Making Contact
Making Contact
Radio stories and voices to take action.
About the Show
Making Contact is a progressive public affairs program dedicated to giving listeners a deeper understanding of the world and the forces that govern it. Twenty-nine minutes a week on national problems and grassroots solutions — labor, housing, borders, prisons, climate, health — reported from where people actually live it. Not pundits explaining your life back to you. Organizers, workers, veterans, neighbors, and the reporters who show up.
Every episode pairs hard analysis with what people are already doing about it, and ends somewhere you can act. Hosts and producers rotate, so the show carries a lot of voices — that's the design, not an accident. As of August 2026 Making Contact is produced right here at KPFK, keeping a program that's been on the air since 1994 independent, listener-funded, and free to community stations across the country.
History & Legacy
Making Contact went on the air in May 1994, founded by Peggy Law and Norman Solomon under the National Radio Project. The model was simple and stubborn: pair activists with journalists, cover the stories corporate outlets skip, and hand the result to community stations. It worked. At its peak the program was carried on roughly 140 stations across the United States, Canada, South Africa, and Ireland, and its reporting has been recognized repeatedly — including a Society of Professional Journalists (Northern California) award for Salima Hamirani's series on the risks of artificial intelligence.
The producing nonprofit — known over the years as the National Radio Project, the International Media Project, and most recently Frequencies of Change Media — wound down as the show reached its thirtieth year. Rather than let three decades of independent public affairs radio go dark, KPFK took over production in August 2026. Same mission, new home. Browse the full 30-year archive →
Producers
Making Contact is produced at KPFK. Hosts and producers vary from episode to episode — the show runs on a rotating bench of hosts, correspondents and producers rather than a single voice. Want to pitch a story, or join the bench? Get in touch.
Episodes
Keep This Show On the Air
Making Contact has run for thirty years without a corporate underwriter, and it stays that way because listeners pay for it. Your contribution keeps this half hour independent, keeps the mic pointed at people instead of press offices, and keeps it going out free to community stations nationwide. Chip in what you can.
Program Schedule
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Cary Harrison Files10:00am - 11:00am
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Global Village Fridays w Sergio Mielniczenko11:00am - 1:00pm
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The Visionary Activist Show1:00pm - 2:00pm
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Arts in Review2:00pm - 2:30pm
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