ACTIV-L Alternate Media Guide

C O N T E N T S :

  1. Paper Tiger (Public Access) T.V.
  2. Deep Dish (Satellite) T.V. Network
  3. "Z-Radio" Project
  4. The Pacifica Radio Network
  5. Alternative radio sources

PAPER TIGER TELEVISION:
Smashing The Myths Of The Information Industry

PTTV offers half hour videos which critique mainstream media and analyze its impact on social and political life.

Over 200 titles available for sale or rental for classroom, public or community screenings.

Paper tiger television is a mostly live public access show. It looks at the communications industry via the media in all its various forms. The power of mass culture rests on the trust of the public.

This legitimacy is a paper tiger.

Investigation into the corporate structures of the media and a critical analysis of their contents is one way to demystify the information industry.

Developing a critical consciousness about the communications industry is a necessary first step towards democratic control of information resources.

call or write for a compete Cat*A*Log:

Paper Tiger Television

339 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10012

(212)420-9045

DEEP DISH TV

Deep What?

"Deep Dish (as in parabolic and apple or pizza pie) is a national satellite network linking access producers and programmers, independent videomakers, activists and people who support the idea and reality of a progressive television network"
"How It Works [without the wonderful accompanying cartoons]"

  1. People around the country make shows
  2. We take 'em to an "uplink" which beams the program up to a satellite --
  3. The satellite beams the program back to earth in a pattern called a "footprint"
  4. Anyone with a satellite dish can receive the Deep Dish programs
  5. Public Access Cable Systems send it out to all the subscribers in town -- which is how Deep Dish gets to your home
All programs are transmitted on transponder 22 of the satellite Satcom IV (except where noted). Each show is transmitted Tuesday from 2:00-3:00 PM with a repeat Thursday from 6:00-7:00 PM. Contact the Deep Dish office for more information at 212-473-8933.

Deep Dish Television

339 Lafayette Street
New York NY USA 10012

(212) 473-8933
PeaceNet address: deepdish@igc.org

The "Z RADIO" PROJECT

The basic idea is this. Z Radio will be a small studio located here in Boston and a production company generating a regular flow of programs provided free to any station which wishes to receive the material. The shows will be uplinked to satellite, allowing stations to downlink them into their programming schedules [sounds like this should make is avail. in Europe as well, due to satellite --HB].. Tapes will be made available to stations that lack a downlink capability, and, for a charge, to individuals who would like the tapes for home listening at their leisure.

Our goals are three-fold:

  1. To help independent and alternative radio, which we consider a very powerful organizing and educating resource, by providing useful shows they can use as they like;
  2. To help educate and organize the listening public, develop left culture, and foster unity among activists by the quality of material Z Radio provides;
  3. To help spread awareness of Z itself, and of Speak Out, South End Press, the New Liberation News Service, and the whole spectrum of other left resources available in the U.S. today.
You can already inquire with your local station(s) if you want to urge them to carry Z radio programming, which, again, would cost them nothing if they can "uplink."

(NOTE: If you are interested in audio tapes from a progressive political and cultural perspective, David Barsamian has an excellent catalog of this, and we've scanned the whole catalog online; use the GET command with the file name CHOMSKY TAPES [originally someone only typed in that section of the catalog, and we haven't changed the name] from ACTIV-L LISTSERV.)

(You can use the GET command with SOUTH END for a listing of books from South End Press; with NLNS BROCHURE to find out all about the New Liberation News Service (cooperative for PSNs (progressive student (and other, I think) Newspapers)); with SPEAKOUT BROCHURE to find out about Speak Out! (progressive political speakers' bureau) and with SPEAKOUT BIOS for "bios" of the speakers available thru Speak Out!)

These are all projects of the nonprofit Institute For Social and Cultural Change. There are other video, group, book, etc resources listed in the file ACTIV-L ARCHIVE in the "general resources" section.

Z magazine

150 West Canton St.
Boston MA 02118

Telephone 1-617-247-3179

THE PACIFICA RADIO NETWORK

(Includes letter to New Member and LISTING of PACIFICA STATIONS)

The following excerpts from a letter I received from Pacifica Radio Network station WBAI-FM (99.5) in New York City sketch a history of Pacifica's achievements. Also included is a list of the many radio stations across the U.S.A. which broadcast some or all of Pacifica's programs.

Dear New Member,
Thank you once again for becoming a new member of WBAI - Pacifica Radio. With your subscription, you are now part of one of the most important, vital and unique media institutions in this city. And here's why.

You joined WBAI during a very critical time when we were engaged in our round-the-clock emergency coverage of the Gulf War and its terrible aftermath. An international crisis like this makes extraordinary financial and resource demands on all media organizations. Although the networks had multi-million dollar budgets to do this work, as an independent community radio station, we did not. What WBAI did have is a proud tradition of thirty-one years of exceptional reporting during demanding times like this.

HERE'S WHAT WE'VE DONE IN THE PAST.

HERE'S WHAT WE'LL BE DOING IN THE FUTURE

This September, WBAI will be bringing you the full Congressional hearings on Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court, and the C.I.A. Director hearings on Robert Gates live from Washington by national satellite. We will broadcast in-depth coverage of the latest developments in the "October Surprise" and the BCCI Affair, the mother of all banking scandals.

This is community radio at its very best, serving the publi interest and the people's right to know. This is the kind o programming excellence which WBAI brings you 365 days a year.

We have been able to do this work because our listeners have been the major source of [financial and moral] support for more than thirty years. As a new member, you have joined with thousands of others in the tri-state New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area who believe in social change and want to make a difference in their lives and in the world. And you can hear that commitment to peace and to justice in our programming. It's one of the things which makes us different.

Sincerely,
Valerie van Isler, General Manager
And the WBAI Staff

You can hear Pacifica News and National Programming on these community radio stations from coast to coast:

P = Pacifica Station A = Affiliate station which carries the news and all other programming S = Subscriber station which carries Pacifica News Service and some other Pacifica programming. All stations are FM, unless otherwise noted.

transcribed by John DiNardo

Alternative Radio Sources

This is a list of organizations that supply my community radio station (CJSW 90.9, University of Calgary) with audio cassettes of alternative programming. Individuals can order tapes for somewhere between $4 to $11 per cassette depending on volume ordered and length of cassette. These organizations should all be happy to send you a catalogue if you send them a self-addressed-stamped envelope. These tape sources are generally volunteer or not-for-profit or one-guy-working-out-of-basement operations so be prepared for delays.

- jb hoHm

If you have any information about these or other audio cassette sources, please tell me all about it.

hohm@cpsc.ucalgary.ca

JB Hohm

c/o Rm. 127 MacEwan Hall University of Calgary Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

Return to Politix