WYSO’s Audio Archives project began in 2009 when boxes of old magnetic tapes surfaced in a musty storeroom. With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Archive Project and partnerships with the Greene County Library and other local organizations, over 200 hours of broadcasts, most from the 1960s and 70s, were cataloged and digitized. A project to collect oral histories to complement the recordings was also begun.
With support from Ohio Humanities, the station has been airing this archival content since early 2014. The collection chronicles events at Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, around the Miami Valley, and well beyond.
In our first season, we heard the echoes of the civil rights movement as it morphed into many subsequent movements. In the second season, we explored the Vietnam era, with stories about Vietnam vets, peace activists, the Black Power movement, women’s liberation, and more. We’ll continue to sample news reports, interviews, documentaries, concerts, lectures, music shows, and other historical tape. We’ll listen for our collective presence in the voices, and sometimes add contemporary commentary as we reflect on our progress (or lack thereof). We’re also launching the WYSO Archives Blog to provide in-depth views into this volatile and formative period of our history, and to highlight our historic preservation efforts.
This program is made possible, in part, by the Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these programs do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Today on Rediscovered Radio, a return to the time when the Civil Rights movement took a more militant turn toward Black Nationalism. That change can be…
After the Watts Rebellion in Los Angeles in 1965, something unique happened. An Academy Award-winning screenwriter visited Watts and realized the neighborhood had stories the nation needed to hear.
Today on Rediscovered Radio, we meet the American poet Archibald MacLeish whose life spanned most of the 20th century. Bob Dylan described him as a man…
Today on Rediscovered Radio, a return to the 1970s – when four students were killed on the Kent State University campus by national guard troops as they…
Hundreds of protestors including representatives from many Native American tribes are still gathered at Standing Rock, North Dakota, in their effort to…
Florynce Kennedy, an outspoken attorney and activist who bridged the Women’s Liberation and Black Power Movements in the 1960s and 70s, said “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” She was outrageous and defiant and with her middle finger in the air and a cowboy hat on her head, she came to Antioch in 1971 to talk about fighting oppression. WYSO was there.
In 1962 an Ohio State student, a singer and guitarist named Phil Ochs, moved to New York City and was soon at the center of the booming folk music scene…
In 1965, as increasing numbers of American troops were sent to Vietnam, and an American bombing campaign grew, public forums were organized on college…