Yigal Ravid ( he, יגאל רביד; born 13 August 1957) is an Israeli radio and television presenter, best known for hosting the

Eurovision Song Contest 1999 The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the 44th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Center (Jerusalem), International Convention Centre in Jerusalem, Israel. Organised by the European Broadca ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Early life

Yigal Ravid was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in 1957. He was a student at the Tel-Aviv

Herzeliya Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...

High School. Ravid then attended the

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, where he studied

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

achieving an undergraduate in

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

. Yigal enrolled with the young journalists' scheme after he received a scholarship at the John Kennedy Foundation. He continued his education at the

University of New York There is no real institution in the United States that bears the exact name University of New York. However, it is possible that such a reference may be used for one of the following: In New York State * New York University, a private research ...

where he studied for a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

degree in communications. Yigal's began his professional journalism with the

Galei Tzahal Army Radio ( he, גלי צה"ל lit. IDF waves) or Galei Tzahal, known in Israel by its acronym Galatz ( he, גל"צ), is a nationwide Israeli radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces. The station broadcasts news, music, traffic report ...

, a nationwide

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i army radio network operated by the Israel Defense Forces. Between 1983 and 1989 Ravid continued his journalism career as a newsreader working for

Kol Yisrael ''Kol Yisrael'' or ''Kol Israel'' ( lit. "Voice of Israel", also "Israel Radio") is Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, the Israel Broadcastin ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

domestic and international radio service, operated as a division of the

Israel Broadcasting Authority The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station '' Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent s ...

. It was during this time that he also presented a music show on the Israeli radio station,

Reshet Gimel Reshet ( he, רשת, ''lit.'' "Network") is an Israeli television broadcasting and production company. It was one of the two concessionaires running the Israeli commercial television channel, Channel 2 from 1993 to 2017, and is running channel ...

. Before returning as an editor and newsreader for Kol Yisrael in 1993, Yigal worked for Israel Radio International as a journalist while undergoing further educational studies in America. In 1996 he continued his newsreader career for Israeli network Channel 1, where he then switched channels in 1998 and presented news programs for Channel 2. Yigal is fluent in many languages including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

, French, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, as well as his native tongue

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Eurovision Song Contest

Yigal has appeared twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, he presented the Israeli vote. After the Israeli victory that year, the contest was held in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

, which Ravid co-hosted along with

Dafna Dekel Dafna Dekel ( he, דפנה דקל; born 7 May 1966, in Ashdod, Israel) is an Israeli singer, actress and television personality. Biography Dafna Dekel was born in Ashdod, Israel, to a family of Yemenite Jews, Yemenite-Jewish descent. She was dis ...

and Sigal Shachmon.

Career

Radio

Television

References