Pacifica Radio intimately documented the Occupation of Alcatraz from November 20 1969 to June 11, 1971, presenting a detailed account of the Native American struggle to bring awareness to the repeated treaty violations by the United States. Activist John Trudell became the voice of the occupation through Radio Free Alcatraz, a news broadcast from Alcatraz that was eventually broadcast daily on KPFA in Berkeley, CA, and out across the network. In this newly restored recording, John Trudell moderates a panel of Indians from various tribes to discuss the occupation. (This was Pacifica’s first-ever network-wide national broadcast.)

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about 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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At the beginning of the new millenium on January 20, 2000, the Los Angeles county Museum of Art hosted a conversation between Tim Robbins and Studs Terkel. Studs was 87 years old at that time, and Tim was just about half that age.

What transpired over the next hour would become one of the most animated, entertaining and educational recordings in the Pacifica Radio Archives. The chemistry between these two titans of media was electric, and Robbins was a magnificent conduit to effortlessly extract a lifetime of knowledge and story from Studs.

This week on From the Vault, we present Tim Robbins in conversation with Studs Terkel.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about 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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Tune in to your local Pacifica radio station next Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov 15th-16th) for the tenth annual Pacifica Radio Archives Campus Campaign National Education Project, which works to place historic audio compilations in school libraries across the country – this is your chance to make a difference in the education of our nation’s youth.

This Week on From the Vault we honor one of the great visionary thinkers of our time, Edward Said.

Edward Said was born in Jerusalem in 1935, the son of an American citizen of Christian Protestant Palestinian origins. After earning a bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and a masters and Ph.D. in English Literature at Harvard University, Said became Professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University in 1963, a teaching post he would hold up until his death on September 25th, 2003.

Edward Said would use his duel heritage to help bridge the gap between the West and the Middle East and to improve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with his acute and sober analysis. Today we will present selections from Pacifica Radio Archive’s thirty-year history with Dr. Said.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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In the summer of 1999, the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage presented a brilliant Woody Guthrie exhibit called this This Land is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woodie Guthrie. On the final day of the exhibit, Sunday, September 26, 1999, Los Angeles based folk singer Ross Altman was invited to perform a program called The 10 Greatest Protest Songs of the 20th Century. This week on From the Vault, you’ll hear Ross Altman tell the stories and perform songs from folk greats such as Leadbelly, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Florence Reece, and, of course, Woody Guthrie.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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This week on From on the Vault, we celebrate Karl Marx’s birthday with a performance of Marx in Soho, Howard Zinn’s play that resurrects the German philosopher in defense of his theory and character. A one-man play written in 1999, Marx in Soho starred Brian Jones and effectively potrayed Marx as a family man struggling to support his wife and children. This performance was recorded specifically for radio in 2001 by KPFK in Los Angeles.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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This week on From the Vault we present a haunting tale written by Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th century Scottish writer probably best known for his classic novels Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 1979, producer Dudley Knight read Stevenson’s spooky tale The Body Snatcher on The Graveyard Shift, an old radio show that served as Pacifica Network’s dumping ground for everything macabre. Then, we dig the grave a bit deeper, to bring you a 1961 Colin Edwards interview with one of the most famous horror actors in history, Boris Karloff, best known for his iconic role as Frankenstein. Please enjoy this dark tale and rare interview from the Pacifica Radio Archives.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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On this episode of From the Vault, we proffer a sampling of historic recordings in hopes that they will constructively contribute to the debate over the implementation of the death penalty in the United States. Pacifica Radio throughout its history has been at the forefront of capital punishment news and analysis, and as a media institution has become well-respected for its frequency, volume, and depth of coverage. Audio selections today are drawn from the following Pacifica titles:

The Coming Death of Caryl Chessman (1959)
A documentary on the emotionally charged trial of Caryl Chessman and the debate over his May 2, 1960 execution. Produced by Gene Marine.

Meeting of the Minds – Steve Allen (1960)
Actors represent Aristotle, Montaigne, Hegel, Dostoyevsky, Freud, and Darwin in a discussion of the death penalty. Narrated by Steve Allen.

Death House Letters of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1967)
Lois Adler and Gerald Fritz read selections from the prison correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were tried, sentenced, and executed for espionage following the Soviet Union’s development of an atomic bomb. Narrated by Eric Nord.

Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter (1978)
Middleweight prizefighter Rubin “Hurricane” Carter shares his experiences in prison and hopes for release in an interview by Lynn Samuels at Trenton State Prison, New Jersey.

Democracy Now!: Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter (1998)
A delegation, led by former boxing champ Rubin Hurricane Carter who served 19 years for a crime he did not commit, travels to Texas to pressure authorities to grant clemency to death row inmate Joseph Stanley Faulder.

The Legal Lynching of Mumia Abu-Jamal (1995)
Actor and activist Mike Farrell introduces Leonard Weinglass, John Carlo Esposito, Marla Gibbs, and Roger Smith, who read from Mumia Abu-Jamal’s prison writings and are followed with a presentation by Ramona Africa, the last adult survivor of the MOVE bombing.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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On today’s episode of From the Vault we exhibit another round of rediscovered recordings which further showcase the amazing talent pool represented within Pacifica Radio Archives. First, we join WBAI host Wesley Brown in-studio to interview Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison shortly after the 1981 release of her novel Tar Baby, which explores issues of African American self-acceptance and reconciliation. Then we check out a surprise studio performance by legendary Pacifica programmer Julius Lester – previously best-known for his insightful late 1960’s interviews of Muhammad Ali, June Jordan, and Vincent Harding among others – but perhaps also to be known in the future for this striking rendition of the folk classic Stagger Lee. Finally, we settle down to an interview with writer Walter Mosley following the 1997 release of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, which introduces the character Socrates Forthlow – who encourages young readers to think about the consequences of their decisions.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.

~Wangari Maathai (April 1, 1940 – Sept 25, 2011)

On this edition of From the Vault we salute the tireless and visionary work of the late Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, who led an environmental and peace movement that touched lives around the world. Through a mix of commentary and interviews from Pacifica Foundation Director Arlene Engelhardt, KPFK producer Asumpta Oturu, Hard Knock Radio Host Davey D, BBC host and From the Vault producer Joanne Griffith, KPFK host Doreen Key, and WPFW producer Fahima Seck, we come to appreciate the incredible depth of this human being, and draw inspiration from her life to change our own behaviors for the sake of humanity and the world. We’ll also hear Wangari Maathai on stage at Final Push: The Long Walk to Justice, an event designed to pressure world leaders at the 2005 G8 summit in Scotland, and Maathai participating in a special called “Women of The World,” an original 2008 production by the Pacifica Radio Archives.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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This week on From the Vault we explore the challenges that capital punishment presents for a civil society. Perhaps more adept than anyone at understanding the moral and ethical ramifications of the death penalty on society, Sister Helen Prejean is a Catholic nun who became known around the world for her book Dead Man Walking, which chronicles her experience ministering to death row inmates. Prejean, who has worked with inmates awaiting execution since 1981, manages to look at the condemned beyond conviction of guilt – and treat them with dignity on a basic level as human beings. Sister Helen Prejean delivers this compelling speech in May 2000 after an introduction by the Director of the Dismas House in New Mexico.

From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about the historic 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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