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.
April in Pacifica History
April 1, 1997: Can Timothy McVeigh Get a Fair Trial? program with Larry Bensky broadcasts on Pacifica Radio. [Archive # PZ0315.01]
April 2, 1982: Gay author and performance artist Quentin Crisp is featured in a broadcast by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # IZ0473a]
April 3, 1996: Howard Lyman, food activist, talks about the dangers of mad cow disease and its human equivalent. Broadcast by Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # KZ2278]
April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. The Pacifica Radio Archives has many of his speeches.
April 5, 1968: Documentary on Birmingham riots of 1963 and the civil rights movement is recorded by Pacifica station KPFA. [Archive # BB5411]
April 6, 1965: Indonesian President Sukarno speech at a Cambodian conference is broadcast by Pacifica station KPFA. [Archive # BB2216]
April 7, 1970: Barron's prints Air Wave Pollution blast at Pacifica radio network. One of the better-known attacks in print.
April 8, 1977: Pacifica station KPFA broadcasts a discussion by three Japanese-Americans interned in U.S. camps during World War II. [Archive # AZ0064]
April 9, 1999: Larry Bensky, national Pacifica programmer, is fired. Pacifica station KPFA protests continue in the struggle for control of the station. See http://www.savepacifica.net/sofar.html.
April 10, 1965: Pacifica program policy — procedures for control of questionable language — adopted by the national board under pressure from the FCC.
April 11, 1966: Report on the Watts riots in Los Angeles, California, is broadcast by Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # BB5317]
April 12, 1961: Frank Wilson, civil rights leader, tells about his life and work in a broadcast by Pacifica station KPFA. [Archive # BB0060]
April 13, 1969: Black Rage and Beyond program is broadcast by Pacifica station KPFA. [Archive # BB5571]
April 14, 1963: Ashley Montagu discusses international relations in a broadcast by Pacifica station KPFA. [Archive # BB0631]
April 15, 1949: Pacifica Radio's Birthday: KPFA goes on the air as 94.1 FM in Berkeley, California.
April 16, 1999: Mark Schubb, KPFK station manager, prevents broadcast of interview with fired Pacifica broadcaster, Larry Bensky, and censors other programs covering recent events at station KPFA to enforce "the gag rule" against airing Pacifica's "dirty laundry" in public. See http://www.radio4all.org.
April 17, 1971: A talk by John Monteverde on Lady Macbeth as a moral scapegoat is recorded by Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # BB5532]
April 18, 1971: An Aquarian age religious service with Alan Watts is broadcast live by Pacifica station WBAI. [Archive # BB3796.01a]
April 19, 1974: Mike Hodel reads Jorge Luis Borges' short mystery story, Death and the Compass, on a Pacifica station KPFK broadcast. [Archive # BC1774]
April 20, 1964: Documentary on William Shakespeare's life and works begins broadcast on Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # BB5057.01]
April 21, 1964: David Ossman reads Shakespeare and Religion article by Aldous Huxley on Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # BB5058]
April 22, 1954: On live KPFA broadcast, four people describe marijuana's effects. Program results in the first FCC inquiry about a Pacifica broadcast.
April 23, 1996: Women in Film discussion is broadcast by Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # KZ2302]
April 24, 1974: Tribute to the French singer Edith Piaf is broadcast by Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # BC1825a]
April 25, 1997: Larry Bensky hosts a program on environmental education, broadcast by Pacifica Radio. [Archive # PZ0315.18]
April 26, 1991: Philip Agee, one of the first CIA agents to go public about the Agency, is interviewed about the future of U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America in a broadcast by Pacifica station KPFK. [Archive # KZ1652]
April 27, 1977: Pacifica station WPFW goes on air full-time in Washington, D.C.
April 28, 1987: Ben Linder, an American peace worker, is killed by Contras while working with Nicaraguan peasants to build a dam. Pacifica Radio broadcasts programs on his life and work. [Archive # PZ0287.310; SZ0891a]
April 29, 1992: "Los Angeles Uprisings" begin with the reporting of the Rodney King trial verdict, reported on Pacifica station KPFK's vening news. [Archive # KZ2787]
April 30, 1981: Marc Cooper interviews the editor of Covert Action Information Bulletin about the CIA, FBI, and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in a Pacifica station KPFK broadcast. [Archive # KZ1029]
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