About Us

Our website grew out of the radio show Hellas Pindakaas, and specifically out of the need to expand our content into something more than what one hour of broadcast time can fit. This website is the online extension of our radio show.

Content
We are a team of journalists,  and as such, we are news junkies! Until now we posted news on our Facebook page. From now on, you will be able to find news from Greece, the Netherlands and the whole world on our “News“section .

Click on “Shows” to check out a selection of the most memorable of our 160 radio shows of the last 3 years.  Ten of them are in English, including interviews with Serdar Manavoglou and Erika Mauritz.

“In the Media” is where we document every time Hellas Pindakaas features in the Greek and Dutch media.

In the section “We recommend” you will find a selection of the best articles and videos we have read on the Internet, along with tips on how to spend your free time in Amsterdam and what to do in Holland. There you can also find our “Allies”, which are affiliated websites, shows, communities and links, people and initiatives that we love and care about.
On Hellas Pindakaas Online we have a “Blog” where we post stories about our experience in the Netherlands. Pictures, scenes from every day life in the city, mementos from where we have been and what we have seen. Ideas, opinions and thoughts we want to get off our chest, just like a diary.
Probably the most useful section, “Infos”, features tips and pointers on many important expat topics like housing and finding a job, along with information regarding the Greek communities of the Netherlands.
In”Contact“, you can give us feedback on the show and/or the guests, or contact us about  anything you would like to ask or share with us. You can also Suggest Guests for upcoming radio shows (or even yourself!).

Our goal
Our goal, along with information, entertainment and the blending of cultures, is to give the opportunity to the thousands of Greek expats and other interested friends to stay in touch with the Greek culture and the expat community.

In our effort to strengthen the Greek element in the Netherlands, we have interviewed numerous Greek expats and second generation Greeks. Those interviews help us understand their needs and worries.

This site, just like our talk-radio show, is made by expats for everyone who is curious and loves diversity. Our starting point and main focus is on expat life in The Netherlands. We started as the only Greek-speaking radio broadcast in the country but soon enough we became bilingual. We switch from Greek to English in our effort to engage with a more diverse audience.

We find what is being said to be more important than what language is being used to say it. Our door is always open to anyone who wants to share something interesting or their unique view on current affairs with our audience.

We know we have a lot of friends out there, Dutch, German, Turkish, Moroccan, French, Surinamese, Philipino, Brazilian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese – I could name about 180 different nationalities – that is how many reside in Amsterdam anyway. But we don’t expect them all to speak Greek. And our Dutch language skills are still in the making… so we made an English version just for that.

Our message
The message of Hellas Pindakaas is one of togetherness. It’s in its name! We believe that the Greeks and the Dutch have to work closely together and together with all the European nations as well, since our fate is bound to be common in more ways that we can imagine or want to admit. We are all on the same boat, whether we like it or not. Our vision is to coexist not only with the Dutch, but with all national communities that exist in the Netherlands. This English version of Hellas Pindakaas.com is the child of true multiculturalism, which is what we believe in.

.

Our philosophy
Is Holland the paradise newspapers are telling us about? And if so, is Greece really the living hell that the media describe it to be? Our philosophy is based on the idea that to bring different cultures together, there has to be some mutual understanding, and to do so, some myths must be debunked and the stereotypes must be recognized and explained.

Nikko Koulousios started in 2001 a blog called Amsterdamned. That was one of the ways he found to describe the transformation that was seeing happening before his very eyes. Holland was becoming a … paradise lost. Holland used to be the country where radical ideas would take place, for example the drug policy or the prostitution laws. Nowadays, all those radical ideas seem to be outdated, and Holland seems to have returned to conservative, narrow minded policies that favor only a small portion of the people, the people who own the wealth of the country. He says “During my first years here I questioned the “Dutch bubble” and doubted in my articles the notion that the Netherlands is a utopia of legality, social responsible entrepreneurship, welfare state, humanism and tolerance. It was becoming all the more evident that the Dutch society was evolving and was wholeheartedly embracing notions of racism, xenophobia, ultra conservatism, harsh neoliberalism and absolute individualism. I saw the country that I admired being transformed into its worse self, reflecting a Europe that is alienating its people, a fortress-Europe that favors only the strong and the powerful. This new Europe of debt, cuts, austerity, fake solidarity and nationalism will be the target of our critique. We can have a strong voice because we do not depend on anybody for funding. We are a true voluntary endeavor.”

What do you mean voluntary?
Make no mistake, Hellas Pindakaas Online is not a company -don’t let the “.com” fool you! Our website and radio show operate on a voluntary base, with sponsors covering occasionally only our radio and web hosting expenses.

