Zev J. Brenner is an Orthodox Jewish radio host and president and founder of Talkline Communications, a Radio/TV network founded in 1981. [1]
Brenner graduated from the New York City Technical College of the City University in NY. He married Adena Karen Berkowitz, a lawyer and daughter of William Berkowitz, the national president of the American Jewish Heritage Committee in New York in 1988. [1] He is an ordained Rabbi. [2]
The Talkline talk-show is a regularly scheduled talk-show airing in Metro New York City [3] and has interviewed notable personalities including President Bill Clinton; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Senators Joseph Lieberman and Charles Schumer; Israeli Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin; former Vice President Dan Quayle; former Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev; Mayor David Dinkins [4] and Al Sharpton. [2]
Brenner is known as one of the only Orthodox Jews in the United States who serves as a talk-show host. He is also known for addressing many important but controversial topics in the Jewish community. [5]
In 2010, the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office used the show as part of an elaborate sting operation that helped the government convict Malcolm Smith and other New York politicians in a corruption scandal. [6]