Special Report
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WJEW from page 13
Temple Israel teacher Josh Goldenberg of West Bloomfield, Cantor Michael Smolash
and radio station staffer Josh Loney
Corey Berkowitz assists station staffer Lev Beltser.
"Maybe we can tell people if they pay enough money, we'll put
their kid's bar/bat mitzvah on the air," joked Feldman."There's so
much expanding to do. We need to think big, act big and make this
thing big."
"We did a lot of research and there's not a single synagogue we
could find that has their own radio station',' said Corey Berkowitz,
16, of West Bloomfield, who is heading the WJEW crew. "To be the
first of its kind is really incredible; we're just doing everything we
can to keep pushing this forward"
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Thinking Big
For Berkowitz, a junior at Bloomfield Hills Andover High School,
being part of WJEW is more than just a hobby or an after-school
project. A DJ and program director at his school radio station,
WBFH, Berkowitz plans to pursue a career in broadcasting. Corey
(known as C-Berk on the radio) was recently honored at the
National High School Radio Awards. His dad, Gary Berkowitz, is
a radio consultant and former program director of WJR-AM in
Detroit.
"I've grown up with radio all around me," Berkowitz said. "I
think it's important when making radio programming to kind of
put over what you would say to your friends. When radio loses its
intimacy, it loses its listeners and its value'
Berkowitz and his fellow WJEW creators have big plans for the
fledgling station. Lev Beltser, 16, of West Bloomfield puts together a
lot of the musical content and is energized about sharing the work
of Israeli and Jewish recording artists.
The current play list includes music from Rick Recht, Alisa
Fineman, Noah Budin, the Moshav Band, Stacey Beyer and many
others. The station pays royalties, so they can choose any musical
selection.
"I really like music, and being part of the Jewish community is
really important to me',' Beltser said. "If we come together through
music, I think that would be a huge step in the world."
"There isn't really an outlet for contemporary Jewish singer/
songwriters and that's the kind of music teens seem to like most;'
added Cantor Smolash.
Future plans include the production of new talk shows, inter-
views and even broadcasting the temple's musical "Shabbat
Unplugged" services. Cantor Smolash oversees the content.
Building Fans
WJEW is already building a fan base, including at least one
prominent listener who tuned in purely by accident. Rabbi Arnold
Samlan, director of Nassau/Queens Services with the Board of
Jewish Education of Greater New York, was surfing the Internet on
his office computer, looking for Hebrew and Israeli music to play
while he worked. He stumbled upon WJEW, clicked on and liked
what he heard.
"Our agency strongly supports the use of technology as an
important tool in broadening the reach and appeal of Jewish learn-
ing," Rabbi Samlan said. "This project shows great creativity. I hope
it will motivate other teachers, principals and youth professionals
to think creatively about how to utilize these powerful tools within
their reach."
WJEW also has some local fans â and, no surprise, many of
them are relatives of the students involved with the station.
"My mom especially is very excited;' Beltser said. "My parents
came from Russia where it wasn't always safe to speak openly about
being Jewish. When I told my dad about [WJEW] he almost had
tears in his eyes thinking of young Jews coming together like that."
Calling All Teens
Now that WJEW is up and running, Temple Israel is sending out an
invitation to Jewish teens around the world. They're asking syna-
gogues and Jewish youth groups to send in their own homemade
radio programs, up to 30 minutes in length, on any topic. Right
now, the station has about 10 hours of continuous programming,
which repeats in a loop over 24 hours. Contributors to the temple's
"The Next Big Thing" fund provided the money for equipment and
other fees to get WJEW off the ground. It's safe to say the radio sta-
tion has created a buzz, and there's excitement in the air.
"This is such an incredible portal into the Jewish world; this is
genuinely a radio station by teens, for teens:' Cantor Smolash said.
"I feel like there's no doubt we can take this as far as we want to
go',' added Berkowitz. "We can change the world through this radio
station."
To listen to WJEW, go to Temple Israel's Web site
www.temple-israel.org and click on the radio station link.
For an audio clip of WJEW, including some of the program-
ming and music, go to JNonline.us.