WGTB Schedule (Part 2)

Georgetown University fired station man­ager Ken Sleeman in December of 1975 trying to purge the liberals, hippies and other radicals from the station. God forbid that gay people exist or that races intermarry. Nixon's impeachment hearing began in the Spring of 1974 and conservatives were feeling vengeful. I do believe that mood led to the administration's attack on WGTB over the course of the following year.

When we fast forward to the WBGT schedule of January 1976 we see a surprising number of consistent programs. Multiple semesters have passed and the programming has not changed wildly.

Some programs did change time slots, but they may also be pre-recorded. Other programs continued with the same hosts in the same slots and yet others continued with new hosts and of course some new programs debut. helpfully some show notations help fill in the names of hosts and co-hosts from years earlier.

Gone is the Brass Monkey Show, Skip Pizzi presumably graduated.  Keyboard Filter, Radio Free shire, Disk Memory and Spiritus Cheese all continue as do the LBGT programs: Friends, Sophie's Parlor, and the Feminist Radio Network. The schedule below is from January of 1976, again sourced from FM Forecast. At the time Georgetown University is publicly debating the future of the station.


MONDAY
06:00 PM - Quadrophenia - w/Euclid, Quad segment using the SQ & QS systems
09:00 PM - Wet Pages - Maria Enrico & others read contemporary literary works *Maria is presently the Chair of the Modern Languages Department at Manhattan Community College
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire - w/ Prof Mota *aka Leo del Aguila, former music director
11:45 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Feminist Radio Network/Sophie's Parlor Present - More here.
12:30 PM - Sophie's Parlor - More here.
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese Natural Rhythm Show - More here
06:00 PM - Them & Us - A weekly labor show featuring information about issues affecting working people *possibly connected to the book of the same title
07:00 PM - Two Hours From Taurus -  w/ Geri Mellow synthesized specialties etc.
09:30 PM - Bead Intervals with Marty, interesting music & occasional spoken word
12:00 AM - The Abnormal Radio Hours - w/ Mike Hogan *Aforementioned writer for FM Forecast

TUESDAY
06:00 AM - Sparking Pace - Progressive music with Bambi Evans *Bootlegs of this program
exist!
09:00 AM - Open Forum
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire -w/ Jude
11:30 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Living For the City - w/ John Barber: issues of interest to the black community *John Barber made the move to WPFW and stayed there through at least 1985
12:30 PM - Court of  Miracles - Music with pep
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese - More here
06:00 PM - Friends - More here.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Random Radio Hours - Pamela Evans, progressive music *Possibly the same Pam Evans that was chief engineer at WGMS in 1973.
09:30 PM - Black Fire w/ Jimmy Gray *Later had shows on WHUR and WPFW. He was a promoter, distributor and, record label owner. He needs a biography. LINK
12:00 AM - Clark Kent & Collective State of Quack LINK

WEDNESDAY
06:00 AM - At Home, At Work, At Play
09:00 AM - Catalyst - Produced by G.U. Campus Ministry, Host is Fr. Bob Rokusek, S.J. *Bob went on to perform interfaith marriages in the early 80s. More here
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire -w/Geri
11:45 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Watchdog - for consumers with Lenore Pomerante
12:30 PM - Early Afternoon - w/ Skip  *Skip Pizzi?
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese  *More here
06:00 PM - Interface - Public affairs  *More here.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Sophies Parlor - More here.
09:30 PM - Abstraction Show - with John Paige *Now  Co-hosting "Rock Continuum" on 94.3 WOWD-LP with Steve Lorber
12:00 PM - Keyboard Filter Show/ Jonathan Eberhardt *Eberhardt was an  award-winning aerospace writer who also was a folk singer. He died in 2003. More here.

