Pacifica Foundation to Continue the Legacy of ‘Making Contact’
Los Angeles, CA – The Pacifica Foundation is proud to announce that it will assume production of the award-winning public affairs program Making Contact, following the closure of Frequencies of Change Media, the independent nonprofit that has stewarded the program for over three decades. “The relaunch of Making Contact under the wing of Pacifica is an exciting boost to progressive audio power,” said Norman Solomon, Making Contact...
Juristac and the Amah Mutsun: Indigenous Resistance and Regeneration (Encore)
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Indigenous resistance against extractivism and the forces behind climate change. We’ll look at an underreported story in California about the Amah Mutsun Ohlone’s fight to save their most sacred site — a place called Juristac. Contributors Robert Raymond and Della Duncan explore the horrific injustices wrought upon California Indians since the time of the Spanish Missions up to the present and...
Thirsting For Justice (Part Two): Community Utility Districts and East Orosi’s Drinking Water Problems (Encore)
This episode first aired on Aug 7, 2024 as “East Orosi’s Long Struggle for Water Part 2: The Role of Community Utility Districts.” You can learn about new developments since then in more recent coverage via SJV Water and Fresnoland. In part one of our series on water in the Central Valley of California, we visited a town called East Orosi, which has been fighting for clean water for over 20 years. This week we turn our...
Thirsting for Justice (Part One): East Orosi’s Struggle for Clean Drinking Water (Encore)
This episode originally aired on July 25, 2024 as “East Orosi’s Struggle for Clean Drinking Water.” East Orosi hasn’t had safe drinking water in over 20 years. The water is full of nitrates, runoff from industrial agriculture, which is harmful to human health. The community has taken action to find a solution, from lobbying at the state capital to working with neighboring towns. And they may finally have one. New...
Urban Roots: Reclaiming Indianapolis’ Black History
Today we head back to Indianapolis with the podcast Urban Roots. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ms. Jean Spears was a young mother and burgeoning preservationist. She saved antiques from houses about to be demolished; she bought a home in a white slum and renovated it; later on, she did the same with a historic home in the black neighborhood near Indiana Avenue. In the eighties, she and some neighbors started digging into this black...
A Making Contact Pride Show!
To celebrate Pride Month, we have a special show featuring stories from the Making Contact archives. We’ll revisit the Stonewall Uprising with the 1989 audio documentary Remembering Stonewall, and then head to the gay rodeo with producer Vanessa Rancaño in a story from 2014. Remembering Stonewall: The Birth of A movement (1989) Narrated by Michael Schirker Produced by David Isay Distributed by Pacifica Radio Archives “All...
