Radio Rides In To Rescue Middle East Peace

RAM FM is not your typical do-gooder, save-the-world, promote-a-cause media outlet parachuted into a challenging environment and run on remote control. It is a live on-the-spot commercial radio station aimed at a highly motivated market segment: English speakers in Palestine and Israel ready to talk about change. It broadcasts news bulletins, adult contemporary music and ads. Call-ins and talk shows will follow.

It is an atypical venture for the Middle East where commercial media independent of government edict is so rare. Locally originated English language media is, oddly, non-existent since pirate radio station Voice of Peace was sunk, figuratively. RAM FM’s owners cite market research – itself a novelty for the West Bank – showing a potential catchment of a half million listeners from Ramallah to Jerusalem who understand English.

It is the RAM FM owners who bring another novelty to a region desperate for solutions – experience with solutions. The primary force behind the venture is Issie Kirsh, the South African broadcaster who – two decades ago – founded Johannesburg station 702 Talk Radio. Kirsh is also involved in Radio Tel Aviv.

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"What we're aiming for is ultimately to be a talk station to enable Israelis and Palestinians to phone in and talk about issues that affect their lives,” said Kirsh to the Jerusalem Post. "If people don't talk to each other, they could never ever trust each other, and this to me is the biggest issue between Israelis and Palestinians, that at grassroots level there is no trust."

“I don’t need the money,” he said to Haaretz. “Getting Israelis and Palestinians to talk to each other is one bridge. Getting them to listen to the same music is another bridge.”

The Palestinian Authority issued RAM FM’s license in December after a period of testing. A license in Israel “is just not possible,” said Kirsh. “We're not using part of the Israeli-assigned spectrum.” The company expects break-even after three years.

702 Talk Radio, at its founding, also skirted the then impossible South African bureaucracy by broadcasting from the Bophuthatswana homeland, avoiding South African laws. “This was my great opportunity then to really apply talk radio to its fullest extent," Kirsh explained.

RAM FM’s studios are located in both Ramallah and Jerusalem. Much of the staff comes from South Africa, including morning show host John Berks of 702 Talk Radio fame. Also joining RAM FM are Israeli broadcaster Mike Brand and Palestinian Hayat al-Alami.

Broadcasters attempting “peace radio” in conflict zones are almost always funded and operated by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or foundations. Independence, at least in appearance, is always questioned.

US funded Radio Sawa, now nearly five years old, dared to be different under the leadership of American broadcaster Norman Pattiz, broadcasting pop music, short news bulletins and avoiding long-winded speeches from US politicians. Criticism has been unending regardless of increased audience. Politicians, it seems, threaten to cut off the money when their soap-box is taken away.

Another media leader touting the value of commercial discipline is Sasa Vucinic, former General manager of Belgrade’s B92. Described as a “non-profit venture capitalist,” Vucinic put discipline to a rabel - rousing radio station and created a dynamic force for change in Yugoslavia. His current job is managing director of Media Development Loan Fund, which bridges the finance-gap for independent media operations in transitional regions.

Sustainability is the most important issue for media in conflict zones. It rises as audiences become confident in what they hear. In these difficult regions, independent media structured to attract real audience is ultimately sustainable.

Commenting on RAM FM and it’s roots at 702 Talk Radio, show host John Berks said,“the real stars were the audience, the ordinary people calling in to share the ride through those phenomenal days."

Says Issie Kirsh, “In Israel and in the Palestinian territories there are people who will not like what we're doing. That's life. You can't please everybody."

"What we're doing I know is right; it's correct. It's my duty to do it. It's my duty to myself, and my conscience."

Radio Rides In To Rescue Middle East Peace

Radio broadcasting’s long, distinguished tradition as a creative force in conflict zones turns a new chapter as an English language FM station based in Ramallah, Palestine takes to the air.