"Lewis Hill understood that everyone loves a pacifist until there's a war. And then a pacifist comes out against the war and everyone says, 'What are you coming out against the war for?' The pacifist says, 'Well, we're pacifists remember?' But at the height of the war it's not as easy for people to tolerate pacifists as when there's not a war."
Matthew Lasar speaking to C.S. Soong on KPFA's Against the Grain, April 12, 2006.
KPFA, the first Pacifica station, went on the air April 15, 1949. This month is the 57th year anniversary. Criticism of the mainstream media is nothing new. Similar criticism to the current talk today is why Lewis Hill felt the need to start Pacifica, the nation's first noncommerical,radio station focused on listener-sponsored programming. There were ups, there were downs, KPFA is still around. Fifty-seven years later, it's still around and joined by four other Pacifica stations:
KPFK listen live · visit online (L.A.)
KPFT listen live · visit online (Houston)
WBAI listen live · visit online (N.Y.C)
WPFW listen live · visit (D.C.)
It's been a free speech leader and has led debates on McCarthyism, on gay rights, on liberation, on the Civil Rights movements and war (including Vietnam, from its inception). Broadcasting from Berkeley and, thanks to the internet, heard around the world, KPFA continues to air programming that challenges the listeners and, by doing so, continues to inform our understanding of the world around us.
In honor of the 57th anniversary, a special page has been created to note some of the highlights from years past. You'll find clips of coverage of the 1970 occupation of Alcatraz Island, of one time KPFA host Richard Pryor, an interview with Rosa Parks, an interview with Lena Horne, a panel discussion on homosexuality from 1958, James Baldwin speaking out for the political prisoner Angela Y. Davis and much more.
You can also check out the KPFA Timeline where you'll find that in 1965 "WBAI reporter Chris Koch is the first U.S. citizen to cover the war from North Vietnam." Or that in 1973, Pacifica provided full coverage of the Watergate hearings. There are many milestones on the timeline
including this one:
1993 Amy Goodman, WBAI News Director and co-anchor of WBAI's Morning Show, wins the following awards for the program "Massacre: The Story of East Timor": Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for International Reporting; Unda-Gabriel Award for Nationally Distributed News and Information; Radio &Television News Directors Award; and the Unity in Media Award from Lincoln University.
Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! (along with Juan Gonzalez). Hopefully, you already tune in, listen or read (transcripts) of that show and, if not, hopefully, you are aware of it. Celebrate KPFA 57th anniversary by familiarizing yourself with more programming that it and other Pacifica stations have to offer. Others? The anniversary is a KPFA anniversary, it's also an anniversary for Pacifica Radio which got its start on one station back in 1949.