Haredi news hotline
A Haredi news hotline is a telephone service that serves as an important source of news in the Haredi world. Many Haredim do not use radios or televisions or have access to the internet, leaving them with little or no access to breaking news. News hotlines were formed to fill this gap, and many have expanded to additional fields over time. Currently, many news lines provide rabbinic lectures, entertainment, business advice and similar services, in addition to their primary function of reporting the news. Many hasidic sects maintain their own hotlines, where relevant internal news is reported and the group's perspective can be advocated for. In the Israeli Haredi community, there are dozens of prominent hotlines, in both Yiddish and Hebrew. Some Haredi hotlines have played significant public roles, however many prominent services have faced struggles.
Kol Mevaser
Kol Mevaser is a Yiddish news hotline. It reports the news, weather, lottery, traffic, and carries interviews and scholarly lectures on various topics of interest to the Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish community.Frum News Wire
Frum News Wire, or FNW, was a news hotline based in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, a subsidiary of the Voice of Lakewood magazine. FNW carried local and world news, audio recordings of notable events, and various forms of entertainment. They have had interviews with notable Haredi personalities, such as Jake Turx, Yossi Gestetner, and Richard Roberts.. One of its popular shows was The Yaakov M. Show, a political podcast.According to FNW, most callers called more than once a day, and the hotline had an average total of fifteen thousand calls a day. It said that the majority of its listeners were from the tri-state area, with approximately half from Lakewood.
During its final months, FNW stopped updating their news and music sections, only updating The Yaakov M. Show. After they shut down, The Yaakov M. Show opened up its own hotline, the Jewish News Channel, before moving to Yeshiva International.