Voice of Peace
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The Voice of Peace (Hebrew: קול השלום - Kol Hashalom) was a radio station that serviced Israel and the Middle East for 20 years. The station signed on the air in May 1973 from the former Dutch cargo vessel MV Peace (formally MV Cito).
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[edit] History
The ship anchored off the coast of Tel Aviv, where it remained for nearly two decades. Founded by Abie Nathan and The Peace Ship Foundation based in New York, the radio station attempted to communicate a message of peaceful coexistence to the volatile Middle East. In fact 90 per cent of the station's output consisted of formatted popular music programs presented by a team of professional broadcasters housed on the ship.
The main on air studio comprised a Gates Diplomat mixer which also controlled the microphones in the large conference studio. Gates turntables with Gates pick up arms and Shure cartridges with Gates NAB cartridge machines for jingles and commercials completed the on air studio. The production studio used a Gates turntable and with reel to reel recorders and NAB cartridge recording unit.
The Voice of Peace was Israel's first offshore pop station, and first commercially funded private broadcast operation. The station’s use of catchy American PAMS, CPMG, JAM and TM Productions jingles, English speaking Disc Jockeys and a playlist of Top 40 hits attracted sponsors such as TWA and Coca Cola. Initially, the station transmitted on 1539 AM and 100.0 FM.
The AM or mediumwave transmitter was installed in New York prior to 1972 and comprised two 25,000 watt Collins units and a Collins combiner giving the station a potential 50 kW AM signal. The mediumwave signal was broadcast from a centre-fed horizontal antenna slung between the fore and aft masts, a similar design to those used by Radio Veronica and, later, Laser 558. The station normally ran at 35 kW until late 1976 when it was decided to operate one transmitter at a time, keeping one in reserve. However, in 1985, Keith York repaired the combiner and the two Collins units ran together again. This resulted in a large mailbag from Turkey, Crete, Greece and Cyprus, the Voice of Peace message reaching those regions for the first time since 1976.
The 20 kW FM transmitter installed in Israel was manufactured by Harris. This, combined with the antenna array, delivered around 80 kW ERP of stereo to the region.
During the station's heyday many notable personalities were involved in broadcasting via the airwaves of the Voice of Peace. John Lennon, The Carpenters, Johnny Mathis and numerous other celebrities recorded ‘messages of peace’ which were transmitted from the ship. John and Yoko Lennon signed hundreds of 'Peace' posters, held on the ship, which Abe Nathan could sell on to raise revenue for the station should times become hard. Thanks to Tavas Advertising, this situation never developed and due to their hard work The Peace Ship was able to function into the early 1980s on Tavas-generated revenue pre-May 1976.
During the mid-1970s the station boasted more than 20 million listeners stretching from the Middle East to southern Europe and Turkey due to the 4GG format used by the professional broadcast team drawn from Britain and Australia and led by Keith Ashton. The VoP had several (mostly short lived) rival offshore radio (and even television) stations during its time on air the most well known of these was the right wing station Arutz Sheva (Channel 7).
Many notable broadcasters spent time as presenters with The Voice of Peace, including Tony Allan, Ken Dickin, Phil Brice, Steve Gordon, Don Stevens, Alan Roberts and Crispian St John who sailed through the Suez Canal onboard with Abe Nathan early 1977, Gavin McCoy,Tony Lyman (known then as Vince Mould), Malcolm Barry, Guy Starkey,Tom Hardy, and Keith York, Kas Collins , Nathan Morley , Steve Marshall, Chris Pearson, Tony Mandell, Nigel Harris and Grant Benson. Johnny Lewis appeared on the VOP in the early eighties as Johnny Moss. Kenny Page is acknowledged as being one of the station's longest serving presenters having worked on board from the 1970s to the 1990s.
A Reunion in Amsterdam, 'The Radio Day' 2006, celebrated the launch of a new book by Hans Knot of station memories in November 4th 2006 and the conference was attended by many media interests including Channel Two Israel who interviewed Don Stevens and showed the newsreel worldwide.
This resulted in Don Stevens making contact with his long lost child Sarit, one whom he prayed for every day, through the good offices of Channel 2, and he was overwhelmed to discover he was part of a three child family.
The contact between Don Stevens and his daughter has been positive and we look forward to the appearance of Don Stevens on middle eastern radio, soon in the near future. An ongoing entry, more news to follow as permission allows.
[edit] Programming
The station primarily produced programs in English (but a small section of the output also included shows in Hebrew, Arabic and French) readily accepted by listeners in all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea who felt the station reflected Western ideals held by the upper classes of the region.
The station had several popular long running shows which ran for almost 20 years, these included Twilight Time (broadcast daily at 18:00, using the Platters hit of the same name, as its introduction theme), The Classical Music programme (daily from 19:30) and Late Night Affair (00.00-03.00).
[edit] Government reaction
The Voice of Peace was generally tolerated by the Israeli Government as Abie Nathan was a beloved personality in the country; however officials at the IBA (Israel Broadcasting Authority) were alarmed at the station's popularity in its first years on air and quickly set about devising a state run pop service, Reshet Gimel, in May 1976.
Nathan was imprisoned on several occasions for violating Israeli laws forbidding contact with "enemy" countries and the PLO In a protest against Israeli policy towards Palestinians he wore nothing but black for 20 years.
[edit] Sinking of the ship
Nathan decided to intentionally sink the ship in international waters on November 28, 1993, following the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords, which he assumed was validation of the station's mission. On the final day of broadcasting, Abie instructed the presenters to play non-stop Beatles records.
[edit] Tributes
In 2003 NMC Music released a CD called the Voice of Peace, featuring songs and jingles from the station. A film about Abie Nathan soon followed called "As the Sun Sets", directed by Eytan Harris.
