Hebrew programs continue to be broadcast by SBS following review

September 24, 2017
J‑Wire Staff

SBS has announced its new pro­gram­ming for its foreign language radio broad­casts and has flagged no change to Hebrew schedule.
Mandi Wicks, SBS Director of Audio Language and Content told the The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry: “I am pleased to let you know that the SBS Hebrew program will continue with no change to the current service.”
She added in a media release: “SBS Radio is the most lin­guist­ic­ally diverse public broad­caster in the world and our services have never been more vital providing Aus­trali­an-focused news and inform­a­tion in languages other than English. The imple­ment­a­tion of the new SBS Radio services will ensure SBS Radio is relevant by reflect­ing the changing demo­graph­ics of today’s Australia. While live, linear radio is important to many com­munit­ies, audiences are increas­ingly consuming our content via digital platforms, listening to programs on demand and down­load­ing podcasts. Through the review we will re-align our services to ensure they are tailored to the different com­munit­ies’ needs, deliv­er­ing more audio and online content when and where audiences are consuming it via mobile devices and tablets.”
During a four-week con­sulta­tion process (14 November – 11 December 2016) which gave people and organ­isa­tions the oppor­tun­ity to provide feedback on the Selection Criteria that was being proposed, SBS Radio received more than 600 sub­mis­sions; rep­res­ent­ing 85 languages. The sub­mis­sions received were taken into con­sid­er­a­tion in final­ising the Selection Criteria, which in con­junc­tion with the 2016 Census data, has determ­ined the revised language services to be provided by SBS Radio. The last review of SBS Radio was conducted during 2012 – 2013, after the 2011 Census.
Following the changes, SBS Radio will offer services in 68 languages and the new SBS Radio services will be imple­men­ted on air effective Monday 20 November 2017.
The executive director of The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry Peter Wertheim told J‑Wire: “The SBS Jewish radio program on Sunday at midday will continue with no change to the current service. The program has for many years had a strong following in the Jewish community, espe­cially among the elderly ‚and also Hebrew speakers and Yiddish speakers. That following is now growing rapidly with a new digital media audience. This is a great tribute to the work of the program presenter, Nitza Lowen­stein, and to SBS Radio.”

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