KPFK Winter 2002 Fund Drive Breaks All Time Record

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA - February 28, 2002
AN HISTORIC BROADCAST; Listener Sponsored Pacifica Radio Makes ALL TIME RECORD BREAKING HISTORY:

This Day Marks THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING DRIVE IN THE HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES' PREMIER PUBLIC RADIO STATION, KPFK 90.7FM, AS NATIONAL BROADCAST CAMPAIGN BEGINS ACROSS THE ONLY INDEPENDENT BROADCAST MEDIA NETWORK IN THE COUNTRY

At approximately 1:55 AM, on Thursday, February 28th, KPFK's unique and legendary, "Roy of Hollywood", Roy Tuckman, late night host, producer and engineer and creator of the famed "Something's Happening!" radio show, announced with a fanfare, in his own tounge-in-cheek understated wit, the attainment of a new fundraising record, surpassing the previous "attainment" record of $534,000.00.

With the remaining 46 hours until the Friday-Midnight deadline of KPFK's Winter 2002 fund drive, every additional dollar pledged will continue to break the previous record and set the new record.

Beginning at 7:00 AM Eastern, 4:00 AM Pacific time, a special NATIONAL BROADCAST MARATHON, called "SAVE THE SIGNAL", will commence as the newly upgraded transmitter atop Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest is reaching more near to the completion stage, after a very long delay in its installation. The special combined effort of all the Pacifica Radio stations to raise the funds needed to finish the transmitter project will restore KPFK's signal to its licensed allowable limit of 112,000 watts, making it once again, the most powerful signal West of the Mississippi river.

MASSIVE CHANGES ARE UNDERWAY

After the nearly fatal plundering and theft of the Pacifica Foundation assets by a raft of corporate pirates and beltway interlopers has left the 53 year old network nearly six million dollars in debt. Already, the air is clearing, there is a renaissance at Pacifica. "We have our network back, after they have stolen it from us...WE GOT IT BACK!", is the generic and sometimes tearful expression of many programmers and listeners, alike.

"This is all because of you...(The) LISTENERS, YOU ALL DID IT TOGETHER, because of you, we won our station back!...WE BEAT THEM!" Exclaims Lyn Gerry, one of the first KPFK programmers ever to be FIRED AND BANNED by a former General Manager of KPFK, Mark Schubb, who is regarded by many Pacifica listeners and programmers at the very best, as a bad memory.

Wrested back from an egregious board who managed an armed lockout at KPFA and a Coup at WBAI, the stations (and the network) are undergoing a radical transformation, back to the original mission as it has been for more than 40 of its 53+ years. Many tens of thousands of listeners are responding to the call to save this "fiercely independent" network which has steadfastly maintained the unique claim of being completely listener-sponsored and free of any commercial influence.

Only Pacifica Radio dares to extend uninterrupted airtime to the likes of thinkers and truth-tellers, such as Blase Bonpane, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman, Dick Gregory, Thich Nhat Han, Ralph Nader, Huey Newton, Michael Parenti, Rosa Parks, Randall Robinson, Alice Walker, Alan Watts, ShinZen Young, Howard Zinn, and literally dozens, if not hundreds, of other leading visionaries, thought-provoking intellectuals and artists.

Free speech returns to Free Speech Radio at Pacifica. A discretionary gag-rule implemented by the former governing board, has been lifted as a result of an arbitrated settlement, ordered by the court. The so-called, "dirty-laundry policy", intended to keep all mention of "internal business" and "personal matters" off the air, and thus completely out of the consciousness of the listenership, IS FINISHED.

Roy Tuckman expresses his special thanks to all of the hundreds of volunteers who are working so hard to bring about this birth of a new day at Pacifica.

This release took the past 3 hours to write. Now it is 5:00 AM in Los Angeles. The national pledge drive has begun with Amy Goodman, Bernard White and others in New York's Pacifica station WBAI, joined briefly by KPFK's new interim General Manager, Steven Starr, and also Danny Glover...IN PROGRESS

Please Stay Tuned and PLEASE SUPPORT OUR BELOVED Pacifica FREE SPEECH RADIO. We can never afford to lose this precious jewel of free speech. Please CALL 818-985-5735 or 800-222-9739

For more information, please visit

www.pacificaradioarchives.org

www.savepacifica.net

www.radio4all.org/freepacifica