This Week's Letter
KPFT- 8-5-84
I listen to FM KPFT here at Lake Bastrop every day between about 8 AM to about 11 AM, sounds ok. Sound is good. I like the Banjo Music. I am cripple and disable. I hope $5.00 will help.
Thanks
Name Redacted
I am on Social Security Disability
Editor's Note
This letter was chosen as the first in the Mailbag series for a few reasons. It was among the first batch of letters scanned from the paper archives, but is also very moving and speaks to the relationship KPFT cultivates among a community built not by accident of birth or geography, but by choice and shared enjoyment. That someone of limited means chose to support KPFT speaks volumes about what the station can bring to its community across the region.
About The Mailbag
The letters posted here were among the boxes recovered from 419 Lovett Blvd, as documented in The Mighty 90 Project post and are reminiscent of the work done at Found Magazine and PostSecret. The vast majority of letters date from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, although some newer materials of more recent vintage have been supplied by programmers.
Historically KPFT would, on occasion, read letters on the air and in some cases the letter writers explicitly ask NOT to be so presented. Attitudes towards consent and personal privacy are very different in 2022 as compared to the time these letters were mailed and no one then writing could have imagined the modern internet, much less this type of public sharing.
Accordingly, whenever a letter has personally identifiable information from a correspondent it will be lightly redacted to protect the privacy of the original author.
