Radio is a medium with extraordinary propagandistic power — seductively transmitting ideas into the quotidian intimacy of one’s home and life. That power and potential was recognized early on by the state following the First World World. It was also appreciated by opponents of war, including the anarchist pacifists who founded KPFA Radio and the … Continued
Twenty years ago, Against the Grain came on the air for the first time, in the midst of turmoil, protest, and impending war. In the second half of a two part retrospective, historian Iain Boal discusses the context out of which Against the Grain emerged, from the media reform, global justice, and antiwar movements at … Continued
KPFA spawned the model of listener-sponsored radio and changed the world. As the station celebrates 72 years, we look back at the origins of KPFA Radio. Historian Iain Boal discusses the anarchist and pacifist politics of KPFA’s founders, many interned as conscientious objectors during WW2 and involved in the left libertarian circle around poet Kenneth … Continued
The United States fancies itself an exceptional nation, and in terms of its media system, it’s right: the US has the most commercialized press of any advanced industrial country, with the least support for public media. So argues critic Victor Pickard in his study of the political economy of US journalism. He discusses the long … Continued
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The Surya Dub Takeover is on every 2nd Monday of the month with Maneesh the Twister and Kush Arora. We play music from all over the world, debut tons of unreleased music and have ticket giveways to tons of local show. Underground vibes featuring electronic, dub, dancehall, baile funk, experimental, kuduro, gqom, grime, dnb, funky, balaeric, … Continued
Radio in the twentieth century, which you could tune into in your car or at home, had a mass audience and was a collective experience, for good or ill. Radio today, which can be listened to when and how you want it, is a more private and atomized affair. Historian Matthew Lasar discusses the social … Continued
It’s the only mass broadcast institution the left has — but it may disappear, right when listeners are tuning in and donating in droves during the Trump years. Radio historian Iain Boal and former interim Executive Director of Pacifica and Chair of the Pacifica National Board Sherry Gendelman discuss the crisis that has brought Pacifica … Continued
On today’s show, I’ll speak to Dr. Peter K. Enns, Associate Professor for Department of Government and Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University on his new book, Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World and Sean Dorsey, artistic director and founder of Fresh Meat Production on the upcoming 15th Annual Fresh Meat Festival.
We spend the hour with Nina Serrano, prize-winning poet, activist, filmmaker, playwright, and radio host. Besides producing programs on politics and culture for KPFA over the last four decades, Nina is cofounder of the Mission Cultural Center and former director of San Francisco Poetry in the Schools. She was the first foreign woman to travel … Continued
