KAN, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, which has been chronicling the highs and lows of Israeli life since before the establishment of the state, will mark 90 years of public broadcasting with a special event on Sunday, April 12, across its digital, radio, and television platforms.
The celebration was planned for March but was postponed because of the war.
The programming will take viewers and listeners on a journey through the history of Israeli public broadcasting, from the days of Kol Yerushalayim, founded before the state's establishment in the late 1930s, to the present. The corporation said in a statement that its television, news, and digital content now draw more than five billion views a year.
As part of this programming day, KAN News will air an AI project on Reshet Bet that will briefly restore the unmistakable voice of legendary radio broadcaster Moshe Hovav, one of the founders of public broadcasting in Israel, who died nearly 40 years ago. The 8 a.m. Sunday news edition will be broadcast in his voice.
KAN Digital and the KAN Archive will also launch a major archival project to mark 90 years of public broadcasting, which will be available on the website and in the KAN BOX app. Throughout the day, KAN 11’s news programming will feature content and guests that bring pivotal moments and key figures in the history of public broadcasting back to the screen.
KAN Moreshet will air a series of specials about religious and Jewish traditions and will feature a special edition of the legendary Welcoming the Sabbath program, the oldest radio show in Israel.
Broadcasts will include unforgettable historical clips from the KAN archive such as excerpts from the IDF Parade on Israel’s 20th Independence Day; Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel; the historic Eurovision Song Contests hosted by Israel in 1979, 1999, and 2019, all produced by public broadcasting; and a compilation of songs that emerged from the Eurovision selection contests and song festivals over the years and became classics.
Program includes historical stories, musical guest
The special programming will also revisit the well-known interview in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “being blackmailed over the hot tape affair”; Nachman Shai as IDF spokesman during the First Gulf War; Maccabi Tel Aviv’s triumph in the 1977 European Champions Cup basketball final; coverage of Operation Solomon to bring Ethiopian Jewry to Israel; and the opening sequences from broadcasts of the channel’s flagship shows, such as Mabat, Moked and Kolbotek.
The anniversary will also be marked on the beloved comedy/variety show, Zehu Ze, which will host the band Tislam. The cast of Zehu Ze participated in a new version of the band Benzin's “Shared Home,” one of Israel’s best-loved songs about radio.
The special clip, which includes a tribute to major figures and moments in the history of public broadcasting from the days of Kol Yerushalayim to KAN, will be available on all KAN digital platforms. The clip’s creative concept, script, and AI creation were by Yoni Harlap, with musical arrangement by Amir Lekner.
There will be a special edition of What Was That? in which Roy Bar-Natan will host actress and presenter Rivka Michaeli, a popular figure in public broadcasting, and show her moments from her on-air past.
In addition, a special edition of Culture Agent with Kobi Meidan will be devoted to the best of KAN’s radio, television, and digital programming, and will examine the impact of public broadcasting on Israeli culture over nine decades.
KAN will also revive a children’s radio drama, a once-popular genre that hundreds of thousands of Israeli children loved.
Kan REKA will air special programs emphasizing public broadcasting's contributions to immigrant absorption and to teaching Hebrew.
Makan, the corporation’s Arabic-language television service, will air a special edition of Basita with Norman Issa, as well as the interview program, Seasons of My Life, featuring a lineup of veteran and current stars of Arabic-language public broadcasting. On the show, Pot and Lid, Arabic-language television stars Samah Hassanein and Wassim Kaif will appear as guests.
Radio MAKAN will hold a special broadcast day combining presenters from the past and present, including a salute to the legendary Umm Kulthum radio hour that aired on Kol Yisrael in Arabic. On its digital channel, MAKAN will upload a series of videos illustrating the importance of independence and diversity of representation in public broadcasting.
For full details of the programming, go to the KAN website at kan.org.il