Radio dialogue opens in Ramallah

By Peter Feuilherade
BBC Monitoring

Apart from being "pro-peace" the station is going to be apolitical

A new English-language FM radio station intended to promote Israeli-Palestinian dialogue has joined the crowded airwaves in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

RAM FM, operating from Ramallah in the West Bank, is backed by a South African media group previously involved in setting up a similar station before the end of the apartheid era in the 1980s to promote inter-racial harmony.

The station, an independent commercial venture, is to broadcast a mix of 20 news bulletins a day, chat shows, entertainment and pop music.

"Being from South Africa, where independence and freedom of speech were hard-won victories, we understand these things better than others... we are committed to getting both sides of the story," RAM FM news director Andrew Bolton said.

High target

RAM FM has a target audience of around 500,000 English speakers between the ages of 18 and 49 in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Station manager Maysoun Odeh-Gangat said market research had shown that 40% of Palestinians and 60% of Israelis speak English "and would listen to an English station if the content were engaging".

RAM FM is based on South Africa's 702 Talk Radio, which has been hailed by former President Nelson Mandela for its role in the transition from apartheid to democracy.

Isaac Kirsh, executive director of RAM FM and chairman of South Africa's Primedia Foundation, said he had applied for a licence from the Palestinian Authority because "there was too much red tape on the Israeli side".

Audience battle

"We are apolitical. We will not toe any political line, other than being pro-peace," RAM FM news director Andrew Bolton said.

A similar peace-oriented station, All For Peace Radio, has been on the air for two years.

It is a joint Israeli/Palestinian station which broadcasts in English, Hebrew and Arabic, using a transmitter in Ramallah.

A major difficulty facing such ventures aimed at Israeli and Palestinian listeners is that the radio audience in the Palestinian territories is smaller than that for television.

Overcrowding on the airwaves, too, has intensified competition for audiences.

In the past decade, the Palestinian Information Ministry has licensed over 70 independently owned local TV and radio stations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

But RAM FM's mix of music, news and entertainment may be a hit with diverse audiences, all attracted for different reasons.

As one listener commented in the Jerusalem Post's electronic chatroom: "I've been listening to their test broadcast for months now. A nice playlist. Hope the politics doesn't spoil quite a nice pop station."