The first program to air on 9th June 1975 was the Greek. A few days later the respective 3EA aired in Melbourne.
Ms Koula Bitsis served as Coordinator of the Greek Program in 3EA from 1979 to 1983.
She spoke to us today about her arrival in Australia in 1956, her early programming in some of Melbourne privately owned radio stations and finally her involvement with SBS Greek (3EA then).
The story of SBS Radio
In June 1975, just a handful of programs in mostly European languages were set up at 2EA and 3EA to communicate the government's new Medicare program.
It turned out to become a key response to Australia's growing cultural diversity and change the lives of countless new Australians.
These were the early sounds of a unique and bold experiment for Australian radio.
During the final months of Gough Whitlam's Labor government, Commissioner for Community Relations Al Grassby launched a unique broadcasting project called Radio Ethnic Australia.
He made this historic announcement on the 9th of June, 1975.
“This is Al Grassby, on behalf of the Australian Community Relations Office, welcoming you all to Radio 2-E-A, the voice of ethnic Australia. Today, the program is in Greek..." (Sentence was repeated in Greek)]
The project planned to operate for only three months and had a budget of $38.000.
With stations 2-E-A in Sydney and 3-E-A in Melbourne, the service was set up to explain the new Medibank scheme to a growing number of migrants in 15 community languages.
The service quickly became popular with the migrant community, and demand grew.
It was the seed that led to the Special Broadcasting Service, which today broadcasts in more than 60 languages.
S-B-S was formally established three years later by former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser as a volunteer radio service for migrants.
Despite their knowledge of English, migrant communities would relish the opportunity to hear news in their native tongue.
It was a time of great change.
The White Australia Policy had only been officially dismantled two years prior and there was a growing need for social inclusion.The number of languages grew steadily, and, on Australia Day 1994, SBS launched its long-awaited national network.
It brought SBS Radio to a listening community across up to 90 per cent of the continent.
That story in English is by Darren Mara, Tania Smrdel and Jennifer Luu for SBS News.
