Larry Bensky formerly of KPFA radio passed away Sunday, May 19th, 2024

Larry Bensky formerly of KPFA radio passed away Sunday, May 19th, 2024

By Lynda Carson - May 20, 2024

Oakland, CA - Earlier today on KPFA radio 94.1 FM, in Berkeley, they announced that Larry Bensky formerly a veteran broadcaster of KPFA has passed away on Sunday May 19, 2024, at the age of 87. According to the KPFA radio website, “Larry’s funeral is on Monday, May 20th. We will announce any plans for a memorial when those arrangements are made and update them here.”

According to the KPFA radio website, “people may click here to listen to a Larry Bensky Retrospective, a two-hour look at Larry’s career and after his initial retirement in 2007. Hosted by Aileen Alfandary and produced by Aaron Glantz.”

In part, according to the KPFA radio website, “Larry Bensky was best known as the national affairs correspondent for Pacifica Radio from 1987 to 1998. Larry covered numerous national and international events for Pacifica, including the Iran–Contra hearings in 1987, the confirmation hearings for four Supreme Court justices, the 1990 elections in Nicaragua, and numerous demonstrations and protests in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. He anchored Pacifica’s live coverage of the 9/11 Commission hearings, and co-anchored Pacifica’s coverage of many Democratic and Republican conventions, as well as the Presidential debates. He was anchor for Pacifica’s extensive coverage of the post-2004 election controversy in Ohio, as well as several Congressional hearings about the misuse of executive power in the Bush administration.” More about Larry Bensky on the KPFA radio website may be found by clicking here.

More about Larry Bensky can be found on wikipedia, and in part, according to wikipedia, “Larry Bensky (May 1, 1937 – May 19, 2024) was a literary and political journalist with experience in both print and broadcast media, as well as a teacher and political activist. He is known for his work with Pacifica Radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California, and for the nationally-broadcast hearings he anchored for the Pacifica network.

A native of New York City, Bensky graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1954 and, with departmental honors, from Yale University, where he was managing editor of the Yale Daily News. He was married and has one daughter.”

Much more about Larry Bensky, and about his passing on Sunday May 19, 2024, may be found in a Mercury News piece by clicking here.

On a personal note, I met Larry Bensky during the summer of 1999, in front of the KPFA radio station in Berkeley during the KPFA-Pacifica struggle that resulted in a three week lockout at KPFA, that was forced on the radio station by Pacifica’s then Chair Mary Frances Berry and Executive Director Lynn Chadwick in a dispute over control of the radio station.

Larry approached me one day after he noticed that I was taking some photos of the demonstrations and protesters in front of KPFA during the lockout. He offered to pay me for any prints of the photos that I was taking if I were willing to share them with him. I agreed, and eventually in a number of days, I had taken enough photographs using two cheap “yellow colored disposable cameras” from Walgreens, to give Larry two packets full of 24 pictures (prints) in each packet. Larry happily paid me for the 48 prints (photos) I gave him that I took during the KPFA-Pacifica struggle during the summer of 1999. Some of the photos included Larry Bensky, Dennis Bernstein, and many others in front of KPFA, or near KPFA during that period.

Fortunately, I kept the negatives of the photos that I took during the KPFA-Pacifica struggle back in 1999, and have them kept safe along with my photo collection through the years.

Years ago, I used to listen to Larry Bensky on KPFA radio, and loved listening in to his show called Sunday Salon on Sunday mornings. Reportedly, during June of 1999, Larry Bensky the former host of Sunday Salon on KPFA radio, was fired by then Pacifica Executive Director Lynn Chadwick, for discussing internal matters happening at KPFA, on the air.

I was sorry to learn that Larry Bensky passed away yesterday. However, I am grateful to have the memories of meeting Larry Bensky around 25 years ago during the KPFA-Pacifica struggle during 1999, and I am glad that I was willing and able to share the photos (prints) with him that I took during the KPFA-Pacifica struggle that summer.

Some of the photos that I took during the KPFA-Pacifica struggle during 1999, that I shared with Larry Bensky around 25 years ago, may be seen by clicking here, for those who may be interested.

Some images for Larry Bensky on Google images, may be found by clicking here.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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