THURSDAY
06:00 AM - At the Risk Of Seeming Tired w/ David Selvin: Polka Music, traffic & sports *He was "indefinitely suspended" for airing a bootleg recording of William Burroughs in 1975. [LINK] Locally known author and painter, he went on to produce his program at WPFW after the shutdown. He died in 2010.
09:00 AM - Phenomena - Howard Goltz explores the paraphysical world
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire w/Jim features astrological forecast, live local artists & progressive morning music
11:45 AM -  Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Critique - Geri Calkins & Ruth Stenstrom critical reviews of plays movies books, art & interviews with authors, actors & playwrights *Geri was also a "staff administrative assistant [LINK] Ruth is an Art Therapy Director today [LINK]
12:30 PM -Thoughts on a Grey Day - progressive music w/ Mike Cullen *Cullen was one of the signers of the "Too Valuable to Lose" letter to La Hoya  in 1978. More here.
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese Natural Rhythm Show- with Mark Gorbulew featuring live interviews nat'l and local recordings artists plus progressive jazz - More here
06:00 PM - Open Forum - Public Access program, listener comments are aired live & selected letters from listeners are read over air.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Tea Time w/ Mark Garbin, progressive music
09:00 PM - Take One - Local & national musicians perform live from Sounds Reasonable Studios *Later was the source of live sets for WHFS. Operated through at least 1979. Owned by Fred Wygal
09:30 PM - What is Reality? - Ken Sleeman *Former station manager, may or may not have been doing the show at this point in time.
12:00 AM - Me & the Animals w/ Bill Sacks, progressive music

FRIDAY
06:00 AM - At the Risk Of Seeming Tired 
09:00 AM - Bread & Roses - arts & social & Political values
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire w/ Mike Queen
11:30 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Speakeasy - w/ Ken Rothschild: public affairs phone-in show on current social topics
01:00 PM - Mzz Frizzz Presentzzzz - Folk Country, blues, jazz & rock
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese Natural Rhythm Show - More here
06:00 PM - Interface - More here.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Quadrophenia with Euclid - Quad segment using the SQ & QS systems
09:00 PM - Horror Show - Prof Mota presents progressive modd music Mota *aka Leo del Aguila, former music director
12:00 AM - Positivity  - w/ Eric Small: music from the black scene *Small started at WGTB in 1973, and appeared in La Hoya with co-host Dan Hayes with a program called "Flight Time."

SATURDAY
06:00 AM - The Too Early on Saturday Show - Prog. Music
08:30 AM - Taking Time for Children w/ Eleanor Hickey & space cadets: music stories & poetry *Hickey stayed on and became Promotion Director in 1977
09:00 PM - I Thought I heard Buddy Boulden Say... - classic jazz & blues from the 20's, 30's and 40's. with history & commentary provided by Royal. *Named for a tune by Jelly Roll Morton, but hosted by author W. Royal Stokes!
12:00 PM - Feminist Radio Network - More here.
12:30 PM - Sophie's Parlor - music & information *More here.
03:30 PM - Magascene w/ Skip
06:00 PM - Friends -  A program about gay people in Wash. area.*More here.
07:00 PM - Ozone Hours - w/ Earendil , Prog. music plus 
09:00 PM - The Hard Implosion - w/ Fred Cresce Prog. rock *Hosted by Jeff Bender and Fred Cresce, program started in 1975. Arguably a precursor to the first metal programs.
09:30 PM - Firesign Theatre radio series, Dear Friends *Dear Friends was a live radio program performed on KPFK. There were 21episodes aired between Sept.16th, 1970 and Feb. 17th, 1971
12:00 PM - Corpus Callosum - Ken Moss & Rich Stevens features classical / progressive rock combinations

SUNDAY
06:00 AM - Morning Modulations - Progressive Music w/ Frank Tolin *Frank was later the engineer for the After Hours" program on WGMS.
09:00 AM - The Disk Memory Show - Host Alan Lee plays features collector items from the formative years of rock & roll plus interviews with personalities of the era 1955 - 1962. *Lee came from WMAX/WXDT the carrier current predecessor of WKDU at Drexel. He was later host of Doo-Wop Sounds on WPFW. More here.

