Who is "Hasmo FM"?

The Hasmo FM team was a group of Hasmo boys from the class of 1998-2005. We think we're quite funny so we thought we'd have a go at entertaining you - the pupils (and teachers) of Hasmonean.

Why exactly did we make Hasmo FM?

We actually created the Hasmo FM CDs for three reasons:
1. Our enjoyment
2. Your entertainment
3. To make money for tzedokkoh (formerly: to raise money for the 2OB Library)

What's all this about the "2OB Library"?

The 2OB Library is a library of Jewish books, located at the heart of the main building of Hasmo boys, inside Room 108. It is open to the whole school every Monday and Thursday lunch break and contains a wide selection of Jewish books, mostly in English, on various topics. You can visit the library just to read, or you can borrow books for a period of two weeks with no charge. The library was founded many years ago (early 1980s we think) by Mr O. Y. Baddiel (2OB was the name of Mr Baddiel's form at the time). He supervised the running of the library since then, until the end of the 2001/2002 school year when he left Hasmo after his many years of service to take the role of headmaster in a school in Kishinev in the Republic of Moldova. The library, though, continues to be run by the 2OB Librarians.

How did Hasmo FM first start?

The original Hasmo FM team - Simon Brayam, Yisroel Cohen, Shimon Goldwater, Aryeh Grossman and Jonathan Levy - came together for the creation of the Hasmo FM CD. However, preceding this, before the concept of Hasmo FM was even invented, Yisroel Cohen and Jonathan Levy produced the 2OB Library Radio Commercials CD. The proceeds from this release went to the 2OB Library, however this CD was only very short and it became our ambition to create a 'feature-length' production with more voices than just Yisroel's, and with more than just adverts for the library. So from there began Hasmo FM... After much time spent writing, recording and editing, our first major release in the school became very popular and was extremely successfully.

What happened next?

Due to the CD's unexpected popularity, a sequel became inevitable. The sequel was to be bigger and better than the orginal, and would be more hyped than the first in order to raise as much money as possible, through a massive poster and website campaign. Hasmo FM 2 benefitted from the addition of a new cast member, Eli Birnbaum. Hasmo FM 2 was released together with a re-release of the orignal Hasmo FM CD and a new edition of the 2OB Library Radio Commercials CD, and proved a great success.

What's planned for the future of Hasmo FM?

Hasmo FM 2 was Eli Birnbaum's first and last Hasmo FM CD - production of a 45-minute professional-sounding Hasmo FM CD on our non-professional equipment required much more time than we had in our last year at Hasmo. However, the Hasmo FM phenomenon will live on in the homes of the hundreds of families who bought the CDs, and on this website, where the CDs are now available as a free download. The Hasmo FM team was also heavily involved in the production of our Year Book and DVD, however these are not available on general release.

More information

More information about our history and the story of Hasmo FM can be found by clicking on 'History' in the Special Features of any of our three CDs.

Contact the Hasmo FM team

If you would like to contact the Hasmo FM team, send us an email at theteam@hasmofm.co.uk or leave on message on the Hasmo Forum.