Joy Hill Finds Joy in Today’s Radio

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In late July, Joy Hill, widow of KPFA founder Lew Hill, came to the Grassroots Radio Conference in Madison, Wisconsin to watch the movie, "KPFA ON THE AIR."

Ms. Hill was quite moved and afterward spoke briefly to the crowd of radio producers and programmers. Later, she sent a letter to the organizer of the event, Norman Stockwell of WORT in Madison. The Folio is reprinting the letter because it speaks to all producers and supporters of community-based radio.

WORT is one of the nation’s most radical stations, one of the few who still air a locally produced womens’ program. Not only did it host this year’s grassroots conference but it was an early and vocal protestor of censorship at Pacifica National News. "KPFA On the Air" was produced by Veronica Selver and Sharon Wood and is narrated by Alice Walker.

Thank you so much for permitting me to be part of your group Friday night. I have spent a good many hours since, trying to understand what was happening. I regret my unpreparedness.

It finally dawned on me that there are a lot of KPFAs around the country now. I never knew. How wonderful! I am simply awestruck. And I am intensely conscious of the level of problems you face. For us, it was trying to invent a new kind of group communication, new forms, new shapes, new people. We did, to some extent enough to keep the station alive and growing and never mind that it was by fits and starts. But you, today ... you face problems far more taxing. THEY - those faceless authorities who become authoritarian at the first twist of fear - they know how dangerous you can be. You feel their boots sooner than we did.

You really are Peace Fighters. The work you do day by day draws people together, helps them become comfortable with the unfamiliar other, creates a space where we can learn to respect each other and finally to love each other. In the 18th century, when the United States was just an idea, we needed militant idealists and fighting men. In the 19th Century we needed a leader with compassion and people with courage to keep the states united. In the 20th Century we needed to look at what we were doing, to our planet and ourselves, and what we stood for beyond the comfort level we had attained. Now, we face the challenge of standing firm on the issues of liberty and free speech and true justice for all, and doing so without anger, without raising our voices, without becoming like our persecutors. Lewis would be thrilled. It is more than 35 years since I was part of this effort but I, too, am moved beyond words to know that it is happening.

I salute you all with my daily prayer: "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me..."

My gratitude to each one of you torchbearers.

[signed] Joy Hill

 

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(Put the following in a box or use a kind of Pull-Quote:)

"I look at this room -- there are so many of you. We were so few. It'll be a struggle; it's ALWAYS a struggle, but, in fifty years, when people ask you to speak, there will be a whole auditorium full of those who feel as you do." Joy Hill, speaking at Grassroots Radio Conference