Peggy Berryhill's Bio

Peggy began her career in broadcasting as a 12-year old, using alligator clips to record music off of her family's television. After editing the music to her liking, she'd play it to her audience of 1. She loved technology, but was always involved more in print journalism. That all changed when she was at UC Berkeley as a Journalism student. After finding out about KPFA's "Native American Student's Hour," she gave the show a host and the show gave her a start.

She has been a Program Director at KUNM, KPFA and KALW and is the only Native person to work at NPR where she worked as a producer in the Specialized Audience Programs Department from 1978-1979. Peggy has produced more than eleven special series for public radio including Spirits of the Present: the Legacy from Native America. In 2000 she premiered several major collaborations: she is the Executive Producer for Northern California Cultural Communications (NC3) The California Indian Radio Project; the head writer for The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian project Living Voices, the writer and producer of Frank Day: Memory and Imagination and the creator of Club Red, an innovative comedy series starring Charlie Hill. Peggy works as a programming consultant advisor to AIROS and is one of the key leaders of the Native American public radio system today. She is the founder of the Native Media Resource Center, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization, whose mission is to produce educational materials about Indigenous communities and promote cross cultural understanding and racial harmony.

While working for NPR in 1980, she received recognition for her documentary The American Indian Religious Freedom Act; receiving both a Gold Cindy Award and a Unity Award in Media. In 1981 the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC) and the American Indian Film Institute (AIFI) named her "Outstanding Individual in Radio." In 1992, her collaboration with the Hazelden Foundation of Minnesota about Indians in recovery, The Red Road, earned her awards from both the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the New York Festival. Also in 1992, her role as a community activist was recognized by Center for Third World Organizing who honored Peggy with the George Wiley Award. Peggy currently serves on the Board of Directors for Western Public Radio, is a member of the KQED Community Advisory Panel and is newly elected to the NFCB Board. She is past Chair of the Charles Bannerman Memorial Fellowship Program. Berryhill has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts 1991, for the Ohio Arts Council 1991, for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Radio Program Fund 1995, 1999, and for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters Awards Panel 1995, 1996,1999 and 2000.

Her written works have appeared in several publications including: Native Americas, Spring 1998 and Signals in the Air: Native Broadcasting in America, published 1995 by Preager Press.

Currently, Peggy is working with AIROS as an independent consultant, developing special projects such as live events. She's also in the middle of producing a string of health specials, and if that isn't enough, she currently has a proposal in the works for a Native American Radio Center in conjunction with NFCB.

Audio
  White Bison Wellbriety Movement: Honoring Native Recovery [promo] (01.33). Download: MP3 [1.4mb]
  Generokee [Club Red audio clip] (00.59). Download: MP3 [1.1mb]