Kol Yisrael (קול ישראל lit. "Voice of Israel", also "Israel Radio") is Israel's public domestic and international radio service, operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.
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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 Israel 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 Israel 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.
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.
Kol Yisrael channels include:
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 April 1, 2008, the only shortwave broadcast left of Israel Radio International is Persian. To listen to all other languages, including English, users are pointed to the new official Israel Radio International website.
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.