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Alternative Radio for February 26, 2007
1:02 PM - 2:00 PM
[Program Website]
Today's Highlight:
Culture is an area of conflict and contention. Supposedly top Nazi Hermann Goering once said, "Whenever I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun." In the U.S. in recent decades there are cultural wars over books, movies, language and life-styles. It's the grist for many a radio and TV show. Listeners and viewers call-in and express their strong opinions on extramarital affairs of celebrities, or should Mark McGuire be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame, and whether the film "Apocalypto" is too violent. Substantive issues are ignored and marginalized. For example, who manufactures and controls culture? What are its ideological goals? Who earns huge profits?
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka, a major figure in African American culture, rose to fame in the 1960s as LeRoi Jones. His 1964 off-Broadway play, "Dutchman" created a sensation. Later he became Amiri Baraka and was a central figure in the Black Arts movement. He is an award-winning playwright and poet and recipient of the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Alternative Radio is a weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and on short-wave on Radio for Peace International.
Established in 1986, AR is dedicated to the founding principles of public broadcasting, which urge that programming serve as "a forum for controversy and debate," be diverse and "provide a voice for groups that may otherwise be unheard." The project is entirely independent, sustained solely by individuals who buy transcripts and tapes of programs.
Its "headquarters" is situated to correspond with its position in the mainstream mass media: down an alley, behind a house, on top of a garage in Boulder, Colorado. From this rarefied location, AR's programs manage to reach over 125 radio stations and millions of listeners. AR is part of the non-profit Institute for Social and Cultural Change.
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