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 radio medium. Predating National Public Radio, and beginning with KPFA-FM in Berkeley, CA, the network added four stations (in New York City, Washington D.C., Houston and Los Angeles), over the next 28 years. Perhaps best known as a chronicler of social justice movements and cultural change, the Pacifica stations have consistently embraced the performing and literary arts, offering sometimes the only forum for cutting edge and classical arts, and providing a stage to experiment with radio drama, spoken word, sound sculpture and the art of radio documentary.
Below we present some milestones from Pacifica's broadcast history.
July in Pacifica History
July 1, 1997: Interview with David Watt, author of Five Fires: A History of Contemporary California, is broadcast by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # PZ0315.65]
July 2, 1983: God: The Tie-Breaking Vote broadcasts. Produced by Tim Frasca, Adi Gevins, and Musindo Mwinyipebe; this program examines the ethical and philosophical questions involving religion in American politics. [Archive # PZ0113]
July 3: 1971: A discussion about the psychology of war atrocities is recorded by Pacifica Radio for later broadcast. [Archive # BC0251]
July 4 1986: The Declaration of Independence series of readings in commemoration of the United States' birthday is broadcast by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # AZ1062]
July 5, 1990: Mitch Snyder, New York City housing activist, memorial program is recorded by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # IZ0292]
July 6, 1985: Lesbian former nuns discuss their experiences in the convent in a broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFA. [Archive # AZ0810]
July 7, 1988: Don Newcomb, longtime KPFK broadcast engineer, dies.
July 8, 1974: Angela Davis talks about the struggles of minority women around the world is broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFK. [Archive # BC1833]
July 9, 1969: A forum on the pros and cons of draft file destruction (about protest against the Vietnam War) is broadcast by Pacifica Station WBAI. [Archive # BB3216]
July 10, 1953: Lewis Hill resigns from Pacifica Foundation and is succeeded as Chairman by Wallace Hamilton (Hill returns August 4, 1954 as President).
July 11, 1991: Pamela Burton of Pacifica Station KPFK interviews Andrei Codrescu, Romanian poet and radio commentator about his new book, The Hole in the Flag. [Archive # KZ1662]
July 12, 1967: Discussion of the Vietnam War by former S. Vietnam Ambassador Tranh Van Dinh is recorded by Pacifica Radio for later broadcast. [Archive # BB4445]
July 13, 1999: Dennis Bernstein, dissident newscaster, is taken off the air live, and all local broadcasting is switched off by management at Pacifica station KPFA, in Berkeley, California. Police arrests and a lockout of the entire KPFA staff resulted. On July 28 management backed down, letting the KPFA staff run the station without censorship. (see Calculated Chaos: Inside the Bay Area Mobilization That Rocked Pacifica Radio, by Van Jones, copyright 1999 in Media File.
July 14, 1964: Upton Sinclair, author and social reformer, discusses his 1934 campaign for California governor, and is recorded by Pacifica Station KPFK. [Archive # BB0457]
July 15, 1973: Pacifica Program Service (Archives) moves from Berkeley to Los Angeles and into a building air-conditioned for audiotapes. In 1990, the Archives moved to Pacifica Station KPFK's building in North Hollywood. [Letter from Vera S. Hopkins to W. A. Farreell, dated April 25, 1974]
July 16, 1984: Democratic National Convention coverage by Pacifica Radio begins. [Archive # AZ0751]
July 17, 1984: Reverend Jesse Jackson's speech before the 1984 Democratic National Convention broadcasts on Pacifica Station KPFA. Jackson presents the goals of the Rainbow Coalition and his direction for the Democratic Party. [Archive # AZ0751]
July 18, 1999: Berkeley Police "swoop down on Camp KPFA [protesting management actions] in the middle of the night and make mass arrests. The camp is back the following day" as the battle for Pacifica's direction continues. http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica/pacifica_chrono.htm
July 19, 1994: Copyright in the Electronic Age is broadcast by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # PZ0251.03]
July 20, 1964: Author Milton Mayer's discussion of his nonviolent battle to keep from paying federal income tax is broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFK. [Archive # BB5263]
July 21, 1967: LSD: Nirvana, Inferno or a Modest Tool of Science? discussion is broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFK. [Archive # BB4653]
July 22, 1969: Tribute to Paul Robeson, black performer and civil rights activist, is aired on Pacifica Station WBAI. [Archive # BB3275]
July 23, 1962: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, orders his Los Angeles agent to secretly investigate Pacifica Station KPFK for possible communist infiltration. Commentaries by Communist organizers Dorothy Healey and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Edward Albee's play, Zoo Story, are suspects. [Archive # BB4640; On Air: KPFK at 40 booklet]
July 24, 1987: Essex Hill and Wayson Jones discuss their work as performance poets in a broadcast by Pacifica Station WBAI. [Archive # WZ0217.89]
July 25, 1962: Herbert Gold's speech on the threat of 1960's fiction writing for the establishment is broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFA. [Archive # BB1147]
July 26, 1959: Pacifica's second station goes on the air as KPFK, 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, California.
July 27, 1972: Interview with POWs in Vietnam broadcast on Pacifica station WBAI. [Archive # IZ0786]
July 28, 1971: Daniel Barrigan's monologue on the peace movement is broadcast by Pacifica Station WBAI. [Archive # IZ0602]
July 29, 1993: Michael Levine, former DEA agent, discusses the role of the CIA in the 1980 overthrow of Bolivia's government, and in fostering the growth of Medellin drug cartel: broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFA. [Archive # AZ1014]
July 30, 1984: National Security and Government Censorship: Should Only Big Brother Know? is broadcast by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # IZ0464]
July 31, 1964: An obituary and biography of Marilyn Monroe is recorded for later broadcast by Pacifica Station KPFK. [Archive # BB5055]
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