HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

This holiday season, here at From the Vault, we’ve been diggin around for some truly exciting and eclectic seasonal programming from Pacifica’s history.

For the week of December 29, we’re going to hear a very special program produced in December 1963 by the Drama & Literature Department at Los Angeles’ KPFK. Ruth Mintz, Malke Haife Tussman, Jack Hirschman, and David Ossman read selected poems about the Jewish holiday Chanukah.

Then you’ll be treated to a Christmas special from 1942, as part of the Command Performance Radio, which produced programming for the American Troops serving “over there” during World War II. Bob Hope, young and energetic, hosts the program, with performances by icons like the Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby. The program is funny, whimsical, and yet oddly serious at times, if only between the lines. Although this program did not originate on Pacifica Radio, it- like many other programs inside the Pacifica Radio Archives vault- was acquired through donation.

Have a safe and peaceful holiday, whatever it might be!

Archival recordings used in (and related to) this week’s episode, Holiday Season Special, Part 1:

KZ2016 Kwanzaa: A New African Holiday MORE INFO

KZ0671 Bing Crosby Christmas Special 1946 MORE INFO

BB4693 Black Christmas in Milwaukee MORE INFO

KZ0262 Command Performance with Bob Hope and Red Skelton MORE INFO

BB1367.10 FDR Speaks MORE INFO

KZ0673 The Jack Benny Christmas Show MORE INFO

PZ0262.02 ‘Tis the Season MORE INFO

BB4979 The Poetry of Chanukah MORE INFO

BC0554 Christmas with Daniel Ellsberg MORE INFO

PZ0343.052 Holiday Rituals I MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

This holiday season, here at From the Vault, we’ve been diggin around for some truly exciting and eclectic seasonal programming from Pacifica’s history. What we’ve found inside the vault is as diverse as Pacifica itself- there are comedy programs, speeches delivered to tropps and the nation on Christmas Eve, traditional Chunukah poetry, an interview with Dr. Karenga (creator of Kwanzaa), and more. So, this week and next, we’re bringing you two weeks of special holiday season programs- presented in four parts: Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and a holiday program everyone can relate to.

For the week of December 22, we’re going to start off with that special holiday progam. It was produced by Ginna Allison in 1994 and is entitled ‘Tis the Season, covering everthing from the day before Christmas to the day after- including all the excitement, anticipation, love, joy, and exhaustion, depression, disappointment, etc… The program includes personal, historical sociological, psychological, and mythological perspectives. It mostly revolves around Christmas, but any family who gathers for a holiday or a birthday or any function at all, will probably relate to at least some of it.

Then we’ll move into a fascinating interview with Dr. Manlana Karenga – the man invented the holiday Kwasnzaa – conducted by KPFK’s former public affairs Gwen Walters. Dr. Karenga speaks about where the concept came from, its importance, and it’s spreading popularity among cultures beyond African American. The interview was conducted in studio on December 24, 1993, with listener calls.

Have a safe and peaceful holiday, whatever it might be!

Archival recordings used in (and related to) this week’s episode, Holiday Season Special, Part 1:

KZ2016 Kwanzaa: A New African Holiday MORE INFO

KZ0671 Bing Crosby Christmas Special 1946 MORE INFO

BB4693 Black Christmas in Milwaukee MORE INFO

KZ0262 Command Performance with Bob Hope and Red Skelton MORE INFO

BB1367.10 FDR Speaks MORE INFO

KZ0673 The Jack Benny Christmas Show MORE INFO

PZ0262.02 ‘Tis the Season MORE INFO

BB4979 The Poetry of Chanukah MORE INFO

BC0554 Christmas with Daniel Ellsberg MORE INFO

PZ0343.052 Holiday Rituals I MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

~Shug Avery, in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

This week on From the Vault, we look at the work of Alice Walker, specifically her masterpiece The Color Purple. Regarded as one of the best works of American fiction from the last half of the 20th Century, The Color Purple won Alice Walker the Pulitzer Price in 1982, and is probably best known for its movie adaptation.

The Pacifica Radio Archives proudly features numerous Alice Walker recordings… in this episode of From the Vault we’ll hear Alice Walker discuss her interest in writing about people in transition as well as the success of The Color Purple over the years as it has evolved from book to film to Broadway. Also, Allee Willis, who wrote the music and lyrics for the broadway version of The Color Purple will talk about her experiences while working on the musical and with Alice Walker.

Archival recordings used in this week’s episode, The Color Purple:

PZ0456a-b Alice Walker Box Set MORE INFO

PZ0300.15 Voices of Pacifica: Alice Walker MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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For the week of December 8, 2006: FROM THE VAULT IS BACK! MANY THANKS TO EVERY LOYAL LISTENER WHO HELPED PACFICA RADIO ARCHIVES RAISE OVER $250,000 ON NOVEMBER 28-29, 2006!!!

In 1970, a young, talented actor and comedy writer named John Lithgow ventured into Pacifica radio station WBAI in New York City at the behest of a friend. And he kept coming back for well over a year, using the station’s unique ability to encourage and welcome creativity and experimentation on the airwaves to create some incredible programming for public radio.

Needless to say, John’s talent eventually took him to bigger venues and larger audiences, but his time at WBAI is fondly remembered by he and Pacifica listeners. After leaving Pacifica, John Lithgow went on to be a major star on Broadway, in cinema, on television, and even as an author and musician for children’s programming. He won multiple Tony’s and Emmy’s, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1983 and 1984 for his roles as Roberta Muldoon in “The World According to Garp” and as Sam Burns in “Terms of Endearment.”

This week, on “From the Vault” – the Pacifica Radio Archives’ weekly program that brings our history out of the vault and onto the radio – we talk to John Lithgow about his time at Pacifica, and listen to some of the highlights of his time here.

Archival recordings used in this week’s episode, John Lithgow’s Time at Pacifica:

BC0652.01-14 Under the gun / produced by John Lithgow MORE INFO

BC0925 Playhouse : the assassins / Alexander Panas ; produced by John Lithgow MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download