12:00 PM - The Stump Jumpers Revisited - w/ Greg Barrett, Country rock , C&W, Bluegrass, R&R, Jazz plus prose & poetry readings *Pianist, organist, singer and songwriter  More here.
03:00 PM - Big Empty Space - with John Strider, rock & country rock *Also hosted he Cosmic Burnout show and the Galactic Mindfuck Show
06:00 PM - Eclectic Brew - w/ Peter Barry Chowk.
09:00 PM - The Abstraction Show - with John Page, progressive music
12:00 AM - Mystic Eyes - w/ Steve Lorber, English music of the 60's, Punk Rock & rock music origins *Now  Co-hosting "Rock Continuum" on 94.3 WOWD-LP with John Paige

The History of LGBT Radio(Part 3)

In the book Lavender Culture, in a chapter by Allen Young, John Zeh is quoted and paraphrased in a section addressing LGBT radio:

"...listeners to gay radio are often those "still struggling with their sexual identities," people who find a gay radio program... a convenient and discreet way to make contact with the gay community. Just the names of some of the regularly scheduled show express the lively spirit of this new movement among gay broadcasters: Fruit Punch, and Radio Free Lesbian in Berkeley, CA; IM RU in Los Angeles,CA; Come Out Tonight in New Haven, CT; Gay Space in Sarasota, FL; Gaybreak in Amherst, MA; Closet Space in Columbia, MO; Stonewall Nation and Sappho in Buffalo, NY; Lambda in Pittsburgh, PA; Closets Are For Clothes in Ann Arbor, MI; Amazon Country and Sunshine Gaydream in Philadelphia, PA."

The radio program Sunshine Gaydream debuted in 1974 in the city of brotherly love, on the University of Pennsylvania's public radio station 88.5 WXPN. It's founder and original host was John Zeh. Some of the post-Zeh programs between 1986 and 1999, are archived at the University of Pennsylvania University Archives. [LINK] The show title is a pun based on the song title “Sunshine Daydream” by the Grateful Dead. But the pun does not belong to John Zeh. Some writers (ahem) have claimed the name may also refer to a book by Allen Ginsberg. I believe this is an error. There is a book Gay Sunshine Interviews by Winston Leyland and Genet Ginsberg but it was first published in 1978; 4 years after Zeh got started. However it collects interviews from a newspaper, Gay Sunshine which does predate the program by at least 4 years.

It's worth noting now that something else big happened in on WXPN in 1974. I already wrote a post about the infamous "Vegetable Report" incident. [LINK] But the stations shut down and subsequent FCC fine started with a report from a 1949 Penn graduate who complained that the program presented “porno stories about homosexuality and other sexual abuses.” We can all note the bigotry in that statement, but it is that very shutdown which steered the course of WXPN to it's milquetoast format today. Source: John Zeh himself. [LINK] Inexplicably, Zeh survived the purge.

Zeh survived the FCC-driven changes at WXPN and remained there through at least 1976 and also added a few shifts as a radio reporter for WMMR. It's important to know that Zeh came into WXPN as a young journalist. Zeh had been writing for years before he landed at XPN. As a teenager he covered sports for The Kentucky Post, and wrote news articles for The Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper of the U. Kentucky. In 1966 he even wrote an article printed in a special Billboard Music on Campus publication. [LINK]  His writing later appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and The Advocate. He even reported for  All Things Considered on NPR. Zeh left WXPN in about 1979 and was succeeded by host Dan Daniels. So here we have a fork in the trail and must tell two stories.

