Pacifica Foundation

Pacifica Foundation is an American non-profit organization that owns five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for their progressive/liberal political orientation. Its national headquarters adjoins station KPFK in Los Angeles, California. Pacifica Foundation also operates the Pacifica Network, a program service supplying over 180 affiliated stations with various programs, primarily news and public affairs. It was the first public radio network in the United States and it is the world's oldest listener-funded radio network. Programs such as Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News have been some of its most popular productions. Pacifica was founded in 1946 by pacifists E. John Lewis and Lewis Hill. During World War II, both of them had filed for conscientious objector status. After the war, Lewis, Hill and a small group of former conscientious objectors created the Pacifica Foundation in Pacifica, California. Their first station, KPFA in Berkeley, commenced broadcasting in 1949. By 1977, the network had added WBAI in New York City, KPFK in Los Angeles, WPFW in Washington, DC, and KPFT in Houston. FCC v. Pacifica Foundation In 1973, one of Pacifica's stations, WBAI, broadcast comedian George Carlin's Filthy Words routine uncensored. Following a listener complaint, Pacifica received a letter of reprimand from the FCC, censuring them for allegedly violating broadcast regulations which prohibited airing indecent material. The foundation took the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court (FCC v. Pacifica Foundation) and lost in a 5-4 decision. This became a landmark moment in the history of free speech, as FCC v. Pacifica Foundation has to this day defined the power of the government over broadcast material it calls indecent. For most of its history, Pacifica gave each of its stations independent control of programming. During the 1990s, a major controversy arose over rumors that the Pacifica National Board and national staff were attempting to centralize control of content, in order to increase audience.