​The SAJBD was saddened to learn of the passing over the weekend of Issie Kirsh

The SAJBD was saddened to learn of the passing over the weekend of Issie Kirsh, business leader, philanthropist and trail-blazing pioneer of the independent radio industry. Issie began his business career in the sorghum malt industry, where he achieved much success before moving into the commercial radio field. A true visionary, he went on to establish a range of community radio stations serving the Indian, Jewish, and Portuguese communities and thereafter the Soweto urban market. From there, he founded Radio 702, an independent station broadcasting out of the then homeland of Bophutatswana that quickly revolutionised South African radio culture.

For Issie Kirsh, running a successful radio station was not just about listenership figures and advertising revenue. It was also about being part of the community and giving back to it, and through his efforts Radio 702 introduced a range of innovative public benefit initiatives that provided both material and emotional assistance to countless thousands of people throughout the PWB region and further afield. These included the 702 Helpline, the 702 Crisis Centre in Hillbrow and a series of radiothons that raised significant funds for Operation Hunger. Issie also took the initiative in forming an action committee comprising representatives of some of the country’s leading business establishments to put Operation Hunger on a sound business basis.

An especially memorable event in support of Operation Hunger was the Concert in the Park, held in June 1985. Aside from the funds raised, it was the biggest non-racial event yet staged in South Africa. This points to another area in which Radio 702 went beyond being just another radio station. At a critical time in the country’s history, when political violence and state repression were at an all-time high, it provided a space allowing South Africans to reach beyond the racial and ideological barriers dividing them and begin talking to one another. As such, it was a vehicle for positive change and a trailblazer for other commercial radio stations. Issie himself later wrote that Radio 702’s providing a discussion platform for the awakening democracy in South Africa was something he would always treasure.

Issie Kirsh was a devoted member of the Jewish community, contributing generously to innumerable communal causes over the years as well as playing an important leadership role, notably as a founder and long-serving board member of the SA Jewish Report. During the years of the Oslo Accords, he committed much time and resources to furthering peace efforts in the Middle East by founding Ram FM, a radio station in Ramallah based on the Radio 702 model whose aim was to bring Israelis and Palestinians together through talking and listening to each other.

The SAJBD extends its sincerest condolences to Mushe Kirsh on the passing of her dear husband of over sixty years, to brothers Natie and Shlomo, sister Edith, and to the whole Kirsh family. May they be Comforted amongst the Mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.