Public Radio Anthology, V.1
PZ1030
64 GB USB Drive / ~1000 hours in MP3 format
Pacifica Radio Archives introduces its latest master collection of historic audio, totaling approximately 1000 hours, which dives deep into the storied corners of public radio stations KPFK (Los Angeles), KPFA (Berkeley), KPFT (Houston), WPFW (Washington DC), and WBAI (New York City) - the fabled "five sisters" that are the heart and soul of legendary Pacifica Radio. Rare, significant, and unfiltered, this new audio collection is not only flush with familiar names synonymous with Pacifica Radio, but also brings to the surface voices and sounds particular to each individual station - those from local station communities, caring listeners, and proud supporters.
KPFA
It all started at KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley. America's first public radio station (and one of the first FM stations in the world) would exist solely upon the support of its listeners. KPFA presented a radical new type of radio experience for the Bay Area; unrestrained by commercial advertising, what came out over airwaves were unlike anything heard before... raw, risque, revolutionary. Hundreds of notable souls have passed through KPFA since its first days in 1949, and continue to do so today: Lew Hill, Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, , Elsa Knight Thompson, Linus Pauling, Mario Savio, W.E.B. DuBois, to name a few.
KPFA is known for its strong programming in LGBTQ studies, Gender and Women's Studies, History, and Music, with notable programs including:
Emma Goldman: The Courage to Struggle
Noam Chomsky: On The New World Order
John Trudell: Speaking at CSU Hayward
Gore Vidal: State Of The Union
Michael Moore at Santa Rosa, 2003
Bette Davis at the San Francisco Film Festival, 1969
Gore Vidal and Hermoine Gingold
Tennessee Williams Meets the San Francisco Press
Celia Cruz In San Francisco with Johnny Pacheco
Ralph Nader, 2014
Cornel West: Prophetic Imagination, 2014
KPFK
KPFK, in Los Angeles, was the second member of the Pacifica family, going on-air in 1959. Blessed with an enormous transmitter in a prime location on Mt. Wilson in the Angeles National Forest, KPFK 90.7 FM is the most powerful of the Pacifica stations and is the most powerful public radio station in the Western United States. Its roots run deep in Southern California, and it is proud to have a strong partnership with local activists and the entertainment industry.
KPFK is known for its strong programming in Music, Union Causes, Poetry and the Arts, and Native American Studies, with notable programs including:
Celebrity Readings of Greg Palast: Alec Baldwin, Larry David, Amy Goodman, Jello Biafra, Greg Proops, Ed Asner
Paul Rosenstein: The Structure of Union Democracy
Richard Mowhawk: The Case of Paul Skyhorse
The Past Makes the Future: A Los Angeles History
Guatemala and their Unions
Charles Chaplin, Jr.: Chaplin on Chaplin
Father Luis Olivares
WBAI
WBAI began as WABF in 1941 and moved to 99.5 FM in 1948; then, station took a respite from broadcasting in 1953, and came back on the air as part of World Broadcast Associates, Inc (WBAI) in 1955. On January 10, 1960, WBAI joined Pacifica when philanthropist Louis Schweitzer gave the station to the network. The rest is history, literally. WBAI is famous for wild free-form radio and a slew of unique metropolitan voices and sounds fitting for New York City and its environs.
WBAI is known for its strong programming in LGBTQ studies, Women's Studies, Science, Music, and Native American Studies, with notable programs including:
Einstein On The Beach
Duke Ellington at Basin Street East
Alice Walker Reads Her Poetry
Malcolm X: Life After Death
Leonard Peltier & the Land
Cornel West Speaking in NY
Russell Means Interview with Mike Walsh Backup
Bob Dylan Interviews
KPFT
KPFT 90.1 FM Houston was founded in 1970 by journalist Larry Lee, and started broadcasting on March 1st, 1970. Just two months later, the Ku Klux Klan blew up the KPFT transmitter, and the station was off the air for several weeks until repairs could be made. In October, 1970, the transmitter was bombed yet again, and this time the damage was more extensive, taking many months to repair. In early 1971, with Arlo Guthrie live in the studios performing "Alice's Restaurant," (the song that had been playing when the October bombers struck), KPFT triumphantly took to the air again, and remains strong today, reaching an audience of over a million listeners each week.
KPFT is known for its strong programming in Gender and Women's Studies, Poetry, and Chicana/Chicano Issues, with notable programs including:
Noam Chomsky: A Preemptive Strike on International Law
Robert Fisk Flashpoints Interview
Bill Moyers
Dolores Huerta: Taking A Stand In History
Jane Fonda and the Indochina Peace Campaign in Houston
WPFW
WPFW 89.3 FM is the fifth station of the Pacifica Radio Network, going live in 1977, and stands proud as the original voice for progressive news, public affairs, and music programming in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Known as the "Jazz and Justice" station, WPFW continues to challenge the norm in public media, passionately serving the underserved and the marginalized in the community. Von Martin, a volunteer programmer who still hosts the show Caribbeana, was the first voice to sign the station on the air 40 years ago, beginning the broadcast with Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train".
WPFW is known for its programming in Gender and Women's Studies, Music, Civil Rights, Poetry, Native American Studies, with notable programs including:
Malcolm X
John Coltrane
Dizzy Gillespie: The Man and His Music
Kathleen Quinlan: I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
The Rosenberg Case: Twenty-Five Years Later
An Interview with Earl Robinson
James Baldwin: They Would Not Want to be Black Here