There are some early tapes and advertisements in the Tommi Avicolli collection HERE. Zeh landed on 88.3 WAIF in Cincinnati, OH.  Things got serious in 1981 for Zeh with an incident that precipitated the case of State v. Zeh. Hamilton County prosecutor Simon Leis charged Zeh with four counts of fourth degree felonies: disseminating materials harmful to juveniles. On January 3rd 1981,  he read selections from a magazine article on the topic of sexual lubricants on-air. It was titled "A Guide for Greasy Fingers" from First Hand magazine.  So it came to pass that on February 17, 1981, defendants-appellees, John Zeh and Stepchild Radio of Cincinnati, Inc., were indicted in violation of R.C. 2907.31. Zeh being Zeh, he sent tapes of the show to local news stations including WEBN. Zeh and WAIF won when the charges were dismissed. Zeh returned to his program. More here.

Uncowed, Zeh produced a program for Gay/Lesbian day at KPFK in 1983. [LINK] But it was not the end of Zeh'slegal entanglements.  He later sued the University of Cincinnati (UC) for canceling his six-week course, "Being Gay in Cincinnati." Zeh won that case too. A federal judge ruled U.C. had violated Zeh's First Amendment rights. Then in 1985 Zeh was convicted of sexual battery for having sex with a mentally impaired 17-year-old. Zeh did not win. He was sentenced to two years in prison. After his release he moved to Washington D.C. where he stayed for a decade. Tired of that scene, he returned to Cincinnati in about 1998.  More here.

Back in Philadelphia, Gaydreams had prospered on WXPN, continuing under host Dan Daniels. (No connection to the other Dan Daniels on WMCA) But Daniels got into trouble with station management in July of 1984. There had been some kind of incident regarding the closing of the GCCP community center and the sale of a pedophile pamphlet at a book store called Giovanni's room. This also somehow included criticism of Roberta Hacker, then host of Amazon Country also on WXPN. Hacker had co-hosting that lesbian radio program, since 1975. More on Roberts here. Station manager Peter Cuozzo censored Daniel's  commentary suspended him for a month. Displeased with the penalty he refused to sign a letter confirming the station didn't censor him. Daniel went on a one-man strike and sent out a written press-release of his comments on WXPN letterhead. (I want to read it so bad) More here.

Cuozzo and Daniels could not reconcile and Alan Ross became the new host of Gaydreams. Alan Ross was a very different host than Daniels. But he also enjoyed crank calling Rush Limbaugh, which culminated on a beautiful live-radio moment in which he was able to broadcast “We had a meeting of Gay Fathers last night, and we decided that we would declare you an ‘Honorary Gay Man.’”

Alan Ross continued to host until 1990 when Bert Wylen took over. Wylen too had some legal entanglements. In 1994 he filed a discrimination complaint against WXPN when he discovered that the WXPN simulcast on WKHS in Maryland excluded his program. Wylen alleged, the University radio station discriminated against him because he is gay. "WXPN is morally and ethically required to make a statement in support of my programs." The Kent County School Board, which controls WKHS's programming, decided not to air Gaydreams because they were bigots. They also refused to air the lesbian-issues program, Amazon Country. WXPN essentially argued that under their deal memo they had no right to remonstrate the bigots. More here and here.

The incident precipitated the end of Bert Wylen's involvement in the program and in 1995 Robert Drake took over.  Drake had been a volunteer at WXPN since 1981 and producing since January of 1988. He started out with Kids Corner, a kids program hosted by Kathy O'Connell. He and Keith Brandt renamed the program Q'zine and transitioned the show into a more produced news magazine format. Alan Ross and others mourn the loss of the programs political activism. Drake remains popular, in he was voted  Best Radio Personality in the Philly A-List’s annual poll.

Back on Gaydreams on 88.3 WAIF continued without Zef.  The show was moved to Mondays at 5:00 PM and being hosted by Mike Lloyd and Mike Chanak. Chanak was well aware of the longevity of the program in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper he was quoted as saying that it's "the second-longest-running gay/lesbian radio show in the U.S., possibly the world,"In about 1984 they changed the name from Gaydreams to Alternating Currents. There were problems. In the May 1991 issue of Cross-Port InnerView Belinda made an open posting for help producing Alternating Currents. [SOURCE]

"Alternating Currents is in crisis because Mike LLoyd is resigning as the producing force behind it. If you have spare Saturday hours and want to support one of the oldest radio programs of its kind in the country, Mike Lloyd and Mike Chanak will arrange to get you the training you need to help out with the details of radio production. Talk to me at the meeting if you are interested."

