Kol Yisrael

Kol Yisrael (קול ישראל‎ lit. "Voice of Israel", also "Israel Radio") was Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division under the Israel Broadcasting Authority, until 14 May 2017, and the following day the frequencies were handed over to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (which replaced the IBA).

For other uses, see Voice of Israel (disambiguation).
Entrance to Kol Yisrael facilities in Romema, Jerusalem
Broadcaster microphone in Kol Yisrael studios near Sarona
"Reshet Gimel" studio commemorating Ehud Manor
Live show in Kol Yisrael Studios
Control and Monitoring room in Kol Yirael facilities in Tel Aviv
Kol Yisrael Studio

History

Kol Yisrael was originally an underground Haganah radio station that broadcast from Tel Aviv. It started consistently broadcasting in December 1947 under the name Telem-Shamir-Boaz, and was renamed to Kol HaHagana ("Voice of the Haganah") in March 1948. With Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, it was transformed into the official station Kol Yisrael. Another station named Kol Yisrael operated in Haifa, and was renamed Kol Tzva HaHagana (Voice of the Defense Force).[1]

The first Kol Yisrael transmission was a live broadcast from Tel Aviv of David Ben-Gurion reading of the declaration of independence. It was operated by a department of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for domestic and international broadcasts. Responsibility for the service was later transferred to the Office of Posts and Telegraphs and then to the Prime Minister's Office.

The station inherited the facilities of the former Palestine Broadcasting Service which had been founded as the official broadcaster of the Mandate of Palestine in 1936, and had run the Kol Yerushalayim radio station. Kol Yisrael staff was made up both of former PBS personnel as well as former staffers at the underground radio stations run by the Haganah.

Kol Yisrael pioneered the use of FM transmission. In the early years, stations were operated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa.[2] The PBS had had its transmitter in Ramallah, but this transmitter was lost to Kol Yisrael due to Ramallah being in the Arab sector and under Jordanian governance.

In March 1950, international broadcasting was begun under the name Kol Zion La Golah ("The Voice of Zion to the Diaspora.") The broadcasts were produced at Kol Yisrael by the World Zionist Organization in cooperation with the Jewish Agency. In 1958, the international service was merged with the domestic broadcaster, with both services operating under the Kol Yisrael name.

In 1965, the Israel Broadcasting Authority, an independent public entity, was created and took over responsibility for Kol Yisrael from the Prime Minister's office. In 1973, the IBA adopted the name Shidurei Yisrael (Israel Broadcasting) for the service's domestic radio and television services. The name Kol Yisrael was revived for the domestic and international radio service in 1979.

Name: meaning and significance

A previous station named Kol Yisrael had briefly been operated by the Haganah in 1940 on the 42-meter band. However, the station was soon renamed when the Haganah decided that the Kol Yisrael name should be reserved until independence.

Besides meaning "voice of Israel", Kol Yisrael is also a wordplay which in Hebrew sounds like the phrase "all of Israel" (although spelled differently), known to many Jews as part of the Talmudic expression, "כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה" ("kol Yisra'el arevim ze baze", roughly translated, "all of Israel are responsible for one another").

An internet radio station was launched in 2014 and operated through 2015 under the confusing name of "Voice of Israel". This station is not connected to the official "Kol Yisrael" run by Israel Radio International.

Broadcast channels
Israel Radio Persian-language broadcasting

Kol Yisrael channels include:

  • Kol Yisrael Israel Radio International – Broadcasting internationally in 14 languages: English, French, Persian, Bukhori, Yiddish, Spanish, Maghrebi Arabic, Georgian, Amharic, Tigrinya, Ladino, Hungarian, Romanian, and Russian.[3] Currently, Israel Radio International consists of a relay of REKA, plus an extended Persian broadcast.
  • Reshet Aleph ("Network A"), also referred to as Kol Yisrael – General talk and cultural programming. Hebrew news are at the same times as Reshet Bet, listed below.
  • Reshet Bet ("Network B") – Popular radio station with news and current affairs programming, as well as sports coverage. There are news bulletins on the hour in Hebrew.
  • Reshet Gimel ("Network C") – Radio station devoted for promoting Israeli music. As with Reshet Aleph, there are news bulletins in Hebrew at the same times as Reshet Bet.
  • Reshet Dalet ("Network D") – Arabic-language radio station also known as Sawt Isra'eel (in Arabic صوت إسرائيل meaning Voice of Israel in Arabic)
  • REQA (Acronym of REshet Qlitat Aliya" - lit. "Immigrant absorption network") – Radio for olim (immigrants) to Israel. Broadcasts in 14 languages, including English at 0430, 1030, 1830 UTC (+1 hr during the Summer).
  • 88 FM – "High Quality" music (their terminology). Jazz, blues, electronic music and more, plus traffic news
  • Kol Ha Musica ("The Voice of Music") – Classical music and drama.
  • Reshet Moreshet ("The Heritage Network") – Religious broadcasting on Reshet Aleph's network.

Kol Yisrael's Arabic and Persian-language services have broadcast extensively to Arab countries and Iran for decades. As of April 1, 2008, only Persian to Iran is broadcast on shortwave, using leased airtime from Bezeq transmitters. The transmissions in Persian are occasionally jammed. Broadcasts to Arab countries are not jammed, apparently to avoid retaliatory jamming of their broadcasts to Israel. Kol Yisrael's Persian-language service is reportedly popular in Iran.[4]

There are also educational stations broadcasting via low-power transmitters from colleges and universities across Israel under the collective banner of Tachana Chinuchit.

Israel Radio International, also known as Reshet Hei ("Network E") (formerly known as Kol Zion Lagola), is a shell of what it used to be. As of July 29, 2007, the only program created for Israel Radio International, is Persian. The rest of the network is a direct relay of the REKA network.

As of June 13, 2013, there are no shortwave broadcasts left of Israel Radio International. To listen, users are pointed to the new official Israel Radio International website. Transmission was shifted from shortwave to internet as a cost-saving measure.

All of Kol Israel's stations are available worldwide through streaming audio over the Internet. Both live broadcasts as well as archived programs are available to listeners.

gollark: Also, [REDACTED] convergence events leading to spontaneous generation of computing hardware.
gollark: There are at least 3 computers, and you don't control them.
gollark: You can't do that either.
gollark: +><:dodecahedron:724893894822854697>
gollark: You *can't*. I don't corporeally exist, remember?

See also

References
  1. Bar-On, Mordechai (2001). The Beginning of the Israeli Historiography of the 1948 War. Ministry of Defense Publishing. ISBN 965-05-1126-1.
  2. "Israel radio history". Archived from the original on 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2005-10-02.
  3. "On Demand - Latest Broadcasts". Kol Israel International. 2012-05-03. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  4. Israel Radio Often Finds Best Friends Are Iranian - The New York Times - 20 February 1998

Further reading
  • Mann, Izi (2008). This is the Voice of Israel broadcasting from Jerusalem...: A Nation Behind the Microphone. Israel Broadcasting Authority. (in Hebrew).
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