Israel Army Radio , commonly known in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
by its acronym
Galatz , is a nationwide
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i radio network operated by the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
and funded mainly by the
Ministry of DefenseThe Ministry of Defense of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Israel from internal and external military threats...
. The station is based in
JaffaJaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa is located south of Tel Aviv, Israel on the Mediterranean Sea...
and broadcasts news, music, traffic reports and educational programs to the general public as well as some entertainment and informational programs to soldiers. The network has one main station, and an offshoot -
GalgalatzGalgalatz is an Israeli radio station operated by Israel Army Radio. This is the second of two I.D.F-operated stations, while the first one is Galatz. The station was established in 1993 and broadcasts primarily nonstop pop music and traffic reports, and few content programs...
(Hebrew:גלגל"צ) - a smaller station which focuses on music and traffic reports free of commercial advertisements.
Israel Army Radio , commonly known in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
by its acronym
Galatz , is a nationwide
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i radio network operated by the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
and funded mainly by the
Ministry of DefenseThe Ministry of Defense of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Israel from internal and external military threats...
. The station is based in
JaffaJaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa is located south of Tel Aviv, Israel on the Mediterranean Sea...
and broadcasts news, music, traffic reports and educational programs to the general public as well as some entertainment and informational programs to soldiers. The network has one main station, and an offshoot -
GalgalatzGalgalatz is an Israeli radio station operated by Israel Army Radio. This is the second of two I.D.F-operated stations, while the first one is Galatz. The station was established in 1993 and broadcasts primarily nonstop pop music and traffic reports, and few content programs...
(Hebrew:גלגל"צ) - a smaller station which focuses on music and traffic reports free of commercial advertisements. The network broadcasts 24 hours a day and 7 days a week in Hebrew. Its staff includes both soldiers and civilians. The main programme is also broadcast via
shortwaveShortwave radio operates in the frequency range of 3,000 kHz to 30,000 kHz . Short wavelength corresponds to high frequency given the inverse relationship between frequency and wavelength, thus, “shortwave radio” is denominated so because its wavelengths are shorter than the long wave-lengths...
to
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. There also is a livestream on the internet.
Galatz officially started its transmissions in 1950 as a continuance of the Hagana transmission to the Jewish public during the
Israeli War of IndependenceThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
. In 1956, its status was defined within the Israeli Broadcasting Authority law (paragraph 48). According to this law, the IDF has a free hand as long as the Army Radio broadcasts information for soldiers, but when it comes to programs to the wide public, the station must receive an approval from the civilian authority, namely the IBA. In practice, the IBA approval is merely a technical measure, as the two organizations try to keep a clear distinction between them. Despite being both state-owned non-profitable organizations, they often compete for public attention.
The station expanded over the years. War or military tension often served as a pretext to an expansion which persisted when normal life was restored. In 1967, during the
Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967 was a war between the Israel army and the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the...
, the IDF conquered the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
and confiscated the equipment of the popular and modernly equipped Jordanian radio station in
RamallahRamallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank adjacent to al-Bireh with a population nearly 25,500...
. This equipment was given to Galatz and allowed it to upgrade its broadcasts. In 1973, during the
Yom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of...
(a.k.a October War), Galatz became the first Israeli radio station to broadcast around the clock. These 24 hours a day, seven days a week, broadcasts remained ever since, and increased the popularity of the station among the wide public. In 1982, during the
Lebanon WarThe 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later also known colloquially in Israel as the First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
, the station started to cooperate with the
Israeli Educational TelevisionThe Israeli Educational Television is a state-owned public television network which used to concentrate on producing and broadcasting programs for schoolchildren. The first Israeli children's show, featuring Kishkashta, aired on Channel 1 in the 1970s and '80s...
(IETV). This wartime cooperation led to a news and interviews daily show, which became very popular. This show,
Erev Hadash , today a co-production of the IETV with the IBA, changed the way news have been presented in Hebrew. The cooperation with IETV ended in 1994.
Galatz was the first radio station in Hebrew to abandon the formal and somewhat artificial language in which programs used to be presented. Its entertainment programs to soldiers were the first to use colloquial Hebrew on the air. Since it began to broadcast its own news bulletins it has been using a relaxed less-formal speech, rather than the strict formal style of IBA's
Kol YisraelKol Yisrael is Israel's public domestic and international radio service, operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority....
(קול ישראל),
Voice of Israel) hourly bulletins.
This presentation style proved very popular, especially among two age groups: youngsters and senior citizens. The youngsters related better to the less-formal contemporary language, while the senior citizens, among whom there were fewer native Hebrew speakers, who felt more comfortable with the colloquial language, than with the higher lesser-used Hebrew.
The station managed by a civilian who is selected by the
defense ministerThe Defense Minister of Israel is head of the Ministry of Defense in Israel. The post is considered to be the second most important position in the Israeli cabinet, and usually has a Deputy Minister. The Defense Minister is also a permanent member of the Security Cabinet...
for a 3-5 year term. He's titled as "station commander" and has an acting rank of
Aluf MishneAluf is the term used for General and Admiral in the Israel Defense Forces . In addition to the Aluf rank itself, there are four other ranks which are derivatives of the word...
equivalent to that of a Colonel, although his job is particularly managerial and editorial. The current station commander is Yitzhak Tunic.
The station is considered a division of the Education and Youth Corps.