L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
Jewish Radio Show Aims to
Connects Local Singles
DATING JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
IN OUR REMOTE and isolated
world today, “it’s hard to meet
people,” Valori Zaslow said.

“Th ey are on apps, websites,
blind dates,” she continued.

“Th ey are all over the place.”
Except, it seems, in public
spaces with other people.

So, to help singles recon-
nect to the dating scene,
Zaslow and her new friend,
Diana Pivenshteyn, created a
radio show, Jewish Singles, on
WWDB-AM TALK 860.

Th e show airs for an hour
every Wednesday at 7 p.m. It
also goes out as a podcast on
the WWDB website and on
podcast platforms.

Zaslow, 54, of Narberth,
and Pivenshteyn, 45, of
Philadelphia, aired their fi rst
episode in June and started
building a loyal audience. As
divorced women of a certain
age, they get what their
listeners are going through and
are capable of commiserating
and off ering advice.

But they also bring on spiri-
tual leaders, life coaches and
matchmakers, among others.

Some shows have topics, like
how to navigate dating if you
have children. Others feature
one expert and several callers
asking for advice.

At least two couples have
met from appearing on the
show at the same time, though
the hosts do not profess to be
matchmakers. “We just want to help facil-
itate that for people who are
struggling,” Zaslow said.

Zaslow and Pivenshteyn did
not know each other before
the show. Th ey actually had
their own matchmaker: Perry
Milou, a mutual friend and an
artist with a studio in Bristol.

Milou had a feeling that the
women would complement
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM The logo for the Jewish Singles Radio Show
each other.

As the artist explained it,
Zaslow, a candy store owner,
event planner and streaming
television host, has “always got
her mind into something.”
And Pivenshteyn, an event
planner who ran beauty
pageants in the area’s Russian
community for many years, is
“very creative.”
So one day in the spring, the
artist invited both women to
his studio space.

Around the same time,
Zaslow got a call from Barry
Reisman, the host of a Jewish
music show on WWDB-AM.

He knew that, over a year
earlier, she created a Facebook
page called Jewish Singles
Society that got hundreds
of likes before the pandemic
halted its burgeoning event
schedule. He also knew that
Zaslow had media experience.

“Barry asked if I’d be
interested in bringing a show
to [WW]DB in that realm,”
Zaslow said. “Th is is what
came to mind.”
Th at day, Zaslow walked
into Milou’s studio and made
an instant connection with
Pivenshteyn, as expected. Th en,
she popped the question about
Courtesy of Valori Zaslow
co-hosting Jewish Singles.

Pivenshteyn loved the idea.

She used to host a Russian
music show on WWDB.

“Valori brought it up. Diana
had some experience at the
station. And they took it to the
next level,” Milou said.

According to Pivenshteyn,
due to the ongoing pandemic,
neither woman had a lot going
on in the spring. Th ere still
weren’t many big events.

Plus, according to Zaslow,
the Jewish Singles Society
maintained a big Facebook
following, even though it never
really got off the ground. So,
she still wanted to launch it,
and the show would be a way
to do that.

But more than anything,
Pivenshteyn said, the connec-
tive fi ber between the women
was their status as Jewish
singles themselves.

“We’re both single and
divorced,” Pivenshteyn said.

“When two women get together
and have that in common,
that’s like hours of talking.”
WWDB-AM executives tell
their hosts that the station has
10,000 listeners a day at any
given time, but the women aren’t
sure how big their audience is.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Th ey do, however, understand
its makeup based on the conver-
sations that break out.

“Most of our listeners,
because of our age, are in
the same boat,” Pivenshteyn
said. “It’s like a support group
on air.”
Zaslow has a boyfriend.

But Pivenshteyn is just dating.

And since she has two young
kids, two dogs and elderly
parents who need her help, she
doesn’t need a boyfriend, she
says. Pivenshteyn has plenty of
responsibilities and company.

So when she does date, she
has prerequisites: Th e guy must
be Jewish, Russian and a parent
like her, though she’s fl exible
on the Russian part.

Pivenshteyn has ventured
outside her world before and
has no desire to do it again. But
that’s just what works for her.

“My advice to people is stick
with what they really want,”
Pivenshteyn said.

The show has gotten
popular enough to transform
into a community, Zaslow said.

She is talking to local Jewish
organizers about planning
events for singles to meet in
public again.

“It’s been tough in the last 15
months to do that,” she said. ●
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