Find out about our 1968 Revolution Rewind project >>

In 2002 Pacifica Radio Archives embarked on our long-term Preservation & Access Project. Our goal is to assess, preserve and make available to the widest possible public, historic radio programs of the highest social, cultural and artistic value in our collection of approximately 40,500 original audio tapes.

These programs, mostly dating from the 1950s through the 1980s, document the essential movements, experiments and musings of the latter half of the 20th century, as broadcast on one or more of the Pacifica Radio Stations: KPFA in Berkeley, California; KPFK in Los Angeles, California; KPFT in Houston, Texas; WBAI in New York City; and WPFW in Washington, DC.

In this section of our website you will see the process and products of our ongoing efforts. You can:

• Browse through the list of restored audio. Over 290 tapes have been preserved so far (not including Adopt-a-Tape programs). Audio samples will be available soon.
• Review descriptions of programs produced by the Pacifica Radio Archives (largely using tapes saved or identified by the Preservation and Access Project).
• Read full, written transcripts of some of the preserved tapes.
• Browse and search through several historic station program guides (Folios) circulated by Pacifica stations in the 1960s and 1970s.
• Make use of technical reports written by expert consultants (ranging from best practices for making reel-to-reel audio transfers to suggested priorities for improving tape cataloging and description).

The Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation & Access Project is funded (in part) by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, grants from the GRAMMY Foundation®, The Ford Foundation, The Pacifica Foundation, supporters of the Pacifica Radio Archives, members of the Adopt-a-Tape program, and listeners to Pacifica Radio Stations, KPFA, KPFK, KPFT, WBAI, WPFW.

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