to do all the bitch work for 8 weeks like wake up in the middle of night to get them coffee, it was worth it to earn their respect. There are famous actors as part of the fraternity and as a member we help each other no matter who we are”. 

Giamalidis goes on to say that, “I was only meant to be there for a semester but I thought that I could do better and auditioned and was accepted to go back in August this year to study until 2011. It costs $35,000 per semester which is a lot but if I can gather the money I will”.

Giamalidis’s future ambition is to break into the television or film industry. “I want to be known for my craft and something I’m passionate about, not just because of the money”.

Syn FM last week awarded Road to Greece the best new multicultural show for 2008.