"The vice chairman of the board came and said to me, You have been chosen to be the first face on Al Jazeera, but we want one thing from you: do not tell anyone. The announcement that Rayyan was presenting the first bulletin was made public half an hour before airtime, and he deliberately entered the studio on an empty stomach to ensure he could breathe well and deliver the historic broadcast."
"As the broadcast started, my heart began beating rapidly. However, after I appeared on the screen and said, Welcome to the first broadcast of Al Jazeera channel, I returned to my natural state and finished the broadcast. As soon as I finished and exited the studio, the entire room erupted in applause."
Jamal Rayyan, born in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank in 1953, was the first face on Al Jazeera when it launched on November 1, 1996. He presented the channel's opening bulletin, a historic moment he was sworn to secrecy about until thirty minutes before airtime. Rayyan began his broadcasting career at Jordanian Radio and Television in 1974 and worked with multiple regional and international broadcasters including BBC Arabic before joining Al Jazeera from its inception. Throughout nearly three decades with the channel, he covered major global and regional events including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Arab Spring. He passed away on Sunday at age 73 after more than fifty years in broadcasting.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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