But things stabilized. In 2000 show staff included Cheryl Eagleson, Henry Michaels, news coordinator Carl Eichelman, and producer Ken Colegrove. Staff rotated, things changed. By 2003 the show was just co-produced by Cheryl Eagleson and Don Wetterer. Bruce Preston and Sam Clemons joined the show in 2004. In this period 2000 - 2005 the program was airing on Saturdays from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.   But in the Fall of 2004 their website alternatingcurrents.org was taken down. In 2010 the program, feeling less welcome at WAIF, moved to 95.7 WVQC-LP. More here and here. Hosts rotate weekly and as of 2019 include Bruce Preston, Tracy Walker, Ron Clemons, Christopher and Paul Spencer, and Cheryl Eagleson.

I am sorry to report that John Zeh died in 2006 at the age of 59 More here. He is outlived by both of the radio programs he founded. One would hope that he was very proud indeed.

Radio Free Alcatraz

Radio Free Alcatraz is one of my favorite things that happened in all of radio history So lets start at the beginning. Almost everyone is at least passingly familiar with the iconic Alcatraz prison.  The actual Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island. The 22 acre island is 1.25 miles off shore from San Francisco. Spanish naval officer Juan Manuel de Ayala charted the island in 1775 by as one of the three islands he identified as "La Isla de los Alcatraces." The name was an error. Alcatrace is Spanish for Gannets, a North Atlantic bird. Ayala had more likely seen Pelicans. More here.

You might be wondering about it's Native American history. Well, there doesn't seem to be much. The island was mostly bare rock, possibly with coastal grass and scrub. In 2001 The Alcatraz Island Historic Preservation and Safety Construction Program wrote "There is no record or remaining evidence  of prehistoric usage of Alcatraz Island by Indian Tribes." Lets discuss. It's possible that Native Americans determined that the bald rock in the bay wasn't very useful. The first Indians to "live" on the island would have been the 19 members of the Hopi tribe imprisoned there for seven months in 1895 for refusing to allow their children to be taken to government-run boarding schools.

Things got way more interesting in 1964 when five Sioux Indians: Richard McKenzie, Allen Cottier, Martin Martinez, Garfield Spotted Elk, and Walter Means landed on Alcatraz in March 1964 and tried to seize it. They invoked the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie as a legal precedent establishing their right to reclaim surplus federal land and filed a claim. This may have technically been Native Peoples first to attempt to settle on the island. Regardless of the legal merits of the claim Federal Marshals kicked them out.  Five years later they returned in much greater numbers. More here.

In 1969 a fire destroyed San Francisco’s American Indian Center. After the fire, Native American activists proposed re-establishing one on the now vacant Alcatraz. Their proposal was denied.
In multiple phases in November of 1969 Native American activists "colonized" the island anyway. The primary landing was on November 20th with 89 men, women and children. On Thanksgiving, 1969, an estimated 400 Native Americans gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving. The occupation would last another 18 months.

Prominent members of the movement included: Richard Oakes, Katherine (Jody) Beaulieu, Adam Fortunate Eagle, chairman of the BANAC (Bay Area Council of American Indian Affairs), Verna Clinton Tullie, Dean Chavers, Stella Leach, LaDonna Harris, Jerry Hatch, Allen Miller, Ron Lickers, Mickey Gemmill, and Gerald Sam, Carol Miller, Daniel Bomberry, Larry Benegas, Elaine Dempsey (Wintun), Ross Barden, Grace Thorpe, and both LaNada Boyer Means and Leman Brightman of UNA (United Native Americans). LaNada, was actually the first Native American student at U.C. Berkeley.

