Athina 9.84: The Birth of Free Radio

Technopolis, Athens, Greece, 2023

The exhibition was a tribute to Athina 9.84, the country’s first Free Radio Station and the City of Athens municipal radio station, which is still broadcasting since 1987. It is perhaps difficult to imagine today, in the current proliferation of news sources, when information is disseminated and consumed directly and immediately, there is access to technology, and a flood of digital data on social networks, that 36 years ago the citizens’ only access to information was the state-run ERT. While other countries already had private radio stations, and the European Commission had announced the arrival of satellite TV, any attempt to broadcast on airwaves in Greece was considered ‘radio hijacking’ and prosecuted by the police. During those difficult years, the need for Free Radio became a democratic and social demand.

Athina 9.84 featured news, social, political and music shows, as well as interviews with politicians, artists, academics and other personalities of public interest. The station’s journalists were fully responsible for the content of their shows and for selecting their guests. The station’s slogan, ‘All Athens listens to 9.84,’ soon turned into reality – within only a few months, its audience reached 70%. The secret of the station’s success was its spirit of community and togetherness, freedom of speech, and the independence of its journalists, safeguarded by Evert’s determination to enable the station to operate without interference and political pressure, whether from parties or individuals.

The exhibition featured photographic, archival and audiovisual material from the first two years of operation of Athina 9.84 (1987–1989). The photographs come from the archive of Anastasia Dolka, Miltiadis Evert’s secretary during his term as Mayor of Athens. Using a small Kodak camera, she would visit the studio and photograph show producers, journalists and guests. A selection of the approximately 500 negatives that she has kept over the years goes on public view for the first time. The archive that documents the activities of the ‘Free Radio Initiative Group – Kanali 15’ was kindly provided by the journalist Billio Tsoukala, the only female member of the group. The radio and other technical equipment from back in the day (consoles, wireless, radios and microphones) represents but a small selection from the collections of Panagiotis Kiskilas, the Thessaloniki Radio Museum and other donors.

Athina 9.84, the pioneering radio station, is still broadcasting 36 years later. It has created an important legacy in the history of free radio – a legacy that carries a lot of symbolic significance for today’s world, where freedom of expression is still an issue in many countries, journalists are imprisoned or even murdered, and the independence of the media is undermined by business interests; censorship undermines objective information, while disinformation and fake news go unchecked. This exhibition is a tribute to all those who fought for Free Radio, a reminder that demands for freedom of speech, an unhindered dissemination of ideas, accountability and verification of news, impartial information and media pluralism – the cornerstones of a healthy democracy – remain more relevant than ever.