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Pacifica radio station WPFW, 89.3 FM, in Washington, D.C. is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this weekend with an event featuring Harry Belafonte, Sonny Rollins, Howard Zinn, Dorothy Height and Dick Gregory. WPFW is considered the only Jazz and Justice station in the nation’s capital. [includes rush transcript]
It went on the air on February 28, 1977 and this is what listeners heard in the first hour of WPFW inaugural broadcast.
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AMY GOODMAN: We end today’s show by going back thirty years to 1977 to the founding of Pacifica Radio station WPFW, 89.3 FM, in Washington, D.C. This weekend, Saturday night at the Washington Convention Center, celebrating those thirty years with Harry Belafonte and Sonny Rollins and Dorothy Height, Dick Gregory, among many. WPFW is considered the only Jazz and Justice station in the nation’s capital. We go back to the first hour of WPFW in ’77.
CHILDREN: [singing] W-P-F-W-P-F-W, Pacifica, 89.3 FM.
UNIDENTIFIED: Welcome to WPFW, Pacifica, Washington, finally on the air after a nine-year struggle. This is [inaudible] of PFW. And we have a lot of people who are going to be coming through to you tonight.
AMY GOODMAN: Hard to hear, but not hard to celebrate, WPFW, now thirty years old. I look forward to seeing people at the Washington Convention Center on Saturday night.
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