Army Radio is planning a major revamp of its broadcast schedule that would eliminate most of its half-hourly news bulletins, as well as its noon and midnight news magazines, and shorten its hourly news broadcasts.
The changes are due to take effect at the start of September.
These are the first major changes undertaken by the channel's new director, Yaron Dekel.
The previous director, Yitzhak Tunik, had already canceled most of the early afternoon news bulletins, but Dekel now plans to eliminate most of the rest. Thus, as of September, news bulletins will be broadcast only at 5:30 P.M. and 7:30 P.M.
The noon news magazine will be killed entirely, and instead, the show that follows it, "Osim Tzaharayim," will be lengthened. The midnight news magazine will also be canceled.
The hourly news broadcasts will be shortened from four minutes to three, and will open and close with a jingle, accompanied by the slogan, "Army Radio, what's happening now."
The broadcasts will also from now on include short reports by the station's reporters, instead of just having the news read out by an announcer.
Reports by the channel's culture reporter will be featured in the broadcasts from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M.
The two main news announcers will be Ran Yavnai and Carmel Shibli Mansour. Veteran announcer Ehud Graf, who also heads the station's historical and documentary department, will no longer read the news.
Army Radio said it "does not intend to comment on the contents of internal editorial discussions."