On December 22, 1969, KPFA began its first live broadcast from Alcatraz, hosted by spokesperson John Trudell, a Santee Sioux from Omaha, NB. Trudell had studied radio and broadcasting at San Bernardino Valley College and was a natural for the role. He interviewed residents of the island and visitors.  Al Silbowitz, then manager of KPFA got a grant and with Trudell installed some borrowed and donated radio equipment, on the main cell block building on Alcatraz.  Their programs aired on the Pacifica Network which consisted, at the time, of KPFA in Berkeley; KPFK, Los Angeles; and WBAI, New York. The program was somewhat irregular in schedule but was 15 - 30 minutes long.

The vision for Alcatraz was an egalitarian society. But due to the press attention some people naturally rose to prominence such as Richard Oakes and John Trudell. Oakes left the island with his family in January 1970 after his step daughter fell from a stairwell and died. His departure created a leadership vacuum. Vagrants and hippies began to settle on the island. Eventually non-Indians were prohibited from staying overnight. The native population at this time was about 50 people, 40 of whom were women.

Each episode of Radio Free Alcatraz began with a recording of Buffy Sainte-Marie singing "Now that the Buffalo's Gone." Buffy Sainte-Marie visited the island in person in May of 1970. But by June of 1970 the program was being recorded in the Pacifica Studios. The final program aired in September of that year.  More here.

In May 1970 the federal government began to transfer Alcatraz to the Department of the Interior and the National Park System. That's when the government shut off the electricity and telephone service. The same week the government removed their water barge. This left the occupiers with a small generator for power, butane stoves cooking and a severe water short age. When the barge was removed, different sources cited that they had either 70,000 or as little as 4,000 gallons of water. Then on the night of June 1st, 1971, provocateurs set a fire which destroyed several buildings. On June 11, 1971, Federal marshals invaded the island to remove the remaining residents. At the time, the residential population was just six men, five women and four children. More here.

The results were good and bad. In the years that followed, members of AIM (the American Indian Movement) organized occupations and protests at Plymouth Rock, Mount Rushmore, Wounded Knee, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and dozens of other sites across the country. Richard Nixon ended the Federal policies of termination and assimilation and implemented the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. But Richard Oakes was murdered by a white supremacist in 1972 and John Trudell's family were killed in a suspicious fire in 1979.

Today the Pacifica Radio Archive houses many recordings of Radio Free Alcatraz on 1/4” reel tape. Not all of these tapes are digitized yet. If you want to donate go here.

Radio Voting Drive

Today voting drives are often tied to the internet, new media. It led to a landslide victory for the dems. Young people, always tapped into new media were disproportionately connected. the same was true in the 1970s. FM radio was new media and so FM radio registered them in droves.FM was particularly active in the contentious election of 1972 Nixon Vs. McGovern. The Democratic ticket was in chaos. Kennedy was supposed to run but accidentally drowning his mistress at Chappaquiddick ended any chance of that. There was a police riot in Chicago where hundreds of young war protesters were beaten by Chicago cops at the DNC. The election was a contest between an incumbent Republican and an anti-war Democrat. It's more complicated than that but all elections are. I highlight that topic because the anti-war vote is a youth vote. That's where FM came in.

FM radio was the new media at the time and it's demographics leaned heavily toward the young. This is the kind of thing that excites pollsters. Young people generally vote liberal, the problem is that they generally don't vote. It's a two step process, you have to register them, then they have to show up. So FM radio stations made a push for the first part.

In Philadelphia WMMR pushed the youth vote all day every day. They ran announcements about voter registration. They even regularly announced the locations of voting drives. Because of Pennsylvania law they were not allowed to register voters themselves, but they could advocate, so they did.

Program Director Jerry Stevens was fully committed to the project. In San Antonio KTSA made a similar effort, sponsoring a free rock concert for the high school registering the most new voters. The winner was Holy Cross High school for registering 3,800 voters.

