| A Jewish Radio Show on a Non-Jewish Radio Station |
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| Written by Alessandra Gotbaum | |||||
| Monday, 07 April 2008 | |||||
WBAI's Beyond the Pale Brings a Progressive Voice and Broad Appeal Esther Kaplan, co-host of WBAI's Beyond the Pale. Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark, co-hosts of the progressive Jewish radio program Beyond the Pale, were sitting together in the New York studios of the independent noncommercial station WBAI. Their weekly program was well underway. Interviews had already been conducted; one with a journalist on Jewish voters, another with a director on a new off-Broadway play. Next up was the afternoon’s blockbuster: a conversation with Gaza-based blogger Dr. Mona El-Farra. But there was a problem. With Gaza’s telecommunications being what they are, they couldn’t get in touch with her. As the minutes ticked by, the hosts discussed their options. No one seemed too concerned. On the only progressive Jewish radio program in New York, and possibly in the nation, there’s always plenty to talk about. Beyond the Pale has aired on WBAI since 1995. Supported by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a progressive Jewish organization engaged in local activism in New York, Beyond the Pale has made a name for itself as a sophisticated alternative to the mainstream Jewish media. The program is hosted by Kaplan, an investigative reporter at the Nation Institute, and Kleinberg Neimark, a professor at CUNY's Baruch College. “There’s such a narrow range of voices that are taken to represent ‘The Jewish Perspective,’” says Kaplan. “We’re tapping into the other 99 percent. We’re engaged in a project of radically expanding the idea of who gets to speak for the Jewish community. Our portrait of the Jewish community is vastly different from what the mainstream institutions think that Jewish life is.”  Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark. The task of providing a Jewish perspective for the station is a unique one, as WBAI's listeners are to predominantly people of color. “It’s one of the coolest things about being on WBAI,” says Kaplan. “I mean, what African Americans are reading the Jewish Week or the Forward or New Voices?” Kaplan says that the program has a significant number of Black and Latino listeners. “They listen because we do a solid coverage of major events and bring a liberal view to it,” she says. “Our very concrete sense from calls, emails, letters, and conversations with our non-Jewish listeners is that they appreciate being exposed to progressive Jewish voices and perspectives.” The non-Jewish audience forces the hosts to carefully consider their language, “We have to be conscious of the audience when we do the show,” Kaplan says. “We can’t throw out a term like 'Reform Jew' and assume that our listeners know what it means.” The show’s subject matter is wide-ranging, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Jewish arts and culture. Still, there’s always a strong Jewish hook. Says Kaplan, “We’re very catholic about what a Jewish program should be covering.” Kaplan says that she is most proud of an episode aired in the days following 9/11. After the attacks, Kaplan says, “we immediately began hearing about this backlash that was beginning against Muslims and Arabs in New York. We went down to this community center, the Arab-American Family Support Center. They had got all these threats, and we recorded and broadcasted them off of their voicemail. We had a number of guests. That show is special to me because of what we managed to do under those circumstances.” “We don’t bash people on the head with our politics, but it’s in our choice of topics and our choice of guests,” says Kaplan. “Conservative guests have tons of platforms already.” Listen to Beyond the Pale Sundays at noon on 99.5 FM in New York or online at beyondthepale.org .
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