Radio Shalom, a Jewish content radio station that’s been on the air for a decade, says it will close permanently if it’s not bailed out of its current financial problems.
Robert Levy, founder and president, said the plug will be pulled if the station does not find a long-term solution by Jan. 31.
Radio Shalom, heard at 1650 AM and online, has always had a precarious existence and operates almost entirely with volunteers, said Stanley Asher, who has been with the station from the beginning, going back to the days before it received a license from the CRTC and could only be picked up with a subcarrier.
The majority of Radio Shalom’s content is French and produced locally. The station’s roots are Sephardi, and its management is still mainly in the hands of members of that community, said Asher, who is in charge of English programming. There is also a small amount of Hebrew.
“Other than an hour here and there, there is no Jewish radio anymore”
Radio Shalom, however, is independent and receives no regular funding from any Jewish organization, he said.
From the beginning, its management has tried repeatedly without success to get support, either an allocation or regular advertising, from Federation CJA or the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of Montreal, he said.
“Except for the occasional small grant of $3,000 or $4,000, say, for a specific item, the answer has been no,” Asher said.
Most revenue today comes from ads –of which Asher acknowledges there are not many, and the rates are modest – and individual private donors, but he could not name any significant ones.
Jewish radio is a tradition among Sephardim, he said, because there are similar stations in the major cities in France.
“Among anglophones, the response I usually get is ‘No one listens to Jewish radio’ or ‘We have CJAD,’” referring to the popular commercial station.
Today, Radio Shalom, whose call letters are CJRS, describes itself as the only such station in North America. There was a Jewish radio station in New York but it has disappeared, said Asher.
“Other than an hour here and there, there is no Jewish radio anymore.”
In a Dec. 30 press release, Levy issued an ultimatum, saying “if the Jewish community does not show an interest in Radio Shalom before Jan. 31, 2016, negotiations will begin to permanently hand over the 1650 AM frequency to another community.”
However, Levy states elsewhere that “efforts are ongoing to find a long-term solution that will allow the radio to stay within the Jewish community.” He and the board are offering to resign to let new people take over.
Asher estimates the station’s annual budget is about $200,000, although he has never seen the figures. Its overhead includes the rental of premises on Ferrier Street, as well as maintenance of extensive equipment. The only regular employee is a technician who keeps things running. A salesperson also solicits ads on a commission basis, he said.
The press release notes that Radio Shalom “has thus far succeeded in honouring its financial obligations,” but indicates that this may not continue unless it finds “a recurrent and stable partnership that will assume responsibility [for] the radio’s administrative and financial needs.”
The station has already suspended its programming on Saturday night and Sunday to pare expenses and replaced it with recorded music.
This means the loss of one of the few popular English programs, an often-contentious phone-in show hosted by Howie Silbiger on Sunday nights.
Radio Shalom does not broadcast during Shabbat. That time is given or sold to a francophone evangelical group, Asher said.
He noted that there’s a big demand for space on the AM dial in Montreal, particularly from other ethnocultural communities. Radio Shalom’s first bid for a spot was turned down by the CRTC, he recalled, and when it finally got a license in March 2006, several other groups were vying for the same space, including the Muslim/Arab community.
Asher said it is hard to be precise about the size of Radio Shalom’s audience. It has never commissioned a professional survey, such as from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, now called Numeris, because of the cost. “There have been informal surveys… but we don’t know,” he admitted.
The press release cited a survey conducted by Jewish Community Foundation statistician Charles Shahar in July that found 84.6 per cent of respondents were “aware of the existence of Radio Shalom.”
Asher thinks that Radio Shalom’s closure would a loss for the entire community, because it offers content not found on mainstream radio. He, for example, hosts shows on books of Jewish interest, travel to Jewish destinations, publicizes community events, and conducts a weekly interview with Israeli Consul General Ziv Nevo Kulman. (Someone else also does that in French.)
While he believes the community establishment should step up and save the station, Asher would not like to see the independence with regard to content that it has so carefully guarded compromised.
In response to a query from The CJN, the federation issued a statement on Dec. 31 saying it “has been in recent contact with Radio Shalom regarding their announcement to potentially close. The station is aware we will be discussing this matter further early in the new year. The recent study, on which we assisted Charles Shahar on the questionnaire, demonstrates that the station is of value to its core listeners.”