An English-radio station based in Ramallah and financed by a Jewish South African will go on air live beginning Wednesday morning.

The station, 93.6 RAM FM, aims to provide a platform for "peaceful dialogue" and is based on the popular South African radio station, 702 Talk Radio, which the station's founders believe played a key role in the transition from the country's apartheid regime to democracy.

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The format will include adult contemporary music, as well as hourly news updates provided by the station's service, Middle East Eyewitness News.

Call-in and talk show programs in English will be introduced within a year.

Ram, which is short for Ramallah, also means high or lofty in Hebrew.

The station has studios in both Ramallah and West Jerusalem, but will be transmitted from the West Bank, which means that certain parts of the country, including Jerusalem, may have difficulty picking it up.

The project required an initial investment of $2 million dollars, 25 percent of which was funded by Isaac (Issie) Kirsh, the Jewish South African who is the founder of 702 Talk Radio. It will operate independently of any governmental or NGO funding and is a purely commercial enterprise that will collect revenue from advertisements.

"There is a need for a daily debate on the issues affecting both Israelis and Palestinians," said Kirsh, who was also involved in the establishment of Radio Tel Aviv.

The station, which bills itself as "in touch, in tune and independent," hires Israeli, Palestinian, as well as international reporters.

"We're committed to telling both sides of the story," Andrew Bolton, the station's news editor said. "We are apolitical and will not toe any political line, other than peace."

Bolton said the news program would therefore not include either terms like "martyr" or "terrorist," both of which he called "loaded."

The station's holding company, Middle East Broadcasting Holding Ltd., is based in South Africa.