KPFK

Encyclopedia : K : KP : KPF : KPFK

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KPFK (90.7 FM) is a radio station in Los Angeles, California, United States, that serves the Greater Los Angeles Area. It can also be heard 24 hours a day via Internet webcast. It was the second of five stations in the non-commercial, listener-sponsored Pacifica Radio network. It was launched in 1959, twelve years after the Pacifica Foundation was created by pacifist Lewis Hill, and ten years after the flagship station was founded in Berkeley. KPFK also broadcasts on KPFK-FM1 along the Malibu coast and K254AH 98.7 MHz in Santa Barbara.

At 110,000 watts, the main station is one of the most powerful FM stations in the US. A second 10-watt transmitter is licensed in Isla Vista, California, a census-designated place outside of Santa Barbara. The antenna is located atop Gibraltar Peak, which gives it a range covering a large portion of coastal Santa Barbara County.

Funding

The stations in the Pacifica network receive some funding from charitable organizations such as the Ford Foundation, but operating costs are primarily covered by listener-sponsors, as the station runs no advertisements or other commercial programming. On-air fund drives tend to occur twice yearly, although there are occasional drives held for special circumstances. For example, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, KPFK held a fund drive to raise money for survivors of the catastrophe. Contributors to KPFK generally donate a minimum of $25 for a year-long membership, and larger donations are rewarded with DVDs, CDs, and books. For people that contribute upwards of $100, there is the KPFK Film Club. The film club screens art films, documentaries, film classics, and even current first-run films on weekend mornings. Although the club only promises at least 12 films per years, there were over 100 screenings in 2004.

Programming

Like most Pacifica stations, KPFK runs an eclectic schedule, including world music, talk radio, and public affairs programming. While KPFK airs some national programming, including Democacy Now and Free Speech Radio News, most programming is local. KPFK hosts, who are referred to as "programmers", are accorded the maximum amount of editorial freedom possible. The only requirement is that they adhere to KPFK's mission statement, which states that all programming must be educational and non-commercial, must "serve the cultural welfare of the community", and must "contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors". This independence allows for a wide range of viewpoints but tends to exclude social and political conservatives. Voices from the left side of the political spectrum, as well as those from marginalized communities, are well-represented, including women, almost every ethnic minority with a sizable population in Los Angeles, and the LGBT community. In fact, KPFK's show on LGBT affairs, IMRU, is the nation's longest-running show produced for and by the community.

One unique feature of the KPFK schedule is its Spanish language programming, which is one hour on weekday nights and 10 hours on Saturday nights. During those programs, all announcements except for the call letters are made in Spanish.

History

• 1959: The Pacifica Foundation begins its second station — KPFK
• 1961: KPFK wins Pacifica's second George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.
• 1962: The FCC withholds the license renewals of KPFA, KPFB, and KPFK pending its investigation into "communist affiliations." Pacifica was never cited (see The Investigator).
• 1963: The first Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California, ancestor of all Renaissance Fairs in North America, is staged as a fundraiser for KPFK.
• 1974: The Symbionese Liberation Army delivers the Patty Hearst tapes to KPFA and KPFK. The KPFK manager is jailed for refusing to turn the tapes over to the FBI.
• August 31, 1986: Jerker, a Robert Chesley play dramatizes the reflections of a man dying of AIDS, airs on Pacifica station KPFK. Because it included graphic sexual language, the FCC ruled that it violated an indecency policy.
• 1987: Ladysmith Black Mambazo makes their first live U.S. radio appearance on KPFK.
• 1992: CPB Board member Victor Gold targets KPFK for strident African American programming and controversial speech aired during Black History month, by filing an FCC complaint.

External links

• [KPFK 90.7 FM]
• [Pacifica Radio Foundation]
• [Mt. Wilson transmitter]
• [Historical transmitter photos]

Shows

• [] TRUTH SEKERS RADIO SATURDAY 1AM-3AM - KPFK 90.7 FM

HOSTS: Santana aka Nexus102, Dj Daz, Shakespeare, Andre S. Belcher (Stan B.), Lady Christal & Nate Scott

• [Query the FCC's FM station database for KPFK]
• [Query the FCC's FM station database for K254AH]

 

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