Husband & wife duo Yona Elian and Sasi Keshet have joined Radio Haifa to present a regular culture program.
By GREER FAY CASHMANkeshet elian 88 224(photo credit: )
IT SEEMS almost obscene at a time when supplementary pension payments to Holocaust survivors are being delayed again and again that Ninet Tayeb should receive $400,000 for cutting off her hair as part of a publicity stunt for a Pelephone commercial. The Hebrew press made more of Tayeb's haircut than the payment she received for shearing her tresses, and trumpeted that she had shaved her head, which was not true. Anyone waiting to see a bald Ninet was disappointed. While her hair was admittedly shorn off, it wasn't even a crew cut. It was just a close cut, and beautifully shaped at that.
WHEN IT was announced last year that Haim Yavin was finally retiring from the Mabat News which he has been presenting since 1968 (with time off for a stint abroad, a managerial position at the Israel Broadcasting Authority and a brief period with commercial rival Channel 2), the time set for goodbye was August. But August came and went, and Yavin stayed on and celebrated his 75th birthday in September. When interviewed soon after in The Jerusalem Post, the subject of the date was raised and Yavin replied: "They're talking about December. The question is: which December?"
Well, December has also come and gone, and now they're talking about the end of January, although that, too, remains uncertain. It all depends on whether Geula Even, selected as Yavin's successor, gets the salary she wants and the partner with whom she feels compatible. Even has reportedly asked for NIS 70,000 a month, and at least one of the candidates for copresenter has stated that he wanted to earn the same salary as Even.
That's a little steep for public broadcasting - especially for the IBA which almost closed down in the face of its huge deficit. Admittedly, Yavin earns more, but he has seniority as a pioneer and former head of Israel Television, and he's also an Israel Prize laureate who is widely known as "Mr. Television." Even, for all her talent, has not yet earned the title of Ms. Television.
WHILE THE IBA is busy auditioning potential candidates to sit alongside Even if and when she starts to present Mabat, the powers-that-be at Channel 2 have decided that Yonit Levy does not need a replacement for her copresenter Gadi Sukenik, who resigned a few months back. What she needs is someone else to take over for a couple of days a week, and the popular choice is Danny Kushmaro, who has been reading weekend news for quite some time.
IT'S NOT often that electronic media personalities agree to publicly eat humble pie, but the IBA's Yaron Dekel did so without even being asked. When it was made public that no rape or other charges were being brought against journalist and television personality Adam Shuv because police believed that he was not guilty, Dekel read an item to this effect on his Reshet Bet Radio program: "It's all talk." He then directly addressed Shuv, who was not in the studio or on the phone, but might have been listening to the radio."If we have in any way caused you harm, we beg your pardon…"
MEDIA CELEBRITIES continue to flock to the stable of billionaire businessman, philanthropist and would-be mayor of Jerusalem Arkadi Gaydamak. Last week it was announced that controversial psychologist Varda Raziel-Jacont was leaving Non-Stop Radio, where she's been broadcasting for eight years, to join Gaydamak's Radio 99, and that caustic critic Emmanuel Rosen, who manages to be cynical about nearly everything, is giving up his weekly program on Radio Tel Aviv, where he's been broadcasting for 11 years, to present something similar on Radio 99. But not everyone has accepted Gaydamak's overtures. The former head of the Channel 2 News Corporation, Shalom Kital, declined, not only because he was concerned that Gaydamak might try to influence the content of broadcasts, but also because he's heading one of the groups bidding for the right to operate a regional radio station. Likewise, Razi Barkai preferred to remain at Army Radio rather than move to Radio 99.
MEANWHILE, HUSBAND and wife team Yona Elian and Sasi Keshet have joined Radio Haifa to present a regular culture program. They are an unusual couple in the entertainment industry, as they remain completely supportive of each other and are obviously still in love after more than 30 years of marriage. The two often work together, and when one is on stage, the other is frequently in the audience. When asked the secret of their durable marriage, Elian quipped: "I simply can't get divorced from Sasi. Every time I think that we're going to become part of the [divorce] statistic, we get another offer to work together, so there's no point in getting divorced. It's really problematic." Keshet, though very much a star in his own right, presents himself to the radio audience as "Yona Elian's husband."
SINGER-GUITARIST David Broza has always empathized with the physically disabled, but beyond appearing in benefit concerts on their behalf, he didn't do much else to draw attention to their plight - until Channel 10 invited him to participate in its spot where celebrities go out and do stories on subjects that interest them. Broza decided to spend a day with a disabled young woman by the name of Naama and to simply take on her lifestyle.
They went shopping together and played some basketball - and it was Broza who was at a disadvantage, because he decided that if he was going to understand Naama's challenges, he would have to get into a wheelchair. It was difficult for him to operate, and he fell over several times. It was also frustrating where there was no wheelchair access. It certainly gave Broza a greater sense of understanding. But unlike Naama, Broza was able to stand up at the end of the day to give a benefit performance for the non-profit organization Challenges, which works on behalf of the physically disabled. Master of ceremonies was Yair Lapid, who couldn't watch the Channel 10 program on Friday night because he was busy with his own premiere as head of the Ulpan Shishi news team on Channel 2.
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