Kobi Midan

Kobi Midan is one of the recognizable voices of Israeli broadcasting. For more than four decades, he has worked across radio and television as a presenter, interviewer, translator, voice actor, narrator and educator. His contribution is not limited to hosting programs. Through sustained conversations with artists, writers, scholars and public figures, he helped create accessible spaces for cultural discussion, intellectual curiosity and reflection on Israeli society.

From Galatz to the center of Israeli media

Midan was born Yaakov Yehiel Mandelbaum on April 27, 1958, and grew up and was educated in Netanya. He began his media career in 1976 while serving in the Israel Defense Forces’ Galatz radio station. He presented the foreign-language music countdown and was among the first presenters of Nachon Le-achshav (“Right Now”). From the beginning, his broadcasting combined a distinctive voice with an evident interest in the ideas and people behind music, current affairs and culture.

He also worked as a translator. For Teapacks’ debut album Radio Hazak (“Strong Radio,” 1981), he translated the songs “Tafsik Lechaven Elai” (“Stop Aiming at Me”) and “Meashnim Beyachad” (“Smoking Together”). This work placed him not only behind the microphone but also within the process by which international popular culture acquired a Hebrew expression and entered Israel’s local cultural vocabulary.

After leaving radio, Midan moved into television. On Israel Educational Television, he hosted Ro’im 6/6 alongside Orly Yaniv, Erez Tal and Meirav Michaeli, and later presented Matzav Haruach (“State of Mind”) with Carmit Guy on the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s Channel 1. Between 1990 and 1993, he also appeared on the Israeli satire program HaOlam HaErev (“The World Tonight”), broadcast on experimental Channel 2. These roles established him across educational, public and entertainment broadcasting.

Radio as a place for learning and conversation

In 1993, Midan returned to Galatz and resumed presenting Nachon Le-achshav, replacing Rafi Reshef. Avri Gilad later joined him, and the two hosted the program until 1998. His radio work strengthened his reputation as a presenter able to sustain an intelligent, informative and lively conversation.

From 2010 to 2014, he hosted the Galatz interview program Anashim BaLayla (“People at Night”), for which he received the Galatz Commander’s Award in 2011. Between 2015 and 2017, he presented broadcasts of HaUniversita HaMeshuderet (“The Open University on Air”) in a new format built around conversations between a host and an academic rather than one-way lectures. His series Mavo Le... (“Introduction to...”) addressed feminism, foundational texts and death. By turning academic subjects into conversations, the format demonstrated how radio could function not only as entertainment and current affairs but also as an accessible medium for education and reflection.

Midan teaches and leads a radio-interview workshop at the Koteret School of Journalism, and lectures for the Ascolot educational program on a range of subjects. He also presents the Galatz segment Ko Amru Hachamim (“Thus Said the Sages”), broadcast ten minutes before six o’clock. The segment brings sayings and ideas associated with the Jewish sages into the setting of contemporary daily radio, connecting elements of Jewish textual culture with a broad public audience.

Interviews as a cultural forum

In 1996, Midan began hosting the Channel 2 interview program Pgisha Laylit (“Late-Night Meeting”) for the broadcaster Tteled. The program ran for nine seasons, until 2005, and became one of Israeli television’s important settings for extended conversations with well-known figures. Rather than reducing guests to headlines, it gave viewers an opportunity to encounter their experiences, ideas and creative work in greater depth.

Among the program’s notable interviews were an exclusive conversation with actress Jane Fonda in 2002 and Corinne Allal’s coming-out interview in 2001. These interviews also reflected Midan’s ability to create a direct and attentive television space for discussions of identity, artistic work and personal life.

In 1999, Midan and Avri Gilad co-hosted the entertainment program Avraham VeYaakov, which included a regular comedy segment by Avi Grainik and Idan Alterman and continued until 2000. In 2004, he began hosting the series of Channel 2 specials HaMivchan Shel Yisrael (“Israel’s Test”), which challenged viewers at home on subjects including transportation, intelligence and knowledge of the State of Israel. The programs combined entertainment with questions about Israeli society and made the audience active participants.

Television, documentary work and cultural journalism

In 2006, Midan began co-hosting the Channel 10 morning program Kol Boker (“Every Morning”) with Linoy Bar-Geffen. At the same time, he hosted and edited the documentary series Hivtahnu Zeh LaZu (“We Promised Each Other”), which examined divorce. The combination of a live morning program and documentary work reflected the breadth of his practice: he could work within the immediacy of daily broadcasting while also giving social subjects the context and time they required.

In December 2010, following Rino Tzur’s departure, Midan began hosting the Israel Educational Television interview program Hotzeh Yisrael (“Crossing Israel”). During his period as host, the program received the Israeli Television Academy Award for Best Interview Program in 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The awards recognized the program’s role as a major forum for conversations with figures from Israeli culture, society and public life.

In March 2018, Midan began presenting Sochen Tarbut (“Culture Agent”) on Kan 11. Broadcast on Mondays and Thursdays, the personal cultural magazine combined in-depth interviews, panel discussions, foreign reports, commentary, criticism and recommendations relating to creative work and ideas in Israel and abroad. It continued the central thread of his career: connecting broad audiences with literature, art, film, music, thought and other cultural subjects that do not always receive sustained attention in everyday public discourse.

Midan also narrated the documentary series Human Planet and, during the second decade of the twenty-first century, worked as a voice for commercials. In the 1990s, he lent his voice to animated series including Mrs. Pepperpot, in which he voiced Mr. Pepper, Tao Tao and Captain N: The Game Master, in which he voiced Wiz. These projects brought his voice to younger audiences and extended his presence beyond interviews and cultural programming.

Connecting memory, culture and public conversation

In 2020, Midan began hosting Acharei Ne'ilah (“After the Lock”) on Kan 11. The program accompanied the television series Sha'at Ne'ilah (“Valley of Tears”), which dealt with the Yom Kippur War, and discussed the events depicted in each episode. It offered viewers a framework for connecting television drama with historical and social reflection on one of the defining events in Israeli memory.

Midan has also used his public platform to express personal views. At the end of March 2018, in the context of events surrounding the Great March of Return, he published a post beginning, “Today I am ashamed to be Israeli.” The statement led to public debate about his continued work at Galatz. The station’s commander held a clarification meeting with him and decided not to take disciplinary action; separately, his participation as host of a Memorial Day ceremony in Rishon LeZion was cancelled. This episode is not the measure of his entire career, but it illustrates the public expectations placed on prominent broadcasters and the significance of an independent voice in Israeli media.

Why Kobi Midan belongs in Moreshet

Kobi Midan merits inclusion in Moreshet because he has spent decades shaping how Israelis encounter ideas, artists, scholars and stories. He has done so through radio, television, translation, voice work, narration and teaching, but the common thread is his faith in conversation as a way to broaden knowledge and connect people. From Pgisha Laylit, Hotzeh Yisrael and Sochen Tarbut to the Open University broadcasts and Ko Amru Hachamim, he made culture, learning and Jewish textual memory available to wide audiences.

His influence lies not only in the programs he presented but also in the listeners and viewers who encountered serious cultural discussion through them, as well as in the students and media professionals who learned from his approach to interviewing. His career documents an important part of Israel’s intellectual and cultural life: the effort to make depth, curiosity and humane listening part of mainstream media. For that reason, Kobi Midan has a meaningful place in Moreshet and on Moreshet.com, where his work can be remembered as a sustained contribution to Israeli cultural life and to the public conversation that helps a society understand itself.