FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KPFK Pacifica Radio 90.7FM Los Angeles
June 9, 2010
“The People’s Game” Kicks off
on Pacifica Radio KPFK
Daily World Cup Soccer Show Begins on Wednesday, June 9th
on KPFK Radio 90.7 FM Los Angeles
KPFK, Southern California’s original public radio station, inaugurates its World Cup Soccer coverage on Wednesday June 9, 2010 at 8:30pm. The People’s Game will be produced daily from June 9 until the tournament ends on July 11; it will be available by 5pm (PST) on www.kpfk.org via on-demand streaming and podcast.
The People’s Game is the most ambitious World Cup soccer program available in American media, providing expert commentary on the tournament’s games plus entertaining and incisive analysis of the world’s most popular cultural spectacle. Every one of the tournaments 32 teams has at least one correspondent, most of whom are leading soccer analysts in their country, though some are renown authors and entertainers – all are fans of the global game.
KPFK interim Program Director Alan Minsky, who is the show’s Executive Producer and one of its co-hosts, says this show stands head and shoulders above the major American media’s World Cup coverage: “I grew up partly in Italy and England where, like most kids, I lived and breathed soccer. While American soccer coverage on TV and radio has improved in recent years it still pales in comparison to the passion and intelligence found across the rest of the world. On The People’s Game we’re going to find the best voices from the entire world and deliver them to American ears.”
The People’s Game will also focus on the political, economic, and cultural subtexts of the tournament and the sport of soccer. The first half of every show will concentrate on the games on the field, but the second half will feature in-depth discussions on these broader contexts, using the global spectacle of the World Cup as a lens through which to view our times.
The People’s Game has a roundtable of hosts. Besides Minsky, the hosts are Jennifer Doyle, creator of the blog From a Left Wing; Pablo Miralles, producer/director of the documentary film Gringos at the Gate (about the USA v. Mexico soccer rivalry); Nick Green, journalist with the Daily Breeze and author of the blog 100% Soccer; and Omar Varela, an independent journalist and expert on Latin American soccer.
Co-host Jennifer Doyle reflected on a unique project for American sports coverage: “We not only bring a distinct perspective to the sport's big stories, we give voice to the side of the game often hidden by the headlines - the contexts for understanding the game locally and globally, the views of ordinary fans leading extraordinary lives, forgotten games and suppressed histories.”
Co-host Pablo Miralles notes why the World Cup is perhaps the best single event at which to take the temperature of humanity: “Soccer/fútbol is one of the few truly global languages. It allows people from diverse cultures, classes and generations to come together to enjoy the simple and beautiful game.”
The People’s Game also has its own website www.thepeoplesgame.org where all the radio shows will be available, along with special extended interviews, and articles by the show’s hosts, correspondents, and guests.
KPFK is also producing a daily Spanish-language World Cup soccer show called Fútbol°Popular, which commences on the same day, Wednesday the 9th at 9pm and is co-hosted by veteran sports journalist
Ricardo Gómez, local soccer organizer Raúl Macias, and Spanish partisan Tony Presido.
KPFK is listener-supported Pacifica Radio for Southern California, heard at 90.7 FM in Los Angeles,
98.7 FM in Santa Barbara and streaming live at ww.KPFK.org.
MEDIA CONTACT
Alan Minsky
KPFK interim Program Director
Co-host, The People’s Game
(818) 749-9497
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