Things have changed, though the voices are familiar
Reshet Bet, the flagship station of what used to be Kol Israel, went on air in its new Kan identity at 6 a.m. on Monday.
The customary one-hour review of morning newspapers at 5 a.m. was missing, but it was integrated into This morning, the news program hosted by Aryeh Golan. That was preceded by a bulletin read by Malachi Hezkiya, who showed that old habits die hard as he signed on and off with “News from Israel Radio.” He got it right in time for the 7 a.m. news.
Kan will be a little more laid back than Israel Radio was, using a somewhat lighter tone of voice and more music to break up the seriousness of discussions.
The review of newspaper headlines was done by Zohar Sadeh in conversation with Golan, who played a segment of the last news broadcast from Israel Radio’s studios in Jerusalem’s Romema neighborhood read by Kobi Barka’i at 11 p.m. Sunday. A series of news readers bade heart-rending farewells to Israel Radio, thanking generations of listeners for their loyalty and current listeners for their messages of appreciation and goodwill.
On Monday morning, Golan utilized some word play on the Kan name – which means “here” – to say the new broadcast entity would provide service just as good from here as it has from there – meaning Romema.
There were a couple of glitches. The first segment of commercials was not heard – a relief to those who left their radios on when regular Reshet Bet broadcasts were cut off and replaced by advertisements and a wide variety of music. Golan apologized, saying the new studio was in an industrial area, not even close to the urban section of Modi’in.
Another glitch occurred at noon, just after Barka’i began reading the news. Suddenly there was dead silence, followed by a commercial, followed by the voice of Esti Perez in the background. Everything was eventually sorted out and Perez was able to run her usual program.
There were numerous references made to Israel Radio throughout the day, along with remarks about a fresh start and the station’s new slogan – Kan v’achshav, which translates as “here and now.”
Former Channel 1 weather reporter Sharon Wexler is now doing that job for Reshet Bet; its former military reporter and commentator Amir Bar-Shalom is now political reporter for Reshet Bet; and Keren Neubach’s Agenda program can now be heard from 10 a.m. Her previous 8 a.m. time slot was taken over by Kalman Libeskind, who has a more political slant than Neubach.
There is other swapping of beats and media, plus a few new names for listeners and viewers to learn. Veteran Broadcaster Shalom Kittal, who was with Israel Radio for many years before becoming head of the news corporation at Chanel Two, came back to Israel Radio a few months ago as a guest co-anchor. He now has a Thursday morning show on Kan Reshet Bet.
Sharon Idan – who updated Israel Radio listeners on developments regarding Knesset amendments to the Public Broadcasting law – now informed the audience of minor changes underway at Kan and details of broadcast content. Curiously, he failed to mention the court case related to splitting the Israel Broadcasting Corporation that led to a vote in the Knesset last week. Golan also refrained, but he did note that for the first time since 1967, the public broadcasting radio stations would not broadcast from Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day.
In an interview with Transportation and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, a member of the Security cabinet, Golan asked whether there would be a more convenient means of getting to Modi’in. Katz told him not to worry, saying, “You will get to Jerusalem and the US Embassy will get to Jerusalem.”
Golan spoke about the possible transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem with Natan Gutman – who is now IBC’s man in Washington, after serving in that capacity for the IBA – yet more proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same.