Palestine Broadcasting Service

The Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS) was the state-owned radio broadcasting station that operated from Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel and Palestinian territories) with the main transmitter in Ramallah. It operated from March 1936 until the end of the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948.^[1][2] It broadcast programs in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, with broadcasting time allotted in that order.^[3]

Photo taken at the Palestine Broadcasting Service studio in Jerusalem, July 1947, after the performance of Piano Concerto (Schumann). Menahem Pressler stands to the right of microphone.

Its Hebrew service, Kol Yerushalayim, which was inaugurated on March 30, 1936, played an important role in the development of Hebrew as a national language for the founders of Israel.^[2] While news broadcasts and political commentary was heavily censored, the PBS' cultural programs - including its live music broadcasts - played an important role in the development of interwar Palestinian and Zionist (later Israeli) national identities.^{[citation needed]}