Today Berkeley’s pioneer Pacifica radio station, KPFA-FM, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a demonstration happening outside its doors that shut down several blocks of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Many workers walked outside from their shifts of work to stand in the pickup truck bed and yell into the portable microphone to the 1,000 people assembled that Pacifica Radio National was out of order. A stream of locals, Barbara Dane, Scoop Nesker, Wavy Gravy, Country Joe, Bill Mandell, Chris Welch, and many, many more came to decry Pacifica’s recent non-negotiable firings of staff and gag order on staff. It was so typical of the tradition of the old station that in between ordered national programming feeds, many which celebrated KPFA’s tradition of speaking up in the past, everyone seem to be breaking the gag order rule by constantly reporting the demo live on air and discussing the issues.

Tune in to KPFA (94.1) and follow the bouncing kvetch and moan. It is one of the best things to come out of their transmitter in a long time and I am sure many of you will want to let them know how you feel about it.

Or listen online in RealAudio.

Joe Borneo