Army Radio ( he, גלי צה"ל lit. IDF waves) or Galei Tzahal, known in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
by its acronym Galatz ( he, גל"צ), is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic reports and educational programs to the general public as well as entertainment and military news magazines for soldiers.
["It was good radio"]
Michael Handelzalts, October 21, 2010, Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
The network has one main station and an offshoot - ''
Galgalatz
Galgalatz or GLGLZ ( he, גלגלצ) is an Israeli radio station, operated by Israel Defense Forces Radio. This is the second of two Israel Defense Forces-operated stations, while the first one is Israel Defense Forces Radio/Galatz. The station ...
'' (Hebrew: גלגל"צ) - that broadcasts (mainly
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
) music and traffic reports 24 hours a day in Hebrew. The staff includes both soldiers and civilians. As of December 2013, the station is no longer broadcast via
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. There is still a livestream feed on the internet.
History
Galatz started its transmissions on September 24, 1950, as a continuance of the
Hagana
Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...
transmission to the Jewish public during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
. Transmissions began with a trumpet blast at 6:30 p.m. followed by
HaTikva
Hatikvah ( he, הַתִּקְוָה, haTīqvā, ; ) is the national anthem of the State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jewish people to return ...
, the Israeli
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
. An improvised studio had been set up inside a former school building in
Ramat Gan
Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...
, with army blankets hung on the walls to muffle background noise.
["Galei Zahal"]
, Series Articles, Israel Philatelic Federation
In 1956, its status was defined by the
Israeli Broadcasting Authority
The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017.
History
The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station ''Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent st ...
law (paragraph 48). The Israel Defense Forces was authorized to choose its programming for soldiers, but programs for civilians had to receive approval from the IBA. During the station's formative period in the 1960s and 1970s, it was headed by Yitzhak Livni.
[ In 1973, during the ]Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...
, Galatz was the first Israeli radio station to broadcast around the clock. In 1982, during the Lebanon War, the station collaborated with Israeli Educational Television (IETV). This wartime cooperation led to a daily news and interview show called ''Erev Hadash'' ( he, ערב חדש, lit. ''New Evening'').
Galatz was the first radio station in Israel to abandon the formal, somewhat stilted Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
that was normally used in the media. Its entertainment programs to soldiers were the first to use colloquial Hebrew on air. Its news bulletins use a more relaxed linguistic style than IBA's Kol Yisrael (קול ישראל, ''Voice of Israel'') hourly bulletins. This presentation style proved particularly popular among two age groups: youngsters and senior citizens. In April 1983, the radio station broadcast an interview with historian Yehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer ( he, יהודה באואר; born April 6, 1926) is a Czech-born Israeli historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is a professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University o ...
discussing similarities between the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
. Despite protests by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ron Ben-Yishai
Ron Ben-Yishai ( he, רון בן-ישי; born October 26, 1943) is an Israeli journalist. A veteran war correspondent, Ben-Yishai has covered many military conflicts in several different regions. In 2018, he won the Israel Prize, Israel's most ...
refused to cancel the program, leading to a diplomatic incident in Israel–Turkey relations
Israeli–Turkish relations are the bilateral ties between the State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey. Israel–Turkey relations were formalized in March 1949,Abadi, pg. 6 when Turkey was the first Muslim majority country to recognize th ...
due to Turkey's Armenian genocide denial.
For many years Galei Zahal broadcasts were mainly geared toward soldiers, including music programs conveying soldiers’ greetings and various broadcasts related to the IDF. The station was unique in that it incorporated soldiers serving in the regular army into journalistic positions, including reporters, editors, producers, news broadcasters, music broadcasters, musical editors, announcers, etc. Following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day, expanding its broadcasts to include news broadcasts and current affairs programming. For years, it was the only Israeli station that continued to broadcast throughout the night. In November 1993 Galei Zahal began operating Galgalatz, which broadcasts music interspersed with traffic reports and has high listener rates.[
]
Cultural role
According to Oren Soffer, a head of communication studies in Open University, Galei Zahal has become symbol of pluralism and journalistic freedom.
