the KlezmerShack

The show's host and producer Mark David stated, "On the occasion of ten years of The Yiddish Voice, I'd really like to thank first and foremost my cohost Hasia Segal for giving so much of her talent to our show. She has talents as a humorist, a wonderful speaker, and a fine interviewer. She draws on her great depth of knowledge of both Hebrew and Yiddish language and culture. Her experience of having lived through heyday of Yiddish culture, as a young woman in interwar Lithuania, has brought many interesting contacts and much interesting experience she has generously shared with us, and lends a special stamp of authenticity to our broadcast. I'd also like to extend warmest wishes to Hasia on the occasion of her reaching her 90th year, as we say 'alevay biz hundert un tsvantsik', with hopefully many more productive years ahead on the radio. I'd also like to thank the many other volunteers who have helped produce and/or host the show. Thanks, of course, to the many guests over the years; they are the living voices of the 'Yidishe Gas' (the Yiddish/Jewish world) that make our show unique. And I especially want to thank those listeners, and even some 'fans' who've only heard about us through the Internet, who have voiced so much encouragement and guidance over the years. Finally, thanks to our supporters, including individuals, businesses, and foundations, who've given the financial support necessary to make this venture function."

On the question of plans for the future, David continued, "We would like to recruit new volunteers to help to do the show. In this regard, I am particularly excited to welcome Iosif Lakhman, a writer for the Yiddish and Russian Forward newspapers, as a cohost. He's just recently begun this role, and his voice will be a very welcome addition. We also hope to continue to create and air great radio segments, especially through new guest interviews. In addition, we plan a project to better organize our rather vast archive of exclusive recordings, especially interviews, to make the "catalogue" more complete and up-to-date, and ultimately with a goal to make copies of most of the recordings available via the Internet, on tape, and CD."

The Yiddish Voice (known, in Yiddish, as 'Dos Yidishe Kol') was founded by the team of host/producer Mark David and cohost Hasia Segal. The team actually marks its 13th year of producing Yiddish radio in Boston this year: this same team created another all-Yiddish Boston radio show, The Yiddish Hour, in 1991. That show was, and is to this day, broadcast on WBRS 100 FM/Waltham, a non-commercial station.

The Yiddish Voice, the "new" show, was "spun off", so to speak, from The Yiddish Hour in 1994. The primary goal of this spinoff was to overcome the number one "complaint" about the old show: lack of reception. By operating on a 5,000 Watt commercial AM station, The Yiddish Voice reaches all of the Metro Boston area, whereas the old show was only heard in Waltham and surrounding towns, on FM.

In recent years, in addition to reaching a wider Boston audience through the higher powered airwaves of WUNR 1600/AM, the Yiddish Voice has been reaching a worldwide audience through live Internet audio streaming of its weekly program, and on-demand streaming of select excerpts of past programs. The audio streaming link is available from the show's web site:

www.yiddishvoice.com

The Yiddish Voice operates on a not-for-profit basis. Originally, it sought financial support in the form of advertising, grants, and donations to cover such costs as station airtime, equipment, records and tapes, and promotional materials. In addition, in recent years, the show has expanded its operations to include an associated "Yiddish Voice Store" web site (http://www.yiddishstore.com/">www.yiddishstore.com), which sells Yiddish-related items, including books, music, videos, and software, with all profits used to support the radio show.

The all-volunteer staff of the Yiddish Voice includes Mark David, the show's producer and regular host, and Hasia Segal, a native of Lithuania, who, as cohost, continues to offer frequent special presentations and exclusive interviews of important personalities.

Numerous other contributors have provided features over the years. These have included Miriam Libenson, Dovid Braun, Rhoda Bernard, Betty Silberman, Norman Miller, Zalman Srebro, and Iosif Lakhman, as well as the late Manya Web and Cantor Simon Kandler.

The show has produced a great many original and exclusive radio segments, including Jewish holiday specials, poetry recitals, live and recorded musical performances, and interviews. Interviews have been done on a wide variety of topics, with greater and lesser known Yiddish-speaking personalities from a wide variety of fields. The names and descriptions of interviews are too numerous to begin to list here. A lengthy, but partial, list of past interviews is available online at the show's web site.

For further information:

Mark David
The Yiddish Voice
PO Box 313
Brookline, MA 02446
(617) 730-8484
Fax: (617) 249-0141