Page 106 - big friday
P. 106
The bunker from which Kol Yisrael's
first broadcast emanated
A later discovery: the secret place from which the first broadcast of
Kol Yisrael emanated – a direct transmission of the ceremony of the
establishment of the state.
M ichael Jacobson
A s one descends the narrow ladder into the darkness of the bunker that was dug here
under the ground 65 years ago, a strong odor of mold assails one's nostrils. Since the end
of the War of Independence, few people have ventured down here, to the place where
the declaration of independence was transmitted from, on the 5th Iyar, 5708 (May 14,
1948). Here the historic event took on added significance: it was from here that the first
broadcast of Kol Yisrael was transmitted.
T he first broadcasting station – or, to call it by its official name, the Tel Haim station,
is located on the ridge that runs along the eastern side of Moshe Dayan Street in Tel Aviv,
just a few meters from the corner of Yitzhak Sadeh Street. This was the broadcast station;
transmitters were set up in the basement. Around them worked the people who took care
of the electronic equipment so that the broadcast would reach every part of the state-in-
the-making.
S ixty-five years have passed over this building, whose historic story has been forgotten,
but it hasn't changed: it remains a single-story structure consisting of a few rooms
organized along three sides of a square, surrounding a courtyard in which a central
antenna is located. During the past decade it was abandoned, broken into, and become
a dwelling for homeless people. Despite the dereliction, the historic transmitters in the
bunker have not been damaged at all; nor have those that were brought after the war into
the transmission room on the ground floor. We found precious artifacts here (documents,
correspondence etc.); technical equipment (including a fiberglass boat, whose connection
to the place is unclear); work tools; electrical and communications plans that have yet to
be studied – exceptional testimony to a site that played a central role in a national event,
and in the story of the establishment and operation of the state media body.
In the wake of intervention by the architect Ran Baram, of the eastern planning division
in the engineering administration of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, the structure was
sealed and locked, with a view to protecting the expensive equipment remaining inside.
At the same time, a preliminary documentary survey was conducted by architect Doron
Minin, which exposed the story of the historic site.
104 The Friday That Changed Destiny
first broadcast emanated
A later discovery: the secret place from which the first broadcast of
Kol Yisrael emanated – a direct transmission of the ceremony of the
establishment of the state.
M ichael Jacobson
A s one descends the narrow ladder into the darkness of the bunker that was dug here
under the ground 65 years ago, a strong odor of mold assails one's nostrils. Since the end
of the War of Independence, few people have ventured down here, to the place where
the declaration of independence was transmitted from, on the 5th Iyar, 5708 (May 14,
1948). Here the historic event took on added significance: it was from here that the first
broadcast of Kol Yisrael was transmitted.
T he first broadcasting station – or, to call it by its official name, the Tel Haim station,
is located on the ridge that runs along the eastern side of Moshe Dayan Street in Tel Aviv,
just a few meters from the corner of Yitzhak Sadeh Street. This was the broadcast station;
transmitters were set up in the basement. Around them worked the people who took care
of the electronic equipment so that the broadcast would reach every part of the state-in-
the-making.
S ixty-five years have passed over this building, whose historic story has been forgotten,
but it hasn't changed: it remains a single-story structure consisting of a few rooms
organized along three sides of a square, surrounding a courtyard in which a central
antenna is located. During the past decade it was abandoned, broken into, and become
a dwelling for homeless people. Despite the dereliction, the historic transmitters in the
bunker have not been damaged at all; nor have those that were brought after the war into
the transmission room on the ground floor. We found precious artifacts here (documents,
correspondence etc.); technical equipment (including a fiberglass boat, whose connection
to the place is unclear); work tools; electrical and communications plans that have yet to
be studied – exceptional testimony to a site that played a central role in a national event,
and in the story of the establishment and operation of the state media body.
In the wake of intervention by the architect Ran Baram, of the eastern planning division
in the engineering administration of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, the structure was
sealed and locked, with a view to protecting the expensive equipment remaining inside.
At the same time, a preliminary documentary survey was conducted by architect Doron
Minin, which exposed the story of the historic site.
104 The Friday That Changed Destiny
