JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s first all-sports talk radio went on the air.
Israel Sports Radio, which launched Monday afternoon, will feature predominately English-language broadcasts with eight hours of continuous original programming five days a week.
Among the subjects to be covered are American football, hiking, soccer, basketball, baseball, rugby, cricket and fitness, as well as coverage of sports in America. Professional and amateur sports will be covered.
Israel Sports Radio is the brainchild of Ari Louis and Andy Gershman, the former co-hosts of American Sports Talk on Rusty Mike Radio, an Israeli Internet broadcast in English, and Josh Halickman, founder of the sports blog “The Sports Rabbi.”
Since its soft launch in July, the site already has attracted 6,000 unique visitors from 25 countries. It is expected to appeal mainly to Anglos in Israel and English speakers around the world, all with some kind of sports connection to Israel.
“We are eliminating yet another excuse for people not to make aliyah," Louis said. “Our motto is simple: Building Love of Israel, One Sports Fan at a Time!”
The station has interviewed Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, and his Sacramento Kings’ teammate Jason Thompson; Israeli soccer star Tamir Cohen; American-born Israeli basketball player David Blu (Bluthenthal); women’s pro basketball star Shay Doron; Orthodox Jewish boxer Dmitriy Salita; and three-time Israeli national figure skating champion Tamar Katz. The interviews may be found exclusively on the station’s website.
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