About Radio Shalom

Radio Shalom

Overview

Radio Shalom is the Jewish radio service broadcasting on CKZW 1650 AM in Montreal, Quebec. It is a non-profit, around-the-clock station that carries French-language Jewish programming, at times in English and Hebrew as well, made up of news, talk, community discussion and a wide range of Jewish music. The station operates under an arrangement that is unusual in Canadian broadcasting: the same 1650 AM frequency is shared with La Radio Gospel, a French-language evangelical Christian service, which fills the hours when Jewish religious law prevents the station's Jewish staff from operating it — principally Shabbat and Jewish holidays — and also airs at other times during the week. The licence is held by Communications Média Évangélique (Gospel Media Communications), and the station broadcasts with 1,000 watts as a Class C AM signal, in HD Radio, with the signal also carried on 106.3 CKIN-HD3 in Montreal. Radio Shalom's own website sums up its identity in one line: "Radio Shalom, c'est la radio juive!" — Radio Shalom is the Jewish radio station. Its survival story, involving a complete shutdown of Jewish programming in 2016, a takeover by a Christian broadcaster and a gradual restoration of the Jewish format, has made it a frequently studied case in Canadian ethnic and religious media.

History

Radio Shalom was created by Robert Levy, a member of Montreal's Jewish community who had worked for the Rabbinat Sépharade du Québec. A scholarly account presented at the World Congress of Jewish Studies dates Levy's launch of the station to 1998, when he set it up on his own, declaring that it would remain independent and would promote Orthodoxy and Israel; station histories date its establishment as an FM subcarrier service, "Radio Shalom Montreal," to 2001. Broadcasting on a subcarrier meant the service could only be heard with a special receiver, so Levy sought a conventional licence. In Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-80, the federal regulator approved a full AM station, and in May 2007 Radio Shalom moved to 1650 AM under the call sign CJRS. It was widely described as Canada's first and only trilingual Jewish radio station, and the only all-Jewish station in North America, broadcasting in French, English and Hebrew under president Robert Levy.

From the beginning, the station observed Jewish religious law: programming was suspended on Shabbat and on Jewish holidays. During those periods the frequency carried French-language gospel music and programming supplied by André Joly's operation, which used names including Radio CMM (Communications Michel Mathieu) and "CKZW 1650 — Le son gospel du Québec." Money was a constant problem. The scholarly account notes that Montreal's central Jewish fundraising organisation, the Combined Jewish Appeal, refused to contribute, and the volunteer-run station struggled financially for years. In December 2015 Levy made a public appeal for support; when it failed to close the gap, he announced that he was no longer willing to fund the station himself.

On Friday, April 1, 2016, Radio Shalom ceased operations at 6 p.m. There was no on-air farewell: the final Jewish programme, a syndicated Judaica broadcast from France, was cut off mid-sentence and replaced by the gospel feed, which then ran 24 hours a day. The closure was covered by the Montreal Gazette and Montreal media commentator Fagstein. Within weeks, however, Jewish programming began to return. On May 24, 2016, Radio Shalom announced through its Facebook page a daily Israeli news programme from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. and a four-hour evening block from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Joly moved to acquire the station from Levy, subject to CRTC approval, and in 2016 the call sign was formally changed from CJRS to CKZW, registered with the regulator and Industry Canada according to the Canadian Communications Foundation. In the years that followed, Jewish programming was gradually added back, and by February 2020 the station had returned to its prior Jewish format, with gospel programming retained for Shabbat, holidays and some other periods.

Content and Coverage

Radio Shalom's schedule combines news, talk and music aimed at Montreal's Jewish community. Its news coverage includes a daily Israeli news programme, and its talk lineup has featured programmes that became fixtures of Montreal Jewish life. The weekly Sunday evening Howie Silbiger Show included a live call-in segment; the long-running Montreal Jewish Magazine was hosted by Stanley Asher; and Alexandre Fredeau was among its producers and presenters. The Canadian Jewish News reported in 2011 on a Radio Shalom business programme that was drawing listeners, an indication of the station's mix of community, commercial and cultural content. Music is central to the service: Radio Shalom has been described as the only station in Canada broadcasting Mizrahi, Yiddish, Ladino, klezmer, Hasidic and Israeli music, a repertoire that reflects the breadth of Jewish musical traditions and the station's trilingual French, English and Hebrew presentation. Because the majority of the schedule is in French, the station speaks particularly directly to Montreal's francophone Jewish community, including its large Sephardic population, while its English and Hebrew content reaches other parts of the community.

The gospel service that shares the frequency, La Radio Gospel, broadcasts French-language (and at times English-language) Christian music and programming, and it takes over the full schedule on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, when Radio Shalom is silent in accordance with Halacha. CKZW's licence conditions do not require it to carry a Jewish format or to broadcast in French, but they do require it to limit popular music and to be balanced in its treatment of religious issues.

Audience and Reach

Radio Shalom serves the Jewish community of greater Montreal, one of the largest and oldest Jewish communities in Canada, and its programming is designed for listeners across that community's linguistic divides: francophone and Sephardic listeners, anglophone listeners, and Hebrew speakers. Its over-the-air signal at 1650 AM, transmitted with 1,000 watts from Montreal, covers the metropolitan area, and the service is additionally carried on the HD3 subchannel of 106.3 CKIN in Montreal. No audited ratings or audience figures for the station are published, which is typical for a small non-profit ethnic and religious broadcaster, and the station has never promoted itself on the basis of ratings. Its reach is extended well beyond the AM signal by online streaming, which allows former Montrealers and listeners elsewhere in the Jewish diaspora to follow its programmes.

Digital Presence

Radio Shalom maintains a bilingual web presence at radioshalom.ca (also reached as radio-shalom.ca), where listeners can stream the station live in a 128 kbit/s stereo feed. The site presents the station as on the air every day on 1650 AM in Montreal, with music, presenters and commentary in French and English, and it links to La Radio Gospel's site, laradiogospel.ca, which carries the gospel service and its own stream, including an English-language stream. The station has also used its official Facebook page, "Radio Shalom Montreal 1650 AM Officiel," as a channel for announcements — it was there, in May 2016, that the return of Jewish programming to the station was first announced after the shutdown.

Ownership and Organisation

Radio Shalom began as an independent, non-profit, volunteer-run operation led by its founder and president, Robert Levy, who personally carried much of its cost and who remained the licensee through the 2016 crisis. The gospel service that now holds the licence is operated by André Joly, the founder of the CKZW gospel programming service, which had supplied the station's Shabbat and holiday programming for years through Communications Michel Mathieu before taking over the full schedule in April 2016. Following the change of control, the station's owner is listed by the Canadian Communications Foundation and Wikipedia's station record as Communications Média Évangélique, in English Gospel Media Communications. Under this structure, the Christian licensee provides the facilities and the gospel format, while Radio Shalom continues as the Jewish service heard daily on the station — an outcome the World Congress of Jewish Studies paper describes as an unexpected partnership between two small religious broadcasters, each more religiously observant than the mainstream institutions of its own faith community in a secularised Quebec.

Contact and Availability

Radio Shalom can be heard every day on CKZW 1650 AM in Montreal, and on 106.3 CKIN-HD3, with Jewish programming broadcast daily except during Shabbat and Jewish holidays, when La Radio Gospel occupies the frequency. Listeners anywhere can hear the live stream through the station's website, radioshalom.ca, which offers a one-click 128 kbit/s stereo stream, and announcements are posted on the station's official Facebook page. The gospel service that shares the station publishes its own programme information at laradiogospel.ca.