Before the internet, communities stayed connected the old-fashioned way: by church, newspaper, family, and radio. For Greek New Yorkers, radio was more than entertainment. It was a daily line back to language, custom, and homeland. In that older New York, WEVD became one of the stations where the Greek diaspora could hear itself. Its schedule reflected the city's ethnic mosaic, serving one immigrant community after another across the day.

By the 1970s, Greek programming was firmly established there. A July 1978 New York radio guide listed “Sounds of Greece with Tina Santorineou” on WEVD-FM on weekday mornings, alongside other Greek programs such as “Memories of Greece” and “Free Voice of Greece.” That listing matters because it shows Greek broadcasting was not a novelty or occasional block. It had a real place on the dial and a regular audience.

At the center of that world was Tina Santorineou, remembered as one of the most important Greek-American radio voices in New York. A published tribute states that she began co-hosting “The Sound of Greece” in 1972 with Theodosis Athas and remained associated with the program until 1994, serving as its producer, director, and on-air voice. Later remembrances described her as “the voice of Greece” in the tri-state area.

That phrase was earned. Greek radio reached kitchens, cars, stores, and diners. It connected older immigrants who preferred Greek, younger listeners moving between Greek and English, and families trying to stay tied to both New York and the homeland. A trusted host did more than announce songs or read notices. She helped turn a broadcast into a community meeting place. Santorineou belonged to that older tradition of ethnic broadcasting, where the person on the microphone was also a cultural steward.

WEVD itself represented a model of broadcasting that has largely faded. It was part of multilingual New York radio, where ethnic communities carved out regular blocks of airtime on commercial stations. That system reflected the city as it once was: dense immigrant neighborhoods, strong linguistic communities, and listeners loyal enough to sustain programming in their own language. Greek radio at WEVD belonged squarely to that world.

Tina Santorineou’s importance is that she gave that world a familiar voice. For many listeners, she made radio feel personal and local. Through WEVD, she helped make Greek identity in New York something daily rather than occasional, living rather than merely inherited. Greece came through the speaker, and for a generation that mattered.

“Greek radio in New York was not just programming. It was a neighborhood carried over the air.”

Why WEVD Mattered

WEVD was one of New York’s best-known multilingual stations, part of a broadcasting tradition that gave immigrant communities regular airtime in their own languages. Greek programming there sat alongside many other ethnic shows, reflecting the city’s old neighborhood structure.

What We Know About Tina Santorineou

The public record supports that Tina Santorineou was a longtime Greek radio producer and announcer at WEVD and the central voice of “The Sound of Greece.” Available sources do not firmly establish that she was the overall station-wide program director of WEVD, so that claim should be avoided unless a stronger source surfaces.

Sources

  • World Radio History / New York Radio Guide, July 1978
  • AGAPW / National Herald tribute to Tina Santorineou
  • Legacy obituary notice for Tina Santorineou