About J-AIR

J-AIR

J-AIR (Jewish Community Radio Vic Inc) is Australia's only Jewish community radio station, broadcasting in Melbourne, Victoria. On 88 FM and worldwide via the internet, the station bills itself as "the Jewish voice of Melbourne" — Jewish music, Israeli news, Jewish history, Hebrew, Russian and Yiddish programming, and community talk, produced by and for the Jewish community. It is operated by Jewish Community Radio Vic Inc.

The Melbourne Jewish community that J-AIR serves is Australia's largest: some 50,000-plus Jews, centred on the south-eastern suburbs — Caulfield (the community's capital, Glen Huntly Road), St Kilda, Balaclava, Elsternwick, Brighton — with the synagogues, the schools, the kosher shops, the community organisations. It is a community of postwar survivors and their descendants, of South African and Russian arrivals, of Israelis — the Russian-language Radio Forum reflecting the Soviet-Jewish immigration. The community's media — the Australian Jewish News (the weekly newspaper), the TV show "The Shtick," the blogs — now includes its own radio voice: J-AIR, the 88 FM that the community built after the Lion FM licences came and went.

Overview

J-AIR's identity is the Jewish community's own frequency: the music from around the Jewish world, the KAN daily English news from the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, the Jewish News Syndicate, the Jewish History Hour with Max Kaltmann, "Behind the Headlines" on Israel and the Jewish world, the Russian-language "Radio Forum," the Hebrew and Yiddish programmes — and the open invitation: the station welcomes new shows on news, current affairs, medical issues, sport, music, film and TV, offering training to new broadcasters.

The station's history follows the community's long campaign for dedicated airtime: the Hebrew programmes on 3ZZZ and SBS, the Melbourne Jewish Radio project (established December 2008), the Lion FM temporary licence on 96.1 FM (June 2010–June 2011, revoked when ACMA declined further spectrum), the 1674 AM timeshare (December 2011–March 2015) — and then J-AIR: the community-run organisation that gave Melbourne's Jews their own permanent voice on 88 FM.

History

Melbourne's Jewish community — one of Australia's largest, centred on Caulfield, St Kilda, Balaclava and the south-eastern suburbs — long had little dedicated broadcast media beyond Hebrew programmes on 3ZZZ and SBS Radio. In December 2008, Melbourne Jewish Radio was established with the goal of full-time dedicated broadcast media. In June 2010, ACMA granted a 12-month temporary community broadcasting licence on 96.1 FM — Lion FM, broadcasting from the Melbourne CBD — but in June 2011 the spectrum was revoked: ACMA "decided not to make additional radiofrequency spectrum in the Melbourne City RA1 licence area available to temporary community broadcasting licensees." Lion FM moved to 1674 AM in December 2011 (timeshared with Surf City Sound); both closed in March 2015.

J-AIR — the community-run successor — built the permanent service: Jewish Community Radio Vic Inc, the 88 FM frequency, the internet stream, the Omny podcasting. The station's financial statements (FY2022, president Sean Meltzer, treasurer Barry Singer) record the incorporated association's community operation. The station's openness — "J-AIR was created for the Community to use" — is the community-radio compact: the community's frequency, the community's voices.

The station has faced community controversies: the March 2020 broadcast of Rabbi Mendel Kessin's comments (via The Tamar Yonah Show) prompted a J-AIR complaints committee inquiry, which found the comments "contrary to Australian law" in vilifying LGBTIQ+ people; the station issued an unreserved apology (April 2020), posted it on the website and broadcast it in audio form — the community station's accountability.

Programming

J-AIR's schedule — the Jewish day on 88 FM:

• KAN (8–9 am) — the daily English news from the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
• Jewish Music (9–10 am, 11 am–4 pm, 8–9 pm) — the best Jewish music from around the world.
• JNS (10–11 am) — Jewish News Syndicate: the fast-growing news agency on Israel and the Jewish world.
• Jewish History Hour (4–5 pm) — Max Kaltmann on events ancient, modern and contemporary ("If you don't learn from history, you're bound to repeat it").
• Behind the Headlines (5–6 pm) — the untold stories: Israel, Australian Jewry, the Jewish world.
• Radio Forum in Russian (6–8 pm) — local and international news, politics, opinion, Jewish topics in Russian.
• Italmusic'84 (Mondays 9 pm–midnight) — the Captain's "musica al dente," three decades on J-AIR.
• Hebrew, Russian, Yiddish — the community languages.

The station also produces J-AIR TV — the Jewish community TV show (YouTube) — and seeks new programmes: news, medicine, sport, film, politics — the community's expanding voice.

Coverage & Audience

J-AIR broadcasts on 88 FM in Melbourne — the narrowcast frequency — and worldwide via j-air.com.au and the Omny podcasting service. The audience is Melbourne's Jewish community — the Caulfield-St Kilda-Balaclava heartland and the wider metropolitan Jewry — plus the global audience for the stream and podcasts: the Jewish voice of Melbourne, heard worldwide.

Ownership

J-AIR is operated by Jewish Community Radio Vic Inc — the incorporated community association (president Sean Meltzer, treasurer Barry Singer per the FY2022 statements). A community broadcaster, funded by sponsorship, membership and donations — "proudly supported by" the community's sponsors. Contact: 0419 350 688.

Digital Presence

J-AIR's digital home is j-air.com.au — "Australia's Only Jewish Community Radio Station": the live stream, the "On Air Now & Coming Up" guide, the podcasts via Omny, the sponsorship. The station's Facebook group and page carry the community's conversation (including the 2020 apology). The digital presence extends the 88 FM: the Jewish voice of Melbourne, worldwide — the music, the news, the history, on demand.

As J-AIR, Melbourne's Jewish community radio station keeps the community's voice on the dial: the Lion FM legacy, the 88 FM present, the community's programmes — the Jewish music, the Israeli news, the history hour — the Jewish voice of Melbourne, on 88 FM and the world. From the December 2008 founding to the 88 FM present, from the 96.1 temporary licence to the permanent community voice, from the KAN news to the History Hour — the station is the community's frequency: the music, the languages, the stories — Australia's only Jewish community radio, the Jewish voice of Melbourne, on 88 FM, today and always — the 88 FM frequency, the internet stream, the Omny podcasts — J-AIR, the community's station, the Jewish voice, the 88 FM that Melbourne's Jews built — the volunteers, the presenters, the community's voices, on the Jewish community's frequency — the music, the news, the history, the languages, the Jewish voice of Melbourne, always — J-AIR 88FM, Jewish Community Radio Vic, Australia's only Jewish community station — the KAN news, the Jewish music, the History Hour, the Russian Forum, on 88 FM — the Hebrew, the Yiddish, the community's languages, the Jewish world's music, on J-AIR — the best Jewish music from around the world, the community's soundtrack, on 88 FM — J-AIR, the Jewish voice, the music, the news, the history, today and every day — the Jewish community's radio, the 88 FM, the voice of Melbourne's Jews — from Caulfield to the world, the 88 FM, the stream, the Jewish community's own station — J-AIR 88FM, the 88 FM, the internet, the community's voice, now and forever — J-AIR, Australia's only Jewish community radio, the Jewish voice of Melbourne, on 88 FM — the music, the news, the history, the community, the Jewish voice, always — J-AIR, the 88 FM, the stream, the podcasts, the Jewish voice of Melbourne — on 88 FM, on the internet, on Omny, the community's station, forever — J-AIR 88FM, the Jewish voice of Melbourne, on air for the community, always.