How did we start using community radio?
In 1999, as volunteer DJs at community
radio station WMMT, in Whitesburg, KY, we received hundreds of letters
describing human rights violations in newly opened prisons in our
community. We responded with a radio program called "Holler to the
Hood" to address human rights abuses in the United States criminal
justice system.

First,
we produced a radio program that brought the voices of prisoners'
families to the airwaves. This work introduced us to a national network
of people concerned about the high rate of incarceration and the often
unreported human rights abuses that occur within our country's prison
system.

Download the facilitation guide to start making waves in your community. Click on the image to download.  

Thousand Kites Radio Program
Today, our weekly radio program has gone national.  Listen to the show and learn more at www.callsfromhome.org .

 

 

Get involved with our Campaigns

Media Justice, Criminal Justice (new site coming soon)
Kites is taking the lead in incorporating media justice issues into the
criminal justice reform movement. As policy follows perception, we
believe it is necessary to bring criminal justice reform issues to
light through public-controlled media. Find out more.  

Calls from Home
Thousand Kites is excited to offer
community radio stations and individuals the 8th annual national radio
program Calls From Home. The program features phone calls from mothers
and children, brothers and grandparents, sharing the intimate power of
families speaking directly to their incarcerated loved ones. More.

How are people using Thousand Kites radio in their communities?

• In Maine, a prison reform advocate played Kites radio for prisoners at the Hancock Jail and facilitated a discussion afterward.

• In Virginia, a prison-reform group played a program for state legislators as part of an effort to educate them about the criminal justice system.

• In Washington State, a prison activist group used a ten-minute program as part of a fundraising house party.

• At the Louisiana State Prison in Angola, prisoners aired Kites radio on their prisoner-run station, WLSP.

  

• In Kentucky, California and New York, educators are using Kites radio as part of their curricula for classes.