ABSTRACT
The Pacifica Foundation inaugurated the first listenersupported, noncommercial radio network in the United States in the two decades after World War II. By the 1990s it owned five noncommercial FM stations throughout the country: KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California (acquired in 1949); KPFK-FM in Los Angeles (1959); WBAI-FM in New York City (1960); KPFT-FM in Houston (1970); and WPFWFM in Washington, D.C. (1977). Characterized by unconventional and dissent-oriented programming, Pacifica also provides news and public-affairs material for about 60 affiliated community radio stations.
