Greece has over 1,000 radio stations operating with a certificate of temporary legality. Most broadcast on the FM band; the AM band has been almost entirely abandoned by broadcasters, with the exception of State-run media and a few other stations.
In March 2001, the Greek government closed approximately 60 of 90+ FM stations operating in the Athens area, citing potential interference to frequencies to be used by the new Athens International Airport. There are some who believe that the government shut down these stations as a political favor to powerful publishing and media groups, whose stations, for the most part, remained on the air; others argued that the licensing process was legally inconsistent.
The Greek broadcast licensing process came under legal scrutiny as a result, and in 2002, eight of the closed stations reopened. In 2004 and 2005, several more stations reopened as the result of a judicial order. Stations have continued to open since then. Most of them are unlicensed and lack legal permission to broadcast; many of these stations were among those shut down by the Greek government in 2001. Throughout the country, no radio station is operating with a formal license as of March 2019; instead, stations are operating with temporary permits of legality with no expiration date, or simply operate without any legal status whatsoever.
The following is a list of major FM stations in Greece; this list is being upgraded.
Radio stations in Attica Most stations in Athens broadcast from Mount Ymittos to the east of the city (but west of the Athens International Airport in Spata). A smaller minority of stations operate from Mount Parnitha, northwest of the city, or Mount Aigaleo, bordering the west of the city. Many stations also have repeaters on the island of Aegina, south of Athens in the Saronic Sea, to cover coastal regions of Athens, including Glyfada and Vouliagmeni, which due to the topography of the region, cannot receive clear signals from the other locations.
Most stations broadcast in stereo and several employ the Radio Data System technology. Most stations also broadcast with wattage ranging from 2 kW to 15–30 kW; official data on this is not made publicly available. Currently, 44 private radio stations are legally permitted to broadcast in Athens, in addition to the state radio broadcast stations. Focus Bari was chosen as the official company to measure audience listening data and ratings for stations in the Athens region. Previous to that, Focus Bari had been one of several companies tracking audience ratings.