He was born in Semarang, on 11 April 1961 as the first child of six children in the Wiharto Arismunandar family. He graduated from 14th National Middle School in East Jakarta in 1980, and graduated with a major in electronics from the University of Indonesia (UI) in 1989. His father, a middle officer in the Indonesian airforce, died from a disease just ten days before Satrio graduated from UI. Satrio's activities as a student were varied. He was a member of the Democratic Student Body, a head of the Electronics Students Association, member of the nature lover association, editing the campus newspaper and active in the local mosque. He also participated in receiving new members for the Muslim Students' Association in 1981 and became a member of the ISAFIS (The Indonesian Student Association for International Studies), although in the end he decided to concentrate on journalism related activities on campus.
After working from 1986 to 1995 as a journalist, he went back to do a Master's degree in Defence Studies at the University of Indonesia, and graduated in August, 2000. His thesis was on The role of student journalism in the student movement in 1998: A case study of the bulletin Move! at the time of stopping president Suharto, which became the material for a book.
