KPFA FM 94.1

A public, listener-funded radio station broadcasting at 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area, operating from studios in Downtown Berkeley with its transmitter situated in the Berkeley Hills. Founded on April 15, 1949, by Lewis Hill and the Pacifica Foundation, it was the first listener-supported radio broadcaster in the United States and remains the flagship station of the Pacifica Radio Network. At the time of its founding, non-commercial stations were licensed exclusively for educational extensions of schools and universities; KPFA's listener-oriented model was a significant departure from that norm. Throughout its history the station has been associated with numerous cultural and political milestones. It was the first broadcaster to air a program from a gay political organization and broadcast Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" in the 1950s. In 1954 a broadcast by marijuana reform advocates led to the tape being impounded by the California Attorney General. Phil Lesh, later a founding member of the Grateful Dead, worked as a volunteer recording engineer at the station in the early 1960s. KPFA also launched the first radio program dedicated to space music, debuting Stephen Hill and Anna Turner's "Music from the Hearts of Space" in 1973, a show later syndicated nationally to NPR stations. Programming spans public affairs, news, and music across genres, and includes nationally syndicated content alongside locally produced programming.