KPFK in Los Angeles sponsored voting drives even giving away free records to the newly registered. KMET carried voter registration drives live on air. WBSR in Pensacola sponsored registration drives as well. Registering voters in their own lobby they signed up 2,500 new voters in time for the primaries.

In Sacramento KROY painted their radio station red white and blue for the election season. PD Bob Sherwood had the station staff deputized so that they all could register voters personally.

Altogether it was a monumental effort. The results weren't inspiring. Nixon swept the election, McGovern only carrying Massachusetts and Delaware. but two years later, as Nixon was impeached the tide turned and emboldened those same new voters elected Jimmy Carter. Better late than never.

Quote of the day

The connection to radio is tenuous, but for the station involved, the comment is very befitting, and therefore worth mentioning.

Screw-Jack was first published privately in 1991, receiving a full-scale commercial printing finally in 2000 through Simon & Schuster. It contains the one and only time Hunter S. Thompson ever mentioned a radio station by name, by call letters. Like much of his prose, some things are very factual. In this case the the city and the station are very real, but the surrounding events are somewhat hallucinatory.

The radio station is none other than 90.7 KPFK-FM. Pacifica launched the station in 1959 so that puts a loose time frame on the tale.

"That God for the Sonata in F Major for Oboe and guitar by Charles Stark Weather...No Ads, listener-sponsored radio, not even news...salvation has many faces, remind me to send a check to this station when I get well...KPFK?"

I hope he sent the donation. Somewhere out there in Los Angeles is an accountant who knows for sure.

The HUAC investigation of Radio

Everyone remembers the Hollywood 10. Over 300 media people were named in the anti-communist investigation. But it was only 7 men and women in radio that got the same thumbscrews.

(HUAC) the House Un-American Activities Committee began the investigation of 7 radio commentators on November 6, 1945. This list includes: Bertolt Brecht, Norman Cousins, Carey McWilliams, Dorothy Healey, and W. E. B. DuBois... most of them worked for Pacifica.

Starting in the year 1946, HUAC issued general reports on subversive activities, based on its research and hearings. Their first report contained a very partisan section on the radio broadcasts of “certain unnamed liberal commentators.” The committee found the radio commentators to be pro-communist based on their comments regarding the State Department, presidential appointees, foreign governments, and General Douglas MacArthur. [Yes, the far right has really been trying to convince America that liberals are communists for that long.]

Three ex-FBI agents in 1950 published a booklet titled Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. This tome listed people, organizations and publications purported to have ties to communism. Among those people cited for their ties to communist organizations the following peopel in radio: Rod Holmgren, Lisa Sergio, William S. Gailmor, William Shirer, Johannes Steel, J. Raymond Walshand even Orson Welles!

By the time the book was published, all six commentators listed in its pages had been forced off the air. More here: http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/huac.htm

This crap went on for more than a decade with the FCC withholding the license renewals of KPFA, KPFB, and KPFK pending its investigation into "their communist affiliations." but after McCarthy Sputtered and crashed like the paranoiac alcoholic that he was, the whole movement loast steam. He had been reckless and like a gambler on a winning streak he had not planned for failure. He imploded and drank himself to death. The radio men he ran out of the buisness mostly met sad ends as well, but some found new work writing under psudonyms.

At the end HUAC offered lines of poetry by Sir Walter Scott in defense of their witch-hunt in their final report. I think they misread him myself. Poem Here: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/scott-quote.html

great documentary here: http://radfilms.com/huac.html

The Bombing of KPFT

KPFT was founded by journalist Larry Lee, who convinced Pacifica Radio to establish an independent radio station in Houston, TX. His dream became a reality in March of 1970. In that same year, KPFT became the first, second and only radio station in the United States to have its transmitter bombed by terrorists. More here. 

The first sound to emanate from 90.1 FM in Houston was the song Here Comes The Sun from the then-brand-new Beatles album, Abbey Road. About two months later on May 12 members of the KKK blew up the KPFT transmitter, and the station was off the air for weeks.

