Contact: Michelle Harris
Phone: (202) 401-7000
SPECIAL LIVE GREEK BROADCAST TO HONOR ATHLETES
Washington, D.C., Mar. 12, 2004 – Affiliates and other radio stations in three continents will join with the Voice of America on Saturday, March 13, 2004 in a salute to the athletes of the world who will participate in this year’s Olympic Games. The Games will be held in Athens, Greece, August 13-29.
The salute will take place during a Hellenic Heritage Achievement and National Public Service Awards Presentation gala sponsored by the Washington-based American Hellenic Institute. The VOA Greek Service will produce a 2 hour 30 minute live radio program from the Washington, D.C. event location. Veteran journalist Mr. George Bistis will anchor the broadcast, entitled “Honoring the 2004 Athens Games.” The program will include features and live interviews with the honored athletes, award recipients and other participants.
The program will be delivered via satellite to broadcasters throughout Greece, Cyprus, North America and Australia. Stations that will air all or part of the program include Radio Skai in Athens, Radio City International in Thessaloniki, and Radio Proto in Nicosia.
Among the athletes being honored are Irene Andili, Bronze Medal winner in rhythmic gymnastics for Greece in the 2000 Sydney Olympics; Charles Michael Mooney, Silver Medal winner in boxing for the United States in the 1976 Montreal Olympics; and Greek-American athlete Christa Dalakis, a key member of the 2004 Greek Softball Team.
AHI’s top awards this year will be presented to Thomas J. Miller, United States Ambassador to Greece; George Chryssis, Philanthropist and Entrepreneur; Helen Nicozisis, Humanitarian and Church activist; and George J. Tenet, Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
VOA will provide Live and On-Demand Streaming of the program for Internet users. Live Streaming starts at 11:00 Washington time on Saturday, March 13 and On-Demand Streaming begins as soon as the Live Streaming ends. Live Streaming: http://www.voanews.com/real/live/greek-oto.ram On-Demand Streaming: http://www.voanews.com/real/voa/europe/gree/gree0400.ram
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government. VOA broadcasts 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of 94 million people. Programs are produced in Greek and 44 other languages.