Zap laRishon

Zap laRishon was Channel 1's kids-and-youth broadcasting framework from 1994 into the mid-2000s, and became one of the channel's best-known kids brands.

Unlike a single fixed-format show, Zap worked over the years as an umbrella strip containing continuity segments, live studio shows, named programs and corners, games and interactive content, alongside originals and acquired series.

Format and staffing changed across its long run, so mid-1990s Zap was not necessarily the same as late-1990s or early-2000s Zap.

Over the years the shortened name «Zap» was also widely used and appeared in names of programs and corners within the strip.

Zap laRishon appeared on Channel 1 during 1994, after a short period in which the Ping Pong kids-and-youth strip aired.

The exact launch date is not yet firmly documented, but a Zap laRishon broadcast is recorded from 5 December 1994.

That broadcast includes Mischakim Plus, hosted by Gadi Taub and Oren Rosenstein, with Eyal Lavi in the studio.

This documentation matters historically: it confirms the Zap laRishon brand was already in use in 1994, even though later biographical sources sometimes date Zap's creation or early work on it to 1995.

Before Zap, Ping Pong aired during 1994 in the afternoon, already mixing live studio, regular corners, guests and kids/youth programs.

Zap therefore did not move Channel 1 kids broadcasts to the afternoon.

It continued and developed a format that already existed under Ping Pong.

The exact transition date between the strips is unknown today, but Zap laRishon is documented on air by December 1994 at the latest.

Later sources sometimes mix Ping Pong, the older Children's and Youth Programs strip and Zap laRishon, or even attribute to Zap activity that predates the brand.

Contemporary archives help distinguish the stages.

Zap laRishon combined the traditional role of a kids strip - linking different programs through the afternoon - with studio shows and standalone content.

Alongside acquisitions and originals, it included live broadcasts, games, interviews, guests, themed corners and participation by children and teens.

The program mix changed across the week and across the years.

In 2000, for example, Zap was described as a framework with five different weekday programs and nine hosts.

The shows aired live and covered topics such as trivia, relationships and teen content.

Interaction with children and teens at home was an important part of the format.

While the older Children's and Youth Programs continuity studio often used letters and drawings sent to the production, Zap's live broadcasts allowed more immediate participation.

Over the years the strip included games, questions, phone-ins and activities that let viewers take part on air.

Zlila Roz, head of the Children's and Youth Programs Department, described live broadcast as a way to hold an immediate, interactive dialogue with viewers at home.

Over its years Zap framed many programs and corners.

Some were short-lived; others became closely identified with the brand.

Mischakim Plus

Mischakim Plus is among the earliest programs documented within Zap. On 5 December 1994 it was hosted by Gadi Taub and Oren Rosenstein, with Eyal Lavi in the studio.

It dealt among other things with leisure culture and content for children and teens.

Anakim Ktanim

Anakim Ktanim aired in the early Zap period hosted by Hani Nachmias, with documentation from January 1995.

Zap Chai

Zap Chai was an animals program on Tuesdays within Zap laRishon.

Presenters included Yael Chen and Lavi Zitner, with Dr. Rafi Kishon among the participants.

Yael Chen had earlier presented afternoon youth continuity segments and later moved to hosting Zap Chai - an example of continuity and standalone shows existing side by side under Zap.

Other programs

Over the years other programs and corners were linked to the Zap brand, including Me'az ve'ad Zap and various daily studio shows.

By the late 1990s and early 2000s the framework included different weekday programs with changing host teams and content.

In 1998 Me'az ve'ad Zap was produced in connection with thirty years of kids and youth broadcasting on Israeli Television.

The title itself expressed the link between the long history of the Children's and Youth Programs Department and Zap, then the current brand for Channel 1 kids and youth broadcasts.

Guy Meroz is among the hosts associated with the production.

Zap's rise did not wipe out continuity broadcasting.

Hosts continued to appear between afternoon programs and link parts of the schedule.

Yael Chen, for example, began at Channel 1 presenting afternoon youth continuity and only later hosted Zap Chai.

It is therefore more accurate to see Zap as a broad framework containing both continuity segments and programs with their own formats and identities.

Over more than a decade many presenters took part in Zap, and the lineup changed by period and program.

Among those associated with Zap and its programs over the years are Gadi Taub, Oren Rosenstein, Eyal Lavi, Hani Nachmias, Yaniv Polishuk, Yael Chen, Lavi Zitner, Saar Ben Yosef, Liat Ahiron and Guy Meroz.

Not all of them hosted the same program or worked in the same period.

Some hosted continuity; others hosted specific programs or corners under the brand.

Zlila Roz, longtime head of Israeli Television's Children's and Youth Programs Department, was one of the central figures behind Zap broadcasts.

Musician and creator Yossi Ashdot was also involved in creating and writing for early Zap. Biographical sources date the start of his work on the strip to 1995, even though the Zap laRishon brand itself is documented by December 1994.

The gap may reflect gradual format development or imprecision in later sources, so 1995 should not be treated as the brand's launch year.

Zap laRishon is associated with an opening and theme that became part of the strip's identity.

Yossi Ashdot and Ronen Goldfarb are identified with the opening lyrics, and Ashdot with the melody.

The musical opening and graphic identity helped turn Zap from a broadcast framework alone into a recognizable Channel 1 kids-and-youth brand.

Through the 1990s Zap expanded gradually.

The early strip included continuity and programs such as Mischakim Plus and Anakim Ktanim.

Later came additional named programs and corners.

By the late 1990s and early 2000s Zap already operated as an umbrella brand with different weekday programs under the general identity of Channel 1 kids and youth broadcasting.

Use of the shortened name «Zap» became common and appeared in names of various programs and productions.

Zap laRishon remained associated with Channel 1 kids and youth broadcasting through 2006.

Across its run, format, airtime, programs and host teams changed many times.

Various sources link the fading of live studio broadcasts to around 2006, but there is not enough documentation today to say the Second Lebanon War was the direct cause of Zap ending.

2006 therefore marks the end of the period identified with the brand, without attributing that end to a specific event without a clear source.

Zap laRishon continued a longer chapter in Israeli Television kids and youth broadcasting.

Before it came the Children's and Youth Programs strip for years - continuity studio, rotating hosts, originals and acquisitions, and viewer contact through letters and drawings.

During 1994 Ping Pong expanded live studio, corners and afternoon broadcasting.

Zap continued that development and over the years turned it into a wider system of live broadcasts, programs, corners, games and active viewer participation.

Continued use of the departmental name «Children's and Youth Programs» alongside the later brands is one reason later sources sometimes mix the three periods.