Several months after completing repairs and returning to the air, the transmitter was bombed a second time! The October 6th bombing caused much more extensive damage. The cost of the damage was estimated to be about $35,000 —that's $222,000 in today's money adjusted for inflation. KPFT was off the air for more than three months. They resumed broadcasting on Wednesday, January 20th, 1971. A guard of armed police surrounded the station. They interviewed the mayor and the chief of police who both sided with the KKK, questioning their right to broadcast, and accusing them of airing obscene records.  Arlo Guthrie performed live in studio opining his set with Alice's Restaurant. This was the song that they had been playing when the October bombers struck.  Guthrie stepped up to the mic and said:

"So I was sitting in West Palm Beach yesterday, —this is in Florida— and I said "Wow, I'm gonna go over to Houston. What am I going to do there?" I mean maybe somebody will bomb me.. I didn't have any songs about bombs, or nothing like that, so I had to write one. I'd like you to sing it with me..."

A decade later, the KKK's Grand Wizard claimed that his greatest act "was engineering the bombing of a left-wing radio station," hinting none-too-subtly at KPFT. In 1977 bomber Jimmy Dale Hutto was ratted out by FBI informant Russell Rector. Russ has been in the witness protection program since the bombing because the KKK was pretty upset about his informing. Ultimately a whole quartet were indicted: Louis R. Beam Jr., a 24 year old salesman; Peter Lout Jr., a 26 year-old construction worker; Jimmy Dale Hutto a 24 year old chemical worker, and Paul William Moratto a 24 year old electrician. Hutto for his part was arrested in February by the FBI as he was driving toward California with Moratto. His intention was to dynamite more Pacifica radio stations.

Despite the actions of these right-wing terrorists, The Pacifica Network grew to five stations: KPFA in Berkeley, KPFK in Los Angeles, WBAI in New York, WPFW in Washington, and KPFT in Houston. Until 1983 it also included KRAB in Seattle. More here.

FM Super-casters

In the United States, Fm radio stations are limited to a maximum ERP (effective radiated power) of 100,000 watts. But some radio stations have been grandfathered in above that bar. Lots of helpful info here:
http://members.aol.com/jeff1070/fm-max.html

The 5 biggest FM's in America are:
#1 WBCT 93.7 Grand Rapids, MI -320,000 watts
#2 WOOD 105.7 Grand Rapids, MI -265,000 watts
#3 WOMC 104.3 Detroit, MI -190,000 watts
#4 WNCI 97.9 Columbus, OH -175,000 watts
#5 WSLQ 99.1 Roanoke, VA -150,000 watts

The top 5 highest HAAT is as follows:
WHOM 94.9 Mt. Washington, ME -1130 meters
KRUZ 103.3 Santa Barbara, CA -915 meters
KPFK 90.7 Los Angeles, LA -846 meters
WIPR 91.3 San Juan, PR -825 meters
WSLQ 99.1 Roanoke, VA -607 meters

But watts alone do not cover maximum area. HAAT (height above average terrain) and the terrain itself are very signifigant to actual contour. )Population density could also be considered a factor as miles of tundra are undesirable.) The practical combination of the two is the real winner.

Largest largest 1 mv/m contours are:
#1 KRUZ103.3 Santa Barbara, CA
#2 KPFK 90.7 Los Angeles, CA
#3 WIPR 91.3 San Juan, PR
#4 WHOM 94.9 Mt. Washington, NH *largest contour over land

NOTE: the largest covered area for a station actually belongs to:
*KAWZ 89.9 Twin Falls, ID http://www.csnradio.com/

While they run at a mere 100,000 watts in Twin Falls, they also simulcast via satellite on 320 repeaters and translators blanketing the U.S. with politically conservative religious talk. Even if each transmitter only covered 1 mile they would reach an area three times that of any legitimate local broadcaster. The FCC ruled that time-shifted satellite programming constitutes "locally originating programming" thus evading the obligation to actually serve the communities they reside in.