ABOUT THE SHOW
Sundays, 4:00 PM Central Time - 1070 KNTH
or 24/7 at www.jewishshowofhouston.com
By Aaron Howard (C) Jewish Herald-Voice
It has been 17 years since Houston had a Jewish music radio program. The long drought will be over on Sunday, July 6, when “The Jewish Show of Houston” premieres at 4 p.m. on KNTH, 1070 AM. Shawn Daniel (aka DJ Shahar) will play music from Israel, as well as Yiddish and Ladino tunes. The radio show also will highlight local events and will include a news segment sponsored by the Jewish Herald-Voice. A website will allow listeners to make requests, post comments, purchase music and link to local Jewish sites.
Daniel recalled that as a Bar Mitzvah-aged youth, he was listening to Haim Moshe and Zohar Argov at a time when most of his friends were listening to Nirvana and U2. “My dad is Dov Daniel, and his tastes influenced me a lot,” Daniel continued. “He had been the drummer of a band back in Israel, L’kat HaOud. It was a pioneer Mizrachi group, and Dad was the only Ashkenazi member of the band.”
Mizrachi music is a form of Israeli pop music that originally emerged as an alternative, working-class music, influenced by musicians who came from Morocco, Yemen, Greece and Spain. Originally, the music never was played on Israeli radio. It could be heard on cassettes sold in Israel’s open-air markets and central bus stations and in nightclubs and social halls in south Tel Aviv. “It was really the music of non-Ashkenazim, both young and old,” Daniel said. “In the United States, the only people who listened to it were hard-core Israelis. I would ask my Israeli friends: Am I the only Ashkenazi who likes this kind of music? My Israeli friends would say: Oh no.”
Daniel’s young Israeli friends began introducing him to other kinds of Hebrew music: to singer-songwriters like Shlomo Artzi and Arik Einstein and rocker Aviv Geffen. By the time he began college in 1996 at the University of Miami, Daniel was something of an Israeli music maven. Initially invited as a guest on “The Sunday Simcha” radio program, broadcast on WVUM, the University of Miami radio station, he quickly became program co-host. The program was covered in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, because, at the time, it was the only Jewish music show in south Florida. Daniel took over as the sole host in 1998 and did the show until his graduation in June 1999.
When Daniel moved back to New Jersey, he found an ongoing Jewish music show, “The Israel Hour,” broadcast out of WRSU at Rutgers University. Daniel added a Mizrachi portion to the show from 1999 to 2004.
Thanks to the radio show, Daniel met his Houston-area wife, Georgia Sideris. She heard his radio voice on “The Israel Hour” and emailed him. “I answered, thinking she was Israeli,” he said. “She had planned to fly to New York in two weeks. I asked if I could meet her at the airport. She agreed after doing a background check of me online. Obviously, I cleared the check.”
Daniel picked his future wife up from the airport. Their first date the next day was in Little Italy. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. The couple decided to make their home here in 2004.
Daniel initially tried to start a Jewish radio show here through university and non-commercial outlets, without success. He then contacted Rabbi Stuart Federow, who hosts “Show of Faith” on KPRC. In January 2008, Rabbi Federow put Daniel in contact with Susan Simon, general sales manager at KNTH-1070, a commercial radio station currently specializing in a talk-show format. Simon loved the concept and helped Daniel find his first sponsors.
“It wasn’t part of her job to promote me or find sponsors,” Daniel said. “But she loved the idea of the show and really went beyond the call of duty to help me, thank G-d. My first sponsor was Ziggy Gruber of Kenny & Ziggy’s. We met in person, and Susan came with me to the meeting. She helped me create a PowerPoint presentation to pitch the show. I pitched the show as a musical program format, which also informs the community.
“Coming from the New York area, my experience is that the Jewish community always had a beacon to orient them on radio. Radio can expose people to a culture in a way that no other media can accomplish. Radio also helps build a community. It can break denominational and cultural barriers in a unique way. Besides, what other media allow you to vacuum the house and experience something Jewish at the same time?”
“The Jewish Show of Houston” will open with seven sponsors, including one non-Jewish owned business. The show will be done live every Sunday. Requests will be taken by phone or via the website. Special programs are planned around the holidays.
Coming from a college radio background, Daniel never experienced dealing with advertisers. Convincing advertisers has made the program instantly credible in the Jewish community, he said. “When you have sponsors like the Jewish Herald-Voice, it tells people that this is something to pay attention to. I’m hoping that people will connect with the show and find pleasure in what we’re doing. I’m hoping that the show will stay on the air in Houston for generations to come.”