Thank you to the Wavescan staff for a closer look at Israel's Galei Tzahal,, also known as Army Radio.
Jeff: It was recently announced in Israel that the national network known as Galei Tzahal, or Army Radio, will be closed down in two weeks’ time, on Sunday March 1st. So, what exactly is Israeli Army Radio, and what is its history? Ray Robinson in Los Angeles has been investigating.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. Many countries have, or have had, radio stations set up to provide news and entertainment from home for military personnel while they are serving overseas; you can think of AFRTS, AFN in Germany, AFKN in Korea and AFVN in Vietnam, the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), the Canadian Forces Network (CFN), German Army Radio which operated in Finland and Norway, the Radio Forces Françaises de Berlin which operated in the French Sector of West Berlin, and so on. But, Israeli Army Radio is not like any of those.
Ever since the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, fixed-term military service has been compulsory for all Jewish men and women in Israel – currently two years eight months for men, and two years for women. Arab citizens of Israel may also serve in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) on a voluntary basis. So to a large extent, almost the entire population of the country either is or has been a part of the IDF, serving within Israel for the defense of the country.
On September 24, 1950, the IDF opened a station named Galei Tzahal, which literally translates as “IDF Waves” but it’s familiarly known in English as Army Radio. Transmissions began with a trumpet blast at 6:30 p.m. followed by HaTikva, the Israeli national anthem. An improvised studio had been set up inside a former school building in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, with army blankets hung on the walls to muffle background noise. It was the first competition for the government station, Kol Israel, and programs produced for soldiers which had previously been aired on Kol Israel were then transferred to the new station.
The first listing for Galei Tzahal in the World Radio Handbook is in the 1952 edition, which lists it then with three 250 watt medium wave transmitters on 1304, 1336 and 1390 kHz, and one 1 kW shortwave transmitter on the out-of-band frequency of 6725 kHz. Broadcast hours were limited to 5:30-9:00 PM local time daily, with mostly informational and educational content for soldiers and immigrants, all in Hebrew.
The station's legal status was formalized in 1956 under Israel Broadcasting Authority legislation, which embedded it within the national media framework while preserving its IDF affiliation and operational independence from civilian oversight.
By the early 1960’s, Galei Tzahal, Army Radio, began expanding its reach, gradually attracting a wider civilian audience through modest increases in programming diversity, though it remained predominantly military-oriented until later decades.
In the 1970’s, Army Radio expanded their broadcast hours following the Yom Kippur war, and listener popularity surged as programming evolved to include extended news updates and cultural segments, positioning the station as a key alternative to the state-run Kol Israel. Remember, there was no private independent broadcasting allowed in Israel at that time – Abie Nathan’s Voice of Peace started off the coast of Tel Aviv in 1973, and George Otis’ Voice of Hope started just north of the Lebanese border fence in ‘Free Lebanon’ in 1979, but apart from those, Army Radio was the only station in Israel not directly run by the government and having at least a modicum of editorial independence.
Army Radio subsequently grew into a nationwide radio network, broadcasting on both medium wave and shortwave, and later on FM. It has been partially funded by the state, and partially by advertising – another differentiator between Israeli Army Radio and the forces stations of other countries. It has been a full-service network, running 24-hour programming in Hebrew, encompassing news, current affairs, cultural discussions, and music.
The 1990’s marked a pivotal diversification. With the demise of Abie Nathan’s Voice of Peace in 1993 and the licensing of private commercial FM stations, Army Radio launched a second channel on October 31, 1993, Galgalatz, dedicated to 24-hour pop music, traffic reports, and casual programming aimed at the youth demographic, leaving the main channel to focus on its core news/talk format. Galgalatz quickly became one of Israel's top-rated stations, and by decade's end, the station had solidified its dual-channel model, balancing its usefulness to the military with widespread civilian appeal amid Israel's media liberalization. By 2024, Galgalatz commanded approximately 28 percent of daily listenership, underscoring its role as the nation's leading pop music outlet.
Many Israeli broadcasters first learnt their craft at Army Radio, which provided training in many media skills. However, Army Radio’s military oversight has persistently sparked controversies, including accusations of left-leaning political bias, detachment from its soldier-oriented mandate, and undue influence on public opinion. This has prompted governmental committees and legislative proposals in recent years to evaluate its structure. At various times it was suggested that the network should be privatized, or at least separated from the IDF.
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| A reporter for Army Radio, taken in 2019 |
Until December 2013, Army Radio broadcast 24 hours daily on 9235 and 15850 kHz shortwave to Europe, as well as on medium wave and FM. The medium wave transmissions were ended in 2015, and since then, the two Army Radio channels have operated exclusively on FM networks within Israel. However, in 2024 when the IDF were increasingly deployed in Gaza and along the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria, it was found there were many areas where the FM signals didn’t penetrate. So, for the main Galei Tzahal channel, they went back to supplementing the FM network with powerful medium wave transmitters – on 945 kHz from Yavne south of Tel Aviv that gave good coverage throughout Gaza, and on 1287 kHz in the north that gave extended coverage along the length of the northern border.
However, in recent years, the ongoing controversies surrounding the station’s perceived editorial biases, often characterized as left-leaning or elitist, have fueled political pressures for change. The parallels are very obvious with the way Federal funding in the USA has now been cut off from National Public Radio and of course, the Voice of America.
In December, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz asked the government to shut down the main Army Radio channel known as Galei Tzahal. He framed the decision as a necessity for Israel’s security, saying that Army Radio was established by the Israeli government as a military station to serve as both a mouthpiece and an ear for IDF soldiers and their families — not as a platform for voicing opinions, many of which attack the IDF and the IDF soldiers themselves. And that’s the crux of the matter. It’s not really a financial issue – the station’s annual budget is only
52 million shekels (US$14 million), and roughly 87% of that is funded by advertising and sponsorships. So rather it’s about perceived editorial bias at what is tantamount to a public broadcaster, and the awkwardness of having young Army Radio reporters interviewing senior government and military officials, to whom they are subordinate. The very existence of this station has been a paradox unique to Israel.
A few weeks ago in January, after a unanimous vote by the Israeli Cabinet, the Prime Minister’s office announced that the Defence Minister’s request had been approved. There have been protests, petitions against the closure, and legal action from the Attorney General, but currently Israel Army Radio is still set to close by Sunday, March 1st. Whether it will re-emerge as a private station or under some civilian oversight structure independent of the IDF remains to be seen.
Back to you, Jeff.
(Ray Robinson/Wavescan)
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