{"id":29425,"date":"2017-12-02T07:20:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T11:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=29425"},"modified":"2017-12-02T07:20:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T11:20:52","slug":"farewell-to-miki-gurdus-israels-national-listener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/farewell-to-miki-gurdus-israels-national-listener\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Farewell to Miki Gurdus, Israel\u2019s National Listener&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14917\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"751\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg 751w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar-300x115.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 751px) 100vw, 751px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/jewish-life-and-religion\/250476\/miki-gurdus-israels-national-listener\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Tablet<\/a> via Richard Cuff)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>With a powerful shortwave radio and a battery of TV screens, he broke national news long before the internet, scooping everything from the Entebbe raid to the first Gulf War<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Had he been born two or three decades later, Miki Gurdus would probably have been just another middle-aged man glued to his smartphone, scrolling through endless torrents of social-media ephemera. But Gurdus, who passed away in Israel this week at the age of 73, was born with a radio. And early on, he knew the device would change his life.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]And listen Gurdus did. Commanding six languages\u2014Hebrew, English, Arabic, French, Russian, and Polish\u2014as well as numerous shortwave radios and as many as 11 television sets, he tuned in not only to broadcasts from far and wide but, often, to private conversations, military wire exchanges, and other dispatches not meant for public consumption. In late June of 1976, for example, he interrupted a radio broadcast to announce that he had just picked up a conversation between Palestinian terrorists and an air traffic controller in Libya announcing that they had just hijacked an Air France flight and intended to land it in Benghazi en route to Entebbe, Uganda. It wouldn\u2019t be his last scoop: In 1990, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Israeli military intelligence got the news from Gurdus, who had intercepted the transmissions of the Iraqi army.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]With each passing decade, Gurdus\u2019 fame grew. A reporter interviewing him in 2003 described his office as \u201chalf Aladdin\u2019s cave and half control tower, a labyrinth of television screens, radios, remote controls, electric wires, speakers, model airplanes and photos of Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush stuck on the walls.\u201d And in the center of it all was Gurdus, tartan slippers on his feet and dark shades covering his eye, to protect his vision from the glare of a dozen screens. Even as Israel\u2019s media landscape flourished and more and more commercial radio and television channels debuted, giving rise to new generations of reporters, anchors, and celebrities, Gurdus remained a national treasure, a name you knew even if you weren\u2019t sure exactly what \u201cour listener\u201d did.<\/p>\n<p>And then came the internet.<\/p>\n<p>Gurdus, in his typical tough manner, minimized it, calling it just another arrow in his quiver. \u201cThe internet is just another tool for me,\u201d he said in a recent interview, \u201cand not a major one at that because you can\u2019t compete with what\u2019s broadcast on all these satellites. Besides, neither the internet nor anything else can make me stop working, or make me irrelevant. I\u2019ll continue to report the news, to listen, and to try and deliver scoops. I\u2019ll be there for as long as I\u2019m breathing.\u201d[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Gurdus passed away in his home in Yehud. Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Rivlin both eulogized him, the latter calling him \u201cour mythological listener, the man who brought into our nation faraway voices even before the internet.\u201d[&#8230;]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/jewish-life-and-religion\/250476\/miki-gurdus-israels-national-listener\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the full article at The Tablet Magazine.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Source: The Tablet via Richard Cuff) With a powerful shortwave radio and a battery of TV screens, he broke national news long before the internet, scooping everything from the Entebbe raid to the first Gulf War Had he been born two or three decades later, Miki Gurdus would probably have been just another middle-aged man [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3,43,5],"tags":[1972,6669,1012,1478,310,6668],"class_list":["post-29425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","category-swlers","tag-israel","tag-miki-gurdus","tag-richard-cuff","tag-shortwave-listening","tag-swls","tag-the-tablet-magazine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-7EB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29464,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/dans-qsl-from-miki-gurdus\/","url_meta":{"origin":29425,"position":0},"title":"Dan&#8217;s QSL signed by Miki Gurdus","author":"Thomas","date":"December 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Regarding our recent post about Miki Gurdus, SWLing Post contributor Dan Robinson, writes: Went through my books and found it, the Gurdus handwritten note to me. It appears to have been\u00a0during a visit he made to Washington, likely in the\u00a0period I was in college 1975-1979 but could have been later\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171202_104911-Kol-Israel-Gurdus-Msg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171202_104911-Kol-Israel-Gurdus-Msg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171202_104911-Kol-Israel-Gurdus-Msg.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171202_104911-Kol-Israel-Gurdus-Msg.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59082,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/eton-elite-executive-on-sale-for-150\/","url_meta":{"origin":29425,"position":1},"title":"Eton Elite Executive on sale for $150","author":"Thomas","date":"February 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Cuff, who notes that the Eton Elite Executive shortwave portable is on sale via LifeHacker for $150. Click here to check it out!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Deals&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Deals","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/deals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Elite-Executive.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Elite-Executive.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Elite-Executive.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9743,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/thailand-coup-bbc-world-service-increases-shortwave-broadcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":29425,"position":2},"title":"Thailand Coup: BBC World Service increases shortwave broadcasts","author":"Thomas","date":"May 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, for forwarding this press release from the BBC World Service Group Communications: \u00a0BBC World Service increases broadcasts to Thailand 26 May 2014. As authorities in Thailand take key national and international channels off air in the country, BBC World Service has increased\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Original Image by Zuanzuanfuwa via WikiMedia Commons","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/1000px-Thailand_orthographic_projection.svg_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/1000px-Thailand_orthographic_projection.svg_.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/1000px-Thailand_orthographic_projection.svg_.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34257,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/shortwave-radio-evolves-into-an-iot-network\/","url_meta":{"origin":29425,"position":3},"title":"&#8220;Shortwave radio evolves into an IoT network&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"September 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source:\u00a0Maritime Digitalisation & Communications via Richard Cuff) KNL Networks is building a mesh network of base stations on ships for securely transmitting operational and machinery data to shore Shortwave radio can be used for data transmissions from ships to shore and between vessels as an alternative, or even complementary, service\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Spectrum-Digital-Modes-1024x486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Spectrum-Digital-Modes-1024x486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Spectrum-Digital-Modes-1024x486.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63613,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/old-school-static-wins-the-spy-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":29425,"position":4},"title":"&#8220;Old-school static wins the spy wars&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"August 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Richard Cuff, who shares this Komando.com piece on how old-school shortwave number stations remain active in espionage. Intelligence services \u2014 notably Russia \u2014 still send coded beeps and voice-read numbers using one-time pads because radio is simple, anonymous, and hard to trace. Sure, we\u2019re\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Numbers1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Numbers1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/SWLingPost-Numbers1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65200,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/rfa-to-resume-broadcasts-to-north-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":29425,"position":5},"title":"RFA to resume broadcasts to North Korea","author":"Thomas","date":"January 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Richard Cuff, who highlights a recent Reuters report on Radio Free Asia\u2019s plans to resume Korean-language broadcasts aimed at reaching listeners in North Korea after a period of reduced operations. Radio Free Asia intends to restart weekly radio programming later this month alongside its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Broadcasting&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/RFA-Radio-Free-Asia-Microphone.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}