Radio artifacts earmarked for library face uncertain future in Hollywood

A recent settlement between Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power won't be much help to the Thousand Oaks Library Foundation, which hopes to acquire artifacts for its American Radio Archives.

In 2001 the foundation formed a joint venture with the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, an organization that collects radio memorabilia, to provide a permanent home for the PPB collection. It includes original recording transcripts, photographs, sound effects and other radio memorabilia from the early to mid-20th century.

Most of the artifacts, stored in the basement of a Washington Mutual building in Hollywood, are slated for donation to the local archives. But the memorabilia are inaccessible because they were contaminated with PCBs, a toxic chemical used as an insulator for electrical equipment, during an electrical transformer fire in December 2004.

Since then the collection has been sealed, waiting for resolution of the lawsuit, which was filed by PPB after LADWP rejected its claims for cleanup costs. Pacific Pioneers estimates cleaning and relocation of the artifacts will cost $500,000.

The Broadcasters and another organization that collects magic-related mementos each received $75,000 from the settlement.

"The settlement was very disappointing," said Steve Brogden, library services director for Thousand Oaks. "The collection is behind a sealed door, and to get in there, you need a hazmat suit. It puts into question when we'll be able to take the collection into possession."

Pacific Pioneers must raise enough money to decontaminate the collection before it can be stored in Thousand Oaks.

The local archives already contain scripts and personal memorabilia from Norman Corwin and Rudy Vallee—two popular entertainers from the 1920s through 1950s—among other artifacts. The addition of the Broadcasters' possessions "will create one of the world's largest collections of radio scripts," said Brogden.

Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters' leaders are waiting until Washington Mutual is done with its part of the decontamination to view the collection.

Over the years, the group has acquired vintage materials such as Bing Crosby's microphone, World War II audio recordings and materials from "Dragnet."

Once accessible, many of the items can be cleaned up, said Marty Halperin, vice president for the Broadcasters who's in charge of the archives and a member of the Thousand Oaks Library Foundation.

"But paper goods may have to be thrown out because they absorbed the PCBs," he said.

Halperin, a recording engineer who worked in Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II, is fond of the collection because it preserves notable moments of the era between the 1920s and 1950s.

"I grew up with radio," said Halperin, 80. He moved a lot when he was a child, he said, so he was comforted by familiar voices on radio broadcasts.

In addition to waiting for the cleanup of the PPB memorabilia, Thousand Oaks Library Foundation members have another hurdle to overcome. The group has been working to raise money to build a museum for the artifacts, but fundraising efforts have been slow to cover the resources that are needed.

About $1.5 million has been raised so far for the new building, which is estimated to cost $32 million if it were built today.

The museum is planned for construction next to the Grant Brimhall/Thousand Oaks Library on Janss Road.

Until it's built, residents can see most of the materials owned by the American Radio Archives at the library.

"Several visitors come every week to view the materials, and we get a lot of Internet inquiries," said Jeanette Berard, special collections librarian.

For more information, visit www.americanradioarchives.com/