The radio show – where it all started

The show went on air for the first time on April 1st 2012, as the only Greek radio show in the Netherlands. Since then and up until now, Hellas Pindakaas has been broadcasting from Amsterdam every Friday at 21:00 -local time- on Salto/Wereld FM. Salto is the Amsterdam Public Access Television and Radio, and is powered by the Municipality of Amsterdam. Wereld fm is one of the five radio channels of Salto. It airs shows that are in languages other than Dutch. But something significant has changed lately…

Hellas Pindakaas has a new home! As of Thursday 20 October 2016 we will broadcast on Salto’s first radio channel, Stads FM, every THURSDAY at 21’00!

Stads FM is the first – and most popular – of Salto’s five radio channels. Most of its shows are in Dutch, with a few exceptions! Hellas Pindakaas is one of them, since it managed, in its 4 years on the air, to attract a lot of attention from the Dutch media and, since we have opened up our format to include guests from all cultures and to have more bilingual content. We intend to do a lot more shows in English.

Last Update

Stads FM, the first of 4 radio channels of Amsterdam’s Public Broadcaster Salto, has a new name. As of 2018 Stads FM will be called Radio Salto.

Everything else stays the same… Listen to us LIVE

Hellas Pindakaas on Radio Salto every Thursday night at 21’00 (Dutch time)

Listen LIVE:

On the radio, locally in Amsterdam, on 106.8 FM

On cable, locally in Amsterdam, on 103.3

Online, where ever you are, via hellaspindakaas.com – with a simple click on LISTEN NOW

What’s in a name… Hellas Pindakaas – It is a funny name that is not to be taken seriously or even worse personally. The idea was to give a breath of fresh air and optimism. Hellas is the word we use in Greek to call Greece. In Dutch the word helaas means “unfortunately” as you may know. As for pindakaas, well that just rimes with helaas, and it is something the Dutch say to express the feeling of “what’s done is done, what can you do about it.” So, the whole title adds a little humor to the situation and the choice of words aims at blending the Dutch and the Greek element. I wanted a name that would mean something to the Dutch and the Greek people, and unite them even if it’s just on a symbolic or funny level.

Hellas Pindakaas is interested in pop culture and arts, but also takes notice of and reports on current affairs concerning both the Greek and the Dutch community. And since we are a radio show, music (of all kinds) takes center stage at Hellas Pindakaas. Not only we play all sorts of Greek music, but we also host regularly live music by Greek and Dutch musicians. We love all music –but there is a special thing about Greek music that unites people from different cultures… like rembetika for example. We have hosted many Dutch and German musicians who can even sing rembetika and play that music like a true Greek. We have given Salto a lot of Greek songs for their day-time playlists – don’t be surprised if you tune in on 106.8 FM in Amsterdam (or 103.3 on cable in Amsterdam) and you hear Imam Baildi or Harris Alexiou singing.

Our passion, along with our audience’s support and dedication, made it possible for us to win the Amsterdamse Mediaprijs 2013, a prize given to the best non-Dutch radio show in Amsterdam.

 

It is worth mentioning that this is a voluntary effort, meaning that we have to buy our airtime and cover all expenses ourselves or via sponsors, so we can provide you with content that is current, non-stop and professional.

Our team

Nikos Koulousios is a columnist and Greek correspondent reporting on current affairs, local news, cultural and social issues for newspapers, magazines, television programs, news websites and the radio. He is the creator, producer and host of the Amsterdamse Mediaprijs 2013 Award Winning weekly radio broadcast Hellas Pindakaas. He is a member of the Foreign Press Association of The Netherlands (Buitenlandse Pers Vereniging). You will find him roaming daily on Facebook & LinkedIn. As Hellas Pindakaas you will find us on Facebook, SoundCloud, Twitter , Instagram and YouTube.

.

My name is Panagiotis Giouvanas. I live in beautiful Thessaloniki and I study Geoscience at Aristotle University and Project Management at Kapodistriako. Besides my studies, I like painting, reading books, travelling, being a volunteer, and of course writing. I was this close to becoming a citizen of The Hague last year, but that didn’t go as planned, so now I am back in Greece. However, what I treasure from my short stay in Holland, is this beautiful collaboration with hellaspindakaas.com, where I can freely express my thoughts and concerns. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

.

I am Candy White and I live in the Netherlands for the last 10 years. I have studied cooking and I have been working as a cook for many years. Later in life I studied sociology in order to try and make sense of our weird world. This sense I have made or still trying to make I would like to discuss and share with the friends of Hellas Pindakaas.

.

My name is Valeria Nazzi. I am an Italian girl living in The Hague and currently a second year student of International Communication Management at the Haagse Hogeschool. As part of my program and the Radio Journalism Certificate, I am an intern at Hellas Pindakaas. I write stories about things that are relevant to my life and to the Hellas Pindakaas audience and readership. I also focus on the experiences and the life of expats living in the Netherlands. My international background, having been a student in an international school in Seoul, South Korea, as well as the fact that I lived in many cities in Italy, have had a huge impact on the way I live my life. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.