Compiled from 1949 to 1992, this collection of primarily analog reel-to-reel audiotapes embodies decades of innovative new music radio programming, specialized in 20th Century new music, but whose content also reflects a variety of musical forms rarely represented by commercial media. The collection features live concert recordings, other musical recordings, interviews, performance art and symposia, covering artists whose backgrounds range from the classical conservatories to the counter-cultural underground movement of the 1960s.

KPFA-FM in Berkeley was an influential participant in the development of the Bay Area as a national center for new music. It gained an international reputation for its music programming early on, after being founded in 1949. Up until 1992, its Music Directors were always composers or critics in the classical music field. From 1969-1992, composer Charles Amirkhanian (Executive & Artistic Director of Other Minds) served as Music Director for KPFA. During his tenure the station initiated a number of unusual series, one of which was then the longest-running continuous program on avant-garde music in American radio history (Ode to Gravity, 1970-1995). Aside from the contemporary music programming the station was known for, it also broadcast a variety of programs focusing on bluegrass, opera, world music, jazz, folk, pop, and gospel; many recordings of which are also contained within the collection.Other Minds (OM) is a non-profit organization in San Francisco dedicated to the encouragement and propagation of contemporary music in all its forms through multiple outlets including a yearly festival, an artist residency program, a record label, preservation project, and a radio program on KALW, San Francisco.

Approximately 4,700 items

Physical property rights reside with Other Minds (OM). Copyright over the materials are retained by their creators and/or estates and affiliates. For permission inquiries please contact OM Archives.

A digital portion of the collection is publicly accessible. Access restricted to physical collection maintained at the University of California Santa Cruz, Special Collections and Archives.