After the October 7th terrorist attacks in Gaza, news/talk radio hosts Sid Rosenberg, Mike Gallagher, and Tony Katz each individually took trips to Israel to share stories from the Jewish state.
On Sunday, October 8th, the NFL’s New York Giants were set to play the New York Jets in a regular season that happens roughly once every four years. For Sid Rosenberg, the day should have been a joyous one as one of the biggest media members in the market.
However, the day was a somber one for the 77 WABC morning host. He posted a video on Instagram that Sunday morning, sharing his true feelings about the situation, stating he could hardly be bothered to care about the football game that day after the attacks.
It didn’t take him long to declare that he would visit Israel. In fact, just over six weeks after Hamas killed an estimated 1,100 Israelis on that fateful Saturday, Rosenberg told his listeners he would be hosting his wildly popular morning show from the Middle East.
He told Barrett News Media he became motivated to cover the story on the ground from Israel — a country he had never been to before — while watching the events unfold that early October day.
“I’ve always wanted to go, obviously as a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, and once that day happened October the 7th, I vowed I would go at some point, hopefully sooner than later,” he shared.
“I was so horrified by what I had seen, what I had heard, what was coming next that it really shook me. And, you know, it’s one thing to talk about it when you’re here watching the news most of which you can trust, I knew how to go and see it for myself. I had to go and talk to the Israelis in the streets … So, I wanted to talk to the Israelis in the streets and find out how they were coping with all of that. It’s one thing when you cover this story from your city, it’s another one you actually go to the destination.”
Mike Gallagher, who hosts The Mike Gallagher Show for Salem Radio Network and Salem News Channel, made the trek to Israel in late February and early March. He told Barrett News Media that, like Rosenberg, he became motivated to tell the story of the attacks from the nation on October 7th. He shared he felt it was a “very important component of what I do for a living every day on the radio.”
He added that the reaction from his audience was an intense gratitude.
“Just enormous appreciation for going over there,” Mike Gallagher said of his listeners. “Just a lot of support for the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They’re providing armored ambulances to paramedics and emergency first responders, and helmets, and food, and supplies. Our audience stepped up big time to help the fellowship. So their generosity was really inspiring and overwhelming.
“But there was just a deep gratitude that we went through the effort of going over there,” he continued. “My goal was to bring our audience to Israel, rather than trying to cover the headlines the way we grew up in the United States. And I think the audience was very, very grateful that we went.”
Mike Gallagher added that one of the takeaways from the trip was the sheer brutality of the terrorists during the attack. The Israeli State Department compiled a 47-minute video of closed-circuit television footage, along with footage show by Hamas, which showed the “euphoria and the joy”, Gallagher said, the fighters received from executing the attacks.
Sid Rosenberg was quick to admit he was not the most religious Jewish person, but visiting the Holy Land had a profound impact on his faith.
“I don’t observe Shabbos, I don’t celebrate every holiday, and I still don’t. But I’m a lot more serious about the religion than I was before. We’ve joined a temple. I’ve been to many, many people’s houses for Shabbat dinner since October 7th which I’d never done before in my lifetime,” he shared.
“I’ve got people listening every day in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and if I could provide them with some support and some hope that things will get better, that’s what I try to do every day. It has completely changed me. It has made me a more proud Jew than I’ve ever been. And I look to help any Jew that I can, here and abroad, at every opportunity I can.”
As the coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas continues, Gallagher shared how impactful visiting Jerusalem was in helping to truly understand the conflict.
“It gave me a clarity and an insight that I could have never gotten had I just been sitting in my studio in Florida talking about it on the air,” he said.
Sid Rosenberg, who was the first host to take his show to the Middle East nation, said there needs to be an authenticity if other hosts want to make the same pilgrimage he made.
“Listen, you gotta feel it. That’s the bottom line. I felt it,” he shared. “Every show since then, I’ve had mentions of Israel and what these people are going through. I haven’t gone one day. I still find a way every day to include conversations about Israel, and what’s going on, I was torn up. So my advice is if you’re going to go there just to say you were there, don’t do it.”
Sid Rosenberg added that the reception he received from the Jewish people was second to none and that he could feel the unity and resolve from their spirits.
“If it’s not in your heart, don’t bother going. But if it is, I recommend you go. Go to the sites down south where the tragedies happened and try to see and learn as much Jewish history as possible. Because the more you learn, the more you’re going to find out that these pro-Palestinian rallies are nothing but a bunch of bulls—.”
Mike Gallagher shared similar sentiments. He noted that Salem Radio Network partnered with the Jewish News Service to provide him with studio space while he was in the country. However, the technology has made it much easier to do a trip like this.
“You just got to figure out how to get over there. It’s not cheap. It’s not inexpensive to fly to Tel Aviv, but it’s also not impossible,” said Gallagher. “I believe it’s what good hosts, good programming, and good content creators should be doing anyway. When you get a chance to bring your show to a place where headlines worldwide are being made like this, you should do it.
“Remotes have been part of my career for 40-plus years. I’ll be in Milwaukee this summer for the Republican National Convention. I’ve been to every convention for the last I think 28, 30 years. I like doing that. It can be tricky and distracting, but it’s important because you know the audience wants to be there. To be part of that breaking news is what it’s all about. I would encourage anybody who has a little ingenuity, creativity, and a little bit of a budget, to go over there and tell the story to your audience here in the United States. It’ll be transformational.”
Tuesday, May 14th, is Israel’s Independence Day as the country celebrates the 76th of declaring independence which was proclaimed by David Ben-Guiron.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
