Pacifica Foundation Records

Pacifica Foundation Records

Pacifica Foundation

NPBA 91-195

13.50 linear feet

1950-1980

1946-1991

Mass Media and Culture

Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries, Hornbake Library, College Park, MD 20742. Tel: 301-405-9212, Fax: 301-314-2709, Email: askhornbake@umd.edu

Founded in 1946 by Lewis Hill, Eleanor McKinney and others as a noncommercial, educational, cultural radio in the San Francisco Bay area, the Pacifica Foundation has continued to flourish as a completely listener-supported radio network. The goal behind having listener support was to insure a grass-roots forum that would support diversity, freedom of speech, and promote programs according to what the listeners want, not what a corporate sponsor wants. Hill's strong beliefs in open communication and freedom of expression helped Pacifica set precedents concerning freedom of speech in broadcasting. Besides the pioneer station, KPFA (Berkeley), Pacifica radio consists of KPFK (Los Angeles), WBAI (New York), KPFT (Houston), and WPFW (Washington, DC). The collection traces the founding of Pacifica and the development of the listener-support system for radio.

This collection is open for research use.

Pacifica Foundation Records, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.

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This collection is PROCESSED.A full finding aid is available.