A new radio station has been introduced in Glasgow which has big plans to shake up Scotland’s airwaves.
London Greek Radio, (LGR), has been added to the DAB+ multiplex in Glasgow, extending their radio coverage to Glasgow’s population of almost 600,000.
Scotland has an estimated Greek and Cypriot population of more than 50,000 and the new station’s hopes are to garner many more listeners across the Glaswegian City with a fusion of talk and Greek music when it launched on Wednesday 11th April.
LGR is believed to be the first ethnic London radio station to cross the border into Scotland now playing European music in Glasgow on DAB+ Digital Radio.
Antonaki Jay, LGR’s Station Manager said, “We’re really big on serving Scotland and will now include more features for the communities we serve outside of London to include local people, local issues and local news.”
He added, “We’ll be covering a wide range of news, gossip and Greek music with different presenters tailored to the various diverse communities we broadcast to.”
LGR has already attracted some top presenters after more than thirty-five years on the air. It will be led by veteran host Vasilis Panayi and will feature DJs including Andreas Michaelides, Kat Neocleous, DJ Sooty, Soulla Violaris and Tony Neophytou.
Inevitably, Antonaki says that Greek music will be their “mainstay.” Describing their brand as “the Heartbeat of the Greek community”, he reveals hopes to begin a regular phone-in during the evenings to connect Greeks in Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London, (where the station is already broadcasting on DAB+).
LGR’s Chairman, John Kyriakides, said, “We are broadening our scope to reach out to the wider Greek and Mediterranean audiences. With digital radio, we can go further and will be looking at doing things differently at LGR.
“We’ll be talking about everyone in the Greek communities in Glasgow, including small businesses and local people and aim to reach out to more than just Greek people in Scotland too. We feel the whole Greek culture may have been somewhat overlooked to some extent.”
Antonaki Jay, who was at the helm of joining Glasgow’s DAB+ platform – hopes LGR’s edgier playlist of more of today’s biggest Greek and Cypriot tunes with some home-grown talent thrown in the mix will attract listeners who are fed up of chart-topping earworms on mainstream stations.
He said: “We’ll play a wide range of music from Natasa Theodoridou and Konstantinos Argyros, through to Giannis Ploutarhos and Melina Aslanidou – an eclectic mix. Not too heavy, though.
“We’ll also host unsigned Greek singers, bands and performers either via telephone or in the studio. We want to give these acts a chance to be heard and celebrate Scottish-Hellenic talent.
“We love our Greek music and we really hope to build our audience through that.”
LGR will be spinning Greek music and covering a wide range of cultural programmes with more depth, which will no doubt appeal to hundreds across Glasgow.
Vasili Panayi, lifelong programmer at LGR said, “We know we’re not Heart or Clyde. We don’t have any sort of competition. For us, this is a first being in Glasgow!”
He added: “This will be a multi-platform digital outlet that interacts with its audience through social media and telephone, as well as email, text and messenger platforms. We’ll be connected to our listeners and giving Greek people in Scotland a voice.
“LGR will be more than just a radio station.”
London Greek Radio (LGR) is a 24-hour station, with live broadcasting between 7 am until Midnight. It launched in Glasgow on Wednesday 11th April.
LGR joins several stations on DAB+ as more radio stations are preparing to broadcast on Glasgow’s airwaves, as the city becomes Scotland’s digital radio hotspot.
Listeners will need a newer DAB+ compatible radio, recognisable through the Digital Radio Tick Mark on packaging, to receive the full set of stations via DAB and DAB+ digital radio.
54% of Glasgow homes own a DAB radio, according to latest statistics. The number of DAB stations that can be received in Glasgow has increased by thirty in the past year and is growing rapidly.
LGR is now broadcasting via 103.3 FM in London, across the world online and already on DAB+ in Birmingham, London and Manchester. Glasgow is now available in stereo using DAB+.
