Better Than Reality TV?

The first ever Muslim-Jewish radio station, Radio Salaam Shalom, launched last week in the UK. The station, funded by grants from the government’s Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund, aspires to bridge the gap in the Muslim and Jewish communities by illustrating the groups' shared cultural similarities.

The station is the voice of the “moderate majority” where people from both communities will have the chance to celebrate, debate and share the events, the spokesman added.

Farooq Siddique, a member of the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society and presenter on the station, said he hoped the project would help improve community relations.

“Basically when you think of two communities who don’t get on, the first one you think of is Jews and Muslims.

“The idea behind the station, at a time when chasms are opening up between communities here in the UK and around the world, is to act as a bridge and bring communities together to discuss their problems.

“There’s so much we have in common. The Israel-Palestine issue has come to define Muslim and Jewish relations, but prior to that the relationship was the exact opposite.”

The idea came from Jewish and Muslim students at two universities – Bristol University and the University of the West of England – as a means of forging closer links with each other.

Radio Salaam Shalom broadcasts daily from 3-9 PM and from the schedule appears to be largely comprised of Muslim shows.