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Live from Jerusalem It's Larry Ahrens

Talk radio host Larry Ahrens won't be at the KKOB-AM studio in Albuquerque come broadcast time Sept. 8. Instead, he'll be seated before a microphone in downtown Jerusalem as he begins a full week of programming live from Israel. Ahrens, KKOB's morning drive-time personality for 23 years, will interview a ompelling line-up of guests, including government and military officials, usiness and cultural leaders, terrorism victims, New Mexicans living in the Jewish homeland, and others offering live, frontline perspectives from Israel on prospects for peace, the economy, security, the challenges of aily life and other issues. Ahrens' live broadcasts from Israel will be heard Sept. 8 through 12 in Albuquerque and the Southwest from 8-10 a.m. Mountain Time, on KKOB-AM (770).

The broadcast week is made possible through "America's Voices in Israel," an initiative of United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, in cooperation with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and "The Jerusalem Post Radio". The local sponsor is the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Albuquerque (JFGA). "The opportunity to broadcast from Israel, especially at a time when the road map is in place and other dynamics are in play in Israel and the region, will bring our audience an in-depth view beyond the headlines."

Ahrens said. "I can't think of a more opportune time to be there and to inform our listeners. We will be on the ground and in the middle of the story," he added. The week of programming is an effort to educate the general community of the realities facing Israel and its citizens, said Marti Fournier-Revo, Development Director of the JFGA, who will be accompanying Ahrens to Israel. "Larry Ahrens is one of the premier and most influential talk show broadcasters in Albuquerque, with tremendous geographic reach," she added.

"By working with Larry and KKOB, the JFGA is taking a leadership role in helping the general community understand and remain informed about the Jewish homeland.  This, in addition to the historical role that the Federation has played to raise funds for nine different Jewish organizations."

Talk radio personalities from Omaha, Pittsburgh, Dallas, New York, Indianapolis and Philadelphia have recently broadcast from Israel. "This is an excellent opportunity for a very well-known and respected regional broadcaster to objectively inform a large number of listeners of the current, on-the-ground situation and events in the state of Israel," said Dr. Benjamin Levy, JFGA board president. "I know of no better way to help to disseminate the actual facts related to Israel's continued existence."

"As I talk to others who have visited Israel, I'm told that by traveling there, one understands the situation there on a much more visceral level,"Ahrens said. "I believe that is going to be true. To actually feel and witness the country is going to be very powerful, and will inform my perspective and that of my listeners."

Ahrens' live broadcasts from Israel will be heard Sept. 8 through 12 in Albuquerque and the Southwest from 8-10 a.m. Mountain Time, on KKOB-AM (770).

(originally appeared on jewishnewmexico.org)
September 4, 2003

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