The Pacifica Radio Archives

http://pacificaradioarchives.org

Half Century of Leading ‘Voices of Courage and Dissent’

To Air in Marathon National Broadcast to Benefit the

Preservation of the Pacifica Radio Archives

One of the Nation’s Oldest and Most Valuable Audio Collections

Historic Rare Recordings will Air on 5 Stations Wednesday Nov. 19th

WHAT: Special Pacifica Radio 15-hour marathon national broadcast, 'Voices of Courage and Dissent' will raise funds to preserve 47,000 recordings in the Pacifica Radio Archives, pre-empting regular programming on all stations the Pacifica Radio Network.

WHERE: On Air on all five Pacifica Radio stations: KPFK 90.7 FM-Los Angeles (broadcasting from Santa Barbara to San Diego), KPFA 94.1 FM-Berkeley (KFCF-Fresno), KPFT 90.1 FM–Houston, WBAI 99.5 FM–New York, WPFW-89.3 FM-Washington D.C.

WHEN: 7 AM EST (6 AM CST, 4 AM PST) Wednesday, Nov. 19th.

WHY: 'The Pacifica Radio Archives housed in Los Angeles, holds over 47,000 reel to reel analog tapes that are in danger of deterioration,' said Archives director Brian DeShazor. 'We are raising funds to save this national treasure and at the same time are informing listeners about the history otherwise forgotten or suppressed.'

'The Pacifica Radio Archives has unique materials,' said Larry Appelbaum, Senior Studio Engineer and Supervisor at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. 'Sometimes it's one of a kind and it becomes increasingly important to preserve these tapes and discs so that not only this generation can enjoy and appreciate the content but each successive generation can as well.'

WHO: The broadcast will include rare recordings of speeches and interviews with some of the most influential and controversial thinkers and cultural figures of the past 50 years, including Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, John Coltrane, Jacques Cousteau, Rachel Carson, Paul Robeson, Angela Davis, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Dylan Thomas, George Carlin, Woody Guthrie, and Edward Said.

WHAT: Also included in the broadcast are historical moments that are part of Pacifica Radio’s unique legacy, such as the first American reporting in 1966 from North Vietnam and a 1962 interview with a former FBI agent offering the first known expose on the bureau and J. Edgar Hoover ever presented by American radio or television.

Audio-tapes of Patty Hearst while she was being held by the Symbionese Liberation Army secretly dropped off at both KPFK and KPFA stations in 1974 and the two KKK bombings of Pacifica's Houston station during their first year in 1970 are also included. One of highlights of the day will be a riveting telephone interview with an Iranian revolutionary holding hostages in the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979. When asked if the hostages will be executed, the Iranian student claims they have proof that the hostages are spies, and Americans should pressure President Carter to return the Shah to Iran. The State Department called KPFK the next day and warned the manager to never repeat such a broadcast. On a lighter note (no pun intended) the broadcast also includes the legendary1954 interview with guests smoking marijuana live on Pacifica’s airways.

BACKGROUND: Pacifica Radio’s founder Lewis Hill's mission was to create a new kind of radio, supported by listeners, owing nothing to sponsors, providing an outlet for creative expression, and a safe haven for artistic experiments with the medium. Launched in 1949 with KPFA-FM in Berkeley, Calif., the network added stations in Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Washington, D.C over the next 28 years. Perhaps best known as a chronicler of social justice movements and cultural change, Pacifica stations have consistently embraced the performing and literary arts, and provided a stage to experiment with radio drama, spoken word, and the radio documentary.

Established in 1971, the Archives began as a repository for programs of exceptional historic value and those appropriate for rebroadcast by other stations or use as source material for radio producers, artists and scholars. Many of these tapes are extremely rare and have seldom been heard by the general public. The Archives began digitizing recordings and re-mastering the material in 1999. Since then, Pacifica has restored hundreds of historical recordings and requires funds to complete the restoration of thousands more.

SCHEDULE: Wednesday, Nov. 19th, 'Voices of Courage and Dissent,' go to http://pacificaradioarchives.org.

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