Fundraising Programming to Preserve Historic Tapes

Pacifica Radio is airing a marathon broadcast, “Preserving Living History,” on Nov. 19 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. The goal of the broadcast is to raise funds to finance efforts to stem the deterioration of rare recordings that include the voices of Malcom X, Margaret Mead and Lenny Bruce, Jack Kerouac, Rachel Carson and many more.
The nation’s oldest public radio archives contain recordings of internationally known writers, political activists, religious leaders and entertainers. Each hour of the broadcast focuses on a specific theme, and will include hours devoted to Native American history, women’s history, Eastern philosophy, the civil rights movement, civil liberties and the legacy of Malcom X.
Considered by many historians and scholars to be one of the most important audio collections in the world, thousands of tapes in the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Radio Archives are in danger of permanent damage caused by aging. Pacifica hopes the effort will raise enough money for the tapes to be reviewed and transferred to new mediums, such as digital audio.
More information, including a schedule of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preserving a Living History, can be found at http://www.pacificaarchives.org.