According to Michael Handelzalts, a long-time ''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' columnist and theater critic, Galei Zahal had a "far-reaching positive influence on Israeli culture," and "address dissues of culture in the widest sense."[ Beginning in the 1960s, new poems were read aloud once a week. In the 1970s, the station broadcast radio plays inaugurated "University on the Air," and held the first live telephone conversations with listeners ever broadcast on a radio station in Israel. ]Ram Evron
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* R ...
hosted live nightly talk shows.[
Recently, Galei Tzahal was the first radio station to incorporate a podcast into their scheduling when they gave "Israel Story" a permanent slot.
]
Administration
The station is managed by a civilian appointed by the defense minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
for a 3- to 5-year term. The station commander holds the military rank of Sgan Aluf, although the job is mainly managerial and editorial. The current station commander is Shimon Elkabetz. Galei Tzahal was considered a division of the Education and Youth Corps until October 2017.
Notable broadcasters
* Erez Tal
* Razi Barkai
* Ilana Dayan
Ilana Dayan-Orbach ( he, אילנה דיין-אורבך; born 8 May 1964) is an Israeli investigative journalist, anchorwoman, and attorney. She is best known as host of the investigative television program ("Fact") on the Israeli Channel 12.
B ...
* Irit Linur
Irit Linur ( he, עירית לינור, born 1961) is an Israeli author.
Biography
Irit Linur was married to Alon Ben David, Senior Defense Correspondent for Israel Channel 10 and Middle East Correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly.
Literary c ...
* Yoav Kutner
Criticism over political campaigning during the 2021 Israeli election
In March 17, 2021 New Hope party led by Gideon Sa'ar sent an official letter via attorney claiming that Yaakov Bardugo's was conducting illegal pre-election campaigning on behalf of the Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon ...
party. Under Israeli law any form of campaigning during the 60 day preceding an election is strictly regulated.
The party called out Bardugo's repeated pro Likud messaging as well as an incident in which he called party members 'deserters and extortionists'. The party who at the time was expected to take around 10 seats in the upcoming election demanded his immediate suspension. On March 18 the Association of Journalists in Israel (numbering 3500 members of the Israeli news media) published an urgent message to the station's commander, Simeon Elkabetz, demanding action be taken to stop the conduct of the host. This came after the latter lashed out against Moria Assaraf, the station's political correspondent, asking her "disgracefully" if she was " Ashkenazi's spokesperson" during a live show.
Criticism over Political Imbalance
Criticism over political imbalance exists over the station from both left[https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART1/923/387.html] & right wing sides of the political map.
The My Israel
My Israel ( he, ישראל שלי, ''Yisra'el Sheli'') is an Israeli Right-wing politics, right wing extra-parliamentary movement. Its website describes itself as an "internet-based movement dedicated to spreading Zionism."
About the movement
Th ...
movement launched on June 21, 2011 a campaign against the station claiming that it was operating against IDF soldiers and out of extreme left wing political agenda. On June 26 more than 100 reserve soldiers demonstrated against the station calling to privatize it or balancing its broadcast tone.
In September 2020, the Times of Israel newspaper published an investigative article under the title "Bardugo Airwaves" describing the use made by broadcaster Yaakov Bardugo of his daily political program for the purpose of promoting right wing political agenda and the spread of fake news. In February 2021, the newspaper published a second investigation titled "One Man's Propaganda Machine" over Bardugo's use of the station as a platform for repeated assault against the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. In March 2021, the newspaper TheMarker
''TheMarker'' ( he, דה-מרקר) is a Hebrew-language daily business newspaper published by the Haaretz group in Israel.
''TheMarker'' was founded in 1999 by journalist and entrepreneur Guy Rolnik along with Haaretz group and U.S.-based invest ...
published its own investigative article under the title "The Home of (Netanyahu's) Soldiers" (a play on the station's slogan "The home of the soldiers" in Hebrew) which included a testimony by a former soldier in the station describing a scripting channel between prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's staff and the broadcaster, among other via his staff head Natan Eshel.
See also
* Culture of Israel
The roots of the culture of Israel developed long before modern Israel's independence in 1948, and traces back to ancient Israel ( 1000 BCE). It reflects Jewish culture, Jewish history in the diaspora, the ideology of the Zionist movement that de ...
* Israeli journalism
The mass media in Israel refers to print, broadcast and online media available in the State of Israel. The country boasts dozens of newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, which play an important role by the press in political, social and ...
References
External links
Army Radio website
Live online stream
{{Authority control
*
Radio stations in Israel
Radio stations established in 1950
1950 establishments in Israel
Military broadcasting