AUDIO: On the air in Israel: hear it here!

July 12, 2007

My partner, Greg, has engineered a terrific audio introduction to the radio program we would love to start producing ASAP. Well, I think it's terrific.

But hey, listen for yourself and let us know what you think:

Click Play to hear the program demo: in Microsoft's browser, IE, click Play twice
(give it just a little time to load up from another site)

And here's an amazing thing. One week ago today I was visiting executives at Arutz Sheva: Baruch Gordon, Director of English Media for IsraelNationalNews.com and Yishai Fleisher, head of programming for IsraelNationalRadio.com, a division of IsraelNationalNews.com.

We talked about many ways our respective efforts can reinforce and help each other. One idea was the possibility of hitting a circuit of U.S. cities with "An Evening of Jewish-Christian Dialogue."

What fun, especially if we could wrap the discourse with mini-concerts featuring Jewish musicians on the front-end and the back.

Then, while visiting, Yishai invited me to join him on his show, Yishai Fleisher and friends, that same afternoon. How cool is that? Such an honor!

Here's the portion of Yishai's program on which I was his guest:

Click Play to hear Brian on-air with Yishai Fleisher: in Microsoft's IE click Play twice
(again, give it a few seconds to load up from another site)

There are two other ways you can access these mp3s. Click on the option you prefer:

1. Program Demo: Download or play inside your browser
   
2. Brian as a guest on Yishai Fleisher's program: Download or play inside your browser

Let us know what you think: post feedback! Send an email!

And if you're not aware of the unlikely path that has brought us to this point, take look at prior posts...

• Impossible: posted Monday, May 14, 2007
• Is Jesus G-d?: posted Thursday, May 31, 2007
• IJS: Israel-Jerusalem Syndrome: posted Monday, June 25, 2007
  
• Radical Islam hits home: posted Wednesday the 4th of July 2007
  

This Week In Jerusalem is a production of ZION PUBLIC RADIO,
an educational 501(c)(3) U.S. nonprofit organization
incorporated in the State of Texas

Presenting... Zion Public Radio

Friday, August 31, 2007

Can't believe it's been so long since my last post. It feels like I've been submerged in a kind of ectoplasmic Twilight Zone: yech. Now, at least for 7 days, I have surfaced to try and catch my breath. Then once again I plunge into a world far different from our Western U.S. homes.

Sound a bit abstruse? Sorry about that. Could be oxygen deprivation. Or maybe it's because I've aged another year! Okay, so here's a headline summary; maybe it'll clarify...

ZION PUBLIC RADIO, A NONPROFIT CORPORATION, LAUNCHED ON AUGUST 3RD

SEQUESTERED FOR 3½ WEEKS COMPLETING IRS FORM 1023

LEAVING SEPTEMBER 7 FOR ANOTHER MONTH IN ISRAEL

FOUR RADIO PROGRAMS PLANNED

Don't worry. As I write these words I'm battling the enemy of TMD (Too Much Detail). Oh the agony. Here then, for those of you who know me, are shockingly brief synopses:

ZION PUBLIC RADIO (ZPR) is the umbrella organization for our emerging radio-Internet-podcast program, This Week In Jerusalem. ZPR is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation. It's structured so that, as feasible, it can produce or acquire other programs down the road.

IRS FORM 1023 is the U.S. government's application for official recognition as a 501(c)(3). The law allows new nonprofits up to 2 years before filing this lovely document, but all-in-all it seemed best to do it now and get 'er done. Meanwhile ZPR is, nonetheless, a fully registered State of Texas nonprofit corporation.

And 1 week from today I leave again for Israel. It will be my third full month there this year, most of it in Jerusalem.

My cohort in this venture is Greg Cromartie. While he is in his Texas studio and I'm about 8,000 miles away, we plan to produce 4 one-hour programs.

Why are we moving so fast? 3 major holy days are happening in Israel during these four weeks:

• Rosh Hashanah: the Jewish New Year of 5768!


• Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement; and


• Sukkot, also known as The Feast of Booths--a full week of party-hearty time in Israel

Wow, what rich opportunities to record unique Israeli sounds and intriguing interviews.

Soon, I'm sure, ZPR will be inviting Charter Members. But more about that in another post.

Meanwhile if you haven't heard the audio clips from Israel, especially our sample program, take a listen. It's in the post called On the air in Israel: hear it here!

Click on What Do You Think at the bottom of each post. And then, well, do it! Let us know what you think. Greg and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Crazy as it often feels...here we go. Oy vey. Grateful for your encouragement,

Brian

P.S. Feel a need to read ZPR's incorporation, bylaws and/or Form 1023? Click on this line to shoot me an email with your request. I'll send links to our pdf copies.

Impossible

May 14, 2007:

Last night I was reading a novel enjoying the escape into make-believe. Then without warning the author used a character to thrust a sucker-quote. It cut my heart so fast at first I didn't feel it. Then all at once my mind protested, Ow! And, wow.

"There are three stages in every work of G-d: Impossible; Difficult; Done."
(attributed to J. Hudson Taylor, 1832-1905)

Impossible, ha! Along with a number of colorful expletives Impossible! has been the protest assaulting my brain and hammering my heart for two weeks and a day. That's how long it's been since my soul "heard" a burning-bush kind of order, a Level 10 command from God: "Go! Return to Israel!"

Trust me, I know how that sounds. On Sunday morning, May 6, while driving in my car it was an unmistakable mandate. But as days and weeks have passed jeering thoughts have mocked what seemed to be so clear. "A call from God? Yeah, right. Impossible."

I was just there, in Israel, last February. Our oldest son is a student in Jerusalem where he has lived 2 years. The main reason for that visit was spending time with him.

But there was another thing, a wild dream shared with an old college friend. His name is Greg Cromartie. For about 30 years he has engineered, produced and hosted countless radio programs. Our far-fetched aspiration, something only G-d could pull off? Develop and produce our own radio program: one that is...

• A regular broadcast aimed at English-speaking goyim listeners in N. America,
• A lively, you-are-there kind of production that brings our audience the voices and the sounds of Israel,
• A platform featuring patriotic and provocative Israelis,
• A format urging listeners to listen, and listen hard, to Israeli points of view,
• And so perhaps for all of us to hear the heart of G-d himself.

When I returned to the U.S. on February 26 Greg and I realized that we had secured:

1. A U.S. radio network willing to put our program on their satellite,
2. An Israeli news network willing to let us use any of their broadcast materials,
3. A well-connected Israeli citizen who can get us in front of almost anybody in that country's government,
4. An serendipitous new friendship with a man named Sam who has just started a job as the most recently appointed Director at Yad Vashem--aka, The Holocaust Museum: the very soul of Israel.

Basically Greg and I found ourselves with a wealth of material to produce a program.

Everything except for funding. Of course. And how much would it take to get our broadcast on the air by Yom Kippur this fall? Only about $300,000.00.

Impossible.

Which is why 15 days ago when I "heard" God's order, my first reaction was something like, "Impossible!" And to which I felt, in response, a deep, unhappy growl.

After clearing it with a few close friends, and especially my wife, that same day I booked another trip. While Debbie and our youngest son are at a boys' camp for four-and-a-half weeks, I will be in Israel. I leave on Wednesday, June 6, and am scheduled to return on Monday, July 9.

After charging the airline tickets to a credit card I drafted an overall budget for a month in Israel: $10,000.00. That's big--big--money for us. It is in fact impossible.

Within days of committing myself to the trip, $3,500.00 of the needed $10,000.00 came in. And since? Nada but a number of looks that seem to question my sanity. Not that I don't wonder too...

So, wanna sink some shekels into an impossible thing? Send money now.

And if the remaining balance doesn't show up before it's time to leave? I find this prospect terrifying. Only one thing scares me more; I've heard that growl and do not want to hear him roar.

Brian