As Israel’s first English-language radio station and with its offering of original cultural and political analysis, TLV1 is unprecedented in the country’s radio scene, says CEO Avner Shelem.

The station is headquartered in Tel Aviv and operates exclusively on private donations and without any support from the government.

“It’s important that we are totally independent, that we do not speak in the name of the government, so that we are able to maintain our objective stand,” said Mr Shelem.

In addition to news and politics, daily and weekly cultural programmes focus on issues such as olim raising children in Israel, and Arabic pop music.

Mr Shelem said that since TLV1’s launch in August, “programmes that speak to our life and experiences here in Israel, what Israelis have to say, what a rich country we have” have attracted a diverse audience.

Some 30 per cent of the listeners tune in from the England, US and Canada, with the rest including English-speaking olim and Israeli Anglophiles.

The station is available as a live stream or on demand via the its website (tlv1.fm), its mobile site, the app TuneIn and on iTunes.