For the Media

November 27, 2007: Sounds That Change the World

Listen to a promo.

What do Jackson Browne, Cesar Chavez, Arthur C. Clarke, Angela Davis, Ossie Davis, Samuel R. Delaney, Duke Ellington, Allen Ginsberg, Robert F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Rosa Parks, Bonnie Raitt, Ayn Rand, Rob Reiner, Bobby Seale, Harry Shearer, Gloria Steinem, Alan Watts and dozens of other figures from our collective political, artistic and social heritage all have in common? They will all be featured via Pacifica Radio Archives' (PRA) Sounds That Change The World, nineteen hours of extraordinary special programming that will be simulcast nationally on the Pacifica Radio Network on Tuesday, November 27th beginning at 7 a.m. Eastern Time.

This special broadcast event celebrates the archives' unparalleled audio treasury of America's progressive memory from the latter half of the 20th century. Since 1948, Pacifica has often been the only broadcast venue giving voice to independent thinkers who were often shut out of history books and mainstream media. This is the 6th annual fund drive for PRA's Preservation & Access Project, and will offer premiums just in time for Holiday gift shopping. The 19-hour marathon honors free speech, revolutionary thoughts, artistic musings and social consciousness. The airtime has been generously shared by regular programmers who are pre-empted on all five Pacifica Radio outlets: KPFA 94.1fm Berkeley • WBAI 99.5fm in NYC • KPFK 90.7fm Los Angeles • WPFW 89.3 fm  Washington D.C. • KPFT 90.1fm in Houston  and on the web at www.pacificaradioarchive.org.

PRA Director Brian DeShazor, an award-winning radio producer, commented, "Nowhere else does this powerful documentation of United States history, culture, and art exist. It's story telling at its best, while giving us a keen sense of how we've come to be who we are as a nation. Every school, church, and community group dedicated to our national principles of human rights and freedom of speech will be uplifted when they hear this rare material from American icons."

Schedule of programming includes...

• "Sounds That Change The World: Wake Up And Hear The History"
•  "Beat Of The Drum: The Power Of African Women"
• "Battles Cry: Conscientious Objectors from Vietnam To Iraq"
• "The Whistle Blown: Conversations With The President, 1973" (featuring dramatic re-enactments of the Nixon Watergate tapes)
• "Alan Watts: Preaching To The Unconverted"
• "The Black Panther Legacy: Without Silencers"
• "The Big Band: Where Were You In 1968?"
• "The John Coltrane Legacy"
• "Things That Go Bump: SF & The Star Pit"
• "Ringing Testimonies: Women Of The World Speak Out"
• "Malcolm X: A Voice Of Influence"
• "Booming Industry: A No Nukes Reunion For A New Nuke Crisis" featuring a 2007 conversation with No Nukes co-founders Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt.

Available for interviews...

• Brian De Shazor, Pacifica Radio Archives Director (818) 506-1077
  deshazor@pacificaradioarchives.org
• Verna Avery Brown, Pacifica Washington Bureau Chief/WPFW radio personality
  202 588-0999
• Bernard White, WBAI Program Director, (212) 209-2800
• Jerry Quickly, KPFK radio personality, (818) 763-7526
• Margaret Prescod, KPFK radio personality, (818) 763-7526
• Davey D,  Wayland Southen, Anita Johnson. Hard Knock Radio, KPFA radio personality (510) 848-6767
• C.S. Soong. KPFA radio personality, (510) 848-6767
• Larry Bensky, former national correspondent, Pacifica Radio. Longtime Bay Area personality contact Stephenie Hendricks (415) 258-9151 stephdh@earthlink.net

Pacifica Radio and Archives History

Based in Los Angeles, CA, PRA houses over 50,000 tapes, originally broadcast on Pacifica Radio stations, that help define America's complex history - and often correct the historical record, giving equal time to diverse voices and minority perspectives challenging the status quo. Inclusive of oral histories, interviews, documentaries, debates, performances and war and peace reports, the vaults are a sanctuary for sounds that indeed changed the world. Dating back to Pacifica Radio Network's 1948 inception, many of these profoundly irreplaceable sonic documents are disintegrating rapidly, awaiting restoration through a costly, labor intensive digitization process known as flat transfer. As Sounds That Change The World unfolds on Nov. 27 with priceless recordings that have already been saved, listeners will be encouraged to donate towards much-needed technical attention to the still-threatened bulk of PRA's library.

The creation of Pacifica Radio network, from which the Archives spring, was an act as revolutionary as the daring programming it presented. Founded by former commercial broadcaster Lewis Hill, a Quaker and WWII conscientious objector, this influential archetype of "people's radio" — free of corporate governance and advertising — emerged in direct response to a war-weary world. Despite harassment and personal consequences, Hill and other pioneers brought debate and protest to the airwaves in an epic gesture towards public education and enlightenment. A passionate force for human dignity, social justice and the airing of alternative voices decades before NPR, PBS and the Internet, Pacifica Radio Network's forum is more relevant, and more needed, than ever.

During Sounds That Change The World, PRA will give audiences nationwide — and worldwide via the Internet — the chance to experience rare treasures from Pacifica's five-plus decades of historic broadcasts. At the same time, listeners will have the opportunity to support PRA's Preservation & Access Project to safeguard this audio history for generations to come by protecting the Archive's immense resources through 21st century technology.

For more information...

Contact: media@pacificaradioarchives.org.

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