Policies
Collection Development | Access | Rights | Fees
Pacifica Foundation / Radio Archives
Collections Development, Processing and Preservation Policies
The collection policy is designed to meet the goals of Pacifica Radio. The PRA collection comprises approximately 50,000 items which include sound recordings and paper records documenting the past, present, and future activities and programming of Pacifica Radio. The PRA collection supports preservation, research, security, exhibitions, and outreach programs. The preservation and security of the materials are top priorities.
The PRA informs other sound archives of unique acquisitions and cooperates with these institutions with regards to collecting. The PRA reserves the right to de-accession materials at any time if upon appraisal they no longer reflect the collecting areas of the PRA or if they are no longer considered to be of value. This will be done in accordance with terms of the acquisition policy.
The holdings are non-circulating. To increase the awareness of the PRA collection to the Pacifica Radio community, academia, and the community at large, the PRA's outreach program includes catalogs, brochures, and presentations or articles published by the Archivist. The majority of the collection is limited to those works created locally and nationally by or in conjunction with Pacifica Radio. Other material may be acquired through donation, but the PRA will not actively pursue donors at this time with the exception of material created for Pacifica Radio.
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Access
All researchers are expected to abide by the PRA's rules and regulations which are designed to maintain the integrity of the collection and ensure its preservation.
Materials in the collection may not be checked out or borrowed. Materials available for distribution are restricted to personal use only.
Permission to use material for researcher projects are made on a case-by-case basis. Researchers involved with commercial or non commercial productions/projects are expected to identify their projects as such. Onsite use is by prior appointment only and requires registration with the archivist.
Onsite use is by prior appointment only and requires registration with the archivist.
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Preservation process (2011):
Pacifica Radio Archives functions as a repository for recordings that derive from all five of the Pacifica Network's affiliate stations: KPFK (Los Angeles), KPFA (Berkeley), WBAI (New York City), KPFT (Houston) and WPFW (Washington, D.C.). The majority of the material in PRA's collection is 1/4" reel-to-reel tape, the standard radio broadcast medium throughout most of Pacifica's history, but the collection also contains DAT tapes, audio cassettes, CDs and born-digital mp3 files. All tapes that are received at Pacifica Radio Archives are first assigned a unique identifier by one of the staff catalogers. This identifier is a two-digit number followed by a unique four-digit number and is assigned based on the tape's station of origin. (e.g. "KZ" for tapes that were aired on KPFK, "AZ" for tapes that aired on KPFA, and so on). All metadata listed on the tape is entered into the pertinent field in our online public access catalog (OPAC). Tapes are then shelved in their appropriate location in our on-site climate-controlled vault, which is maintained at 65 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity (rH) level of 40%.
Working within our limited means, Pacifica Radio Archives currently transfers all tapes in-house onto gold CD-Rs using Studer A80 1/4" reel-to-reel decks (which are calibrated by an outside engineer every six months) and TASCAM CD-RW901 decks. All of PRA's tapes, upon being checked in and checked out, are signed in and out on a log by the staff member who removes it from the vault in order to track the tape's location at any given time. Tapes are first acclimated to room temperature and then inspected by an on-staff engineer. Pertinent metadata from the box label (i.e. name of program, producer, broadcast date) and about the reel itself (i.e. housing, signs of damage) are recorded on both an in-house tape assessment sheet and in a FileMaker Pro database. Mylar-based tapes that are susceptible to sticky shed syndrome and binder breakdown are baked on trays in a NESCO dehydrator for at least four hours at 125 degrees. Tapes are threaded and wound once through the Studer machine, after which the machine is cleaned of dirt and other signs of contamination from the tape using isopropyl alcohol with cotton swabs. If the reel on which the tape currently sits is not archival in nature (e.g. metal, pancake hub, non-archival plastic), the engineer replaces it with an archive-safe plastic NAB reel. The tape is then re-threaded and played through as the engineer inspects for tape splices, stickiness and other visible signs of tape or signal decay. The engineer also monitors the sound levels and notes any inconsistencies in the original recording in the tape assessment as well. As the tape runs, the recording is burned onto CD-Rs in the two TASCAM decks. One CD is designated as the master copy, while the other serves as an access copy for researchers. After burning, the two CD copies are filed in their respective locations on the PRA premises, along with the master reel which is re-shelved in its original location. All tapes are re-boxed in pH-neutral archival cardboard boxes if necessary. The PRA cataloger then updates that tape's entry in our OPAC.
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Rights
Permission is required in order to include Archives material in a sound recording and to quote recorded sound material as text
Licensing director or Archives manager draws up licensing agreement. Included in the agreement: PRA credit, release copy of production, and return of duplication master.
- Licensee can peruse the Pacifica Radio Archive catalog online
- PRA archivist can print and provide computer list
- Licensee may make appointment to come onsite to do research and to audition material
- Licensee can purchase audition cassette (if material can be licensed; cassette contains copyright protection tone)
- Archives manager conducts research pertaining to copyright
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Fees
Fees will be charged for the following:
- Research time as appropriate
- Database research and print outs
- Photocopying
- Submastering
- Permission to Use Sound Recording
- Permission to Quote Recorded Sound Material as Text
- Licensing
$90.00 minimum license fee applies to all fees listed and must be paid at the time the audio is ordered from the archives. It is non-refundable in the event of non-use of the audio.
- Fees are determined on a case-by-case basis. Fees can run as high as $15.00 per second and upwards depending on permissions requested and resources of the licensee.
- If a licensee is requesting an entire program, PRA will negotiate royalties
- 10% off the total license fee if three minutes of audio or more is used
- 20% off the total license fee if five minutes of audio or more is used
- 30% off the total license fee if ten minutes of audio or more is used
The following fees are per second:
Theatrical distribution: $10.00
- Plus nationwide television broadcast and pay/cable transmission: $12.50
- Plus worldwide television broadcast and pay/cable transmission: $15.00
Television broadcast and pay/cable transmission
- Local: $5.00
- Nationwide (network or syndication): $8.00
- Worldwide: $12.50
Television broadcast on non-commercial (PBS) stations only
- Local: $3.00
- Nationwide: $5.00
- Worldwide: $7.00
Pay/cable television transmission only
- Local: $3.00
- Nationwide: $6.00
Home videocassettes sales/rentals in addition to any of the above: Add $3.00
Educational, non-commercial distribution in addition to any of the above: Add $2.00
Home videocassettes, audio cassettes, sales/rentals only: $6.00
Educational, non-commercial distribution only (non-broadcast)
- Local: $3.00
- Nationwide:$4.00
- Worldwide: $6.00
Television commercials
- Local (one market): $8.00
- Nationwide: $12.50
Commercial radio
- Local (one market): $4.00
- Nationwide: $6.00
- Worldwide: $8.00
Corporate presentations, live events, concerts
- Local (one location): $4.00
- Nationwide: $6.00
- Worldwide: $7.00
Interactive video sales only: $6.00
Compact disc sales only: $6.00
Public, non-commercial radio
- Local (one state) $1.00
- Nationwide $1.50
- Worldwide $2.00
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