Digitizing History: Palestine Broadcasting Service, 1936-1948

Radio Broadcasting For Schools and Youth


Ussishkin Elementary School, Kfar Sava, Eretz Yisrael,1946	BBC Radio for Schools, England 1945

Another way for the Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS) to be used as a tool for public diplomacy was to reach an even wider audience through the educational system, the school systems. In the Hebrew Yishuv that meant via the Vaad Leumi, Department of Education and through them directly to the schools themselves. It also meant that the PBS would learn what subjects were seen as important to the Yishuv. Who were the educators that were having an influence on the next generation, and where necessary to add to the diet of Bialik, Tchernichovsky, Agnon, Leah Goldberg, Shin Shalom, and the like, British, American, and even Western writers into the mix. Bringing to the classroom, via radio broadcasts, works by Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist), Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer), Walter Scott (Ivanhoe), Arthur Conan Doyle (Hound of the Baskervilles), Cervantes (Don Quixote) and Victor Hugo (Le Miserables), among others. It also meant that these works were translated and available in Hebrew, so that they could be included in recommended book lists to teachers and high school students to be read/studied for educational purposes or even just reading for pleasure.

This was outreach on an on-going manner to teachers, who were seen as influencers and students who were future leaders, not to mention their parents. On November 30, 1945, the newly appointed director of the PBS, Edwin Samuel, gave a radio address, in English, on broadcasting to schools. The transcript was translated into Hebrew and published in Hagalgal magazine, Vol 3, Issue no. 19 (December 6, 1945), pages 4-5. While I don't have the original English version and I don't know of any recordings of that program, I translated the Hebrew text back into English,with a little help from Google translate, and then after a little editing ran it through a text to speech reader, recording the results. You can read the English version, while listening to a AI voice re-enactment of the program here:

INTRODUCTION: Radio Broadcasting to Schools, by Edwin Samuel (November 30, 1945)
In this broadcast Edwin Samuel pointed out that the publication "Hagalgal" (weekly) was a family magazine, and only one-page, sometimes slightly more, was devoted to school and youth matters. That was why the other publications were deemed necessary. As Samuel said: "We invest a lot of time, money and energy in our broadcasts for children. Some of the best teachers in Israel are engaged in writing skits for us, both for the children's amusement and for teaching purposes. But the broadcast is like a ballet - an act that passes quickly; Great preparations are made before each show, and after - it goes by in an instant and nothing remains. But nothing will be left for anything? Why don't we publish the best broadcasts for children again? Many children did not listen during the broadcast, and children who will want to review them a second time. And many children are educated in homes and schools that do not have a radio, and I think that for all of these children, a Hebrew publication will be of great interest." Another advantage of publishing print material was that "..while the transmission to the schools can only be done via the ear. It must also include the eye. The children, as well as the teachers, must see something in front of them while listening, in order to acquire a pictorial concept. We are currently printing a leaflet in Hebrew, which contains the content of all the educational broadcasts for children every three months. This was done by the advisory committee for Hasket V'Haskel - Listen and Learn. The bulletin is illustrated..."

	Listen and Learn (Hasket V'Haskel) Hasket V'Haskel (Listen and Learn) was a quarterly bulletin, the first quarter published included information on programs broadcasts from October-December 1943. It expained how the programs were organized into series. It allowed the school to plan ahead as to which programs could be better matched to the classroom situation. The bulletin included photos and drawings.
	קול ירושלים לתלמיד: שידורים לבתי-הספר A quarterly bulletin that replaced "Hasket V'Haskel". It was aimed at older high school students. It illustrated how the individual programs were organized as part of series of programs. The first publication covered the school year November 1946 till March 1947.
	Wall Chart Schedule Voice of Jerusalem for Schools and Youth (Kol Yerushalayim le Noar), 1946 (interactive) These wall charts were sent freedirectly to the school, to be a guide to assist the teachers and principal to plan and organize weekly classes to listen to the radio broadcasts that they felt were more suitable for their school timetable.
	Voice of Jerusalem for Schools (Kol Yerushalayim LaNoar): Monthly Notice Board charts for Schools - free gift with Hagalgal magazine, 1947-48. : Schedules for Broadcasts to Schools This was a monthly publication, a slightly edited version of the wall chart, that came as a free 4-page supplement with the monthly Hagalgal magazine. The idea was that the student would pin the center fold to a notice board, at home or in school, and refer to the chart to see when his favorite program would be broadcast. Included times in the morning when the student was at school, and in the afternoon, when the student was home.
	Kol Yerushalayim LaNoar (Voice of Jerusalem For Youth): Newsletters This 4-page newsletter was published monthly and came, like the notice-board schedules, above, as a free supplement with a subscription to the weekly magazine "Hagalgal". Only 6 newsletters in total were published, so far as I am aware. The first newsletter dated 24 April 1947, came free with "Hagalgal", Volume 4, issue No. 38. The 6th and last newsletter (11 September, 1947) accompanied "Hagalgal" Volume 5, issue No. 8. Hagalgal stoppped publication at Volume 5, issue No. 37 (8 April 1948).
	Hagalgal: Youth Page - Amud Hanoar (עמוד הנוער) This was a weekly column edied by Yehudit Spector-Yedidya, who was overall responsible for the school and youth programs both broadcast and in print. * That sentiment equally applied to all the publications. Today, while we do not have access to recordings of the programs, or even, in many cases, the transcripts, at least we have the printed material, as witness to the "time, money and energy" that went into radio broadcasting at the Palestine Broadcasting Service, 1936-1948. * * * * *

Listener's Planning Committees

In addion, outreach to schools, both elementary and high school, offered the PBS staff a perfect opportunity to get out of the studio and meet with their audiences in any number of locations throughout the country. Tel-Aviv, Petach-Tikva, Kfar Sava and Haifa. Through Listeners Planning Committees and school programs, the PBS management could get to know the local leaders, including the local municipal governments up close, to inform them of the latest developments in British society, and at the same time, listen to their needs, demands, priorities. See the section on the listener's planning committee, as it included visits to schools around the country.