This is the International Section of
The Broadcast Archive
Maintained by:
Barry Mishkind - The Eclectic Engineer
Israeli Broadcasting:
- History
- Regulation
- Station Identifications
Israeli Broadcast History:
The first radio station in what was then called Palestine was officially
opened at Tel Aviv on April 7, 1932. Radio Tel Aviv was operated by Mendel
Abramovitch under license from the British Mandatory Government. Opening
speeches were by Abramovitch and Tel Aviv Mayor Meir Dizengoff. Radio Tel Aviv
died in April 1935.
The British-run Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS) started in Jerusalem
on December 24, 1935. "Kol Yerushalyim" (Voice of Jerusalem) operated
at 668 kHz at 20 kW, for 5 hours a day -- 3 hours of "general
programming" and then an hour of Jewish programming and an hour of Arabic
programming. According to contemporary news reports, the emphasis was on news
and features plus some music.
The studios were in Jerusalem, with the transmitter in Ramallah; technical
work was done by the Marconi company.
In 1948, with independence, the state run broadcasting authority Kol
Israel (Voice of Israel ... later renamed The Israeli Broadcasting Service)
takes over the PBS facilities and staff.
In October 1949, FM broadcasts were begun in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
May 2, 1968 saw the beginning of television broadcasts (color came in
1981).
More Israeli broadcast history, including information on content, can be
found here.
Regulation:
Early broadcasting was run under the British
government, the from 1948 Kol Israel operated under the Ministry of Interior. It
was later transferred to the Prime Minister's Office.
On June 6, 1965, the Broadcasting
Authority Law was passed by The Knesset (Israel's Parliament), creating
the Israel
Broadcasting Authority (IBA) as an independent agency.
In 1994, an agency was organized for the
operation of Palestinian stations. The PBC (Palestinian Broadcasting
Corporation) began operating as the Voice of Palestine.
In 1995, local commercial broadcasting came
to Israel.
Station Identification:
Most stations used "Voice of" (Kol in
Hebrew) with the location, governmental organization, or political orientation
as the remainder of the name.
|