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[a note from Brian DeShazor, Director, PRA]

The Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA) staff is proud to announce that yesterday we, the entire network together, raised $117,000 on-air during our 19 hour broadcast. With a $50,000 matching gift from a generous individual in Washington D.C. we exceeded our $135,000 goal for a grand total of $167,000. We still have another $115,000 to go to meet our 2007 budget requirements, but are well on our way.

We, the PRA staff and volunteers extend thanks to the local stations for preempting regular programming to bring the issue of preserving our political and cultural heritage to our listeners. Please convey our gratitude to your local staff and program volunteers.

The broadcast was a celebration of Pacifica Radio's contribution to the American people. Each discovery of an unknown gem (like Fannie Lou Hamer singing the National Anthem in Chris Koch's /This Little Light/ documentary on Mississippi , 1964) renews my appreciation of the archives mission. The broadcast itself was intended as a celebration and we hope we succeeded in providing listeners with compelling radio. Highlights of the broadcast will be posted on in the coming week. Before I list those we need to thank, there were, and are, forces throughout the network that worked to obstruct the success of the broadcast. This letter will not address those serious concerns – you can look forward to that in the near future.

Our live guests included BBC journalist Joanne Griffith participating in her first fund drive; John Densmore of The Doors/ /autographed “The Best of The Doors” CD’s for our donors; Jackson Browne, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt and Harvey Wasserman ALL joined Dr. Michio Kaku for a “No Nukes” reunion; our new Executive Director, Nicole Sawaya gave insight to Pacifica’s relevance during the Nixon era; Composer Allee Willis delighted in hearing the Sounds of Soul that she helped preserve; Susan Rubin of the Feminist Majority extolled the virtues of Pacifica’s contribution to the women’s movement; and acclaimed sci-fi writer Samuel R. Delaney reminisced about WBAI’s broadcast his radio drama, /The Star Pit,/ 40 years ago. We were extremely disheartened that veteran Pacifica journalist and bonafide expert on Nixon/Watergate Larry Bensky was restricted from participating.

We have many folks to thank for their hard work and tireless efforts. PRA Staff: Mariana Berkovich, Arline Chang, Shawn Dellis, Haunani Singer, Edgar Toledo, and Mark Torres. PRA volunteers: Curtis, Debbie, Dulce, Sylvia, Marla, and Phyllis.

Fund drive staff: Ginna Allison, Lucia Chapelle, Adi Gevins, David Groth, Stephenie Hendricks, Maggie Lepique, and Oleg Kagan. Pacifica hosts: Aura Bogado, Verna Avery-Brown, Davey D., Jim Freund, Lisa Garr, Amy Goodman, Joanne Griffith, Michio Kaku, Sonali Kolhatkar, Margaret Prescod, Jerry Quickly C.S. Soong, Roy Tuckman, Nita Valens, Anita Johnson, Weylan Southen and Bernard White

In addition to all the Pacifica station general managers, interim general managers, program directors, interim program directors, technicians, line producers and staff that rallied with us I’d like to especially thank Nicole Sawaya, John Almeleh, Sidrach Franklin, Sharan Harper, Pete Korakis, Nathan Moore, Phil Osegueda, and Ursula Ruedenberg.

We’re tremendously encouraged by the outpouring of support from our listeners and look forward with eager anticipation to the preservation work ahead.

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