enough blog time. time to take some real action. stop the sour grapes and gather the troops! i support whatever greg decides to do, but it's time for a professional response and not an emotional one!

While I completely agree with many of Greg's assessments regarding the skewing of KEXP's playlists towards a rotation scheme, I can't see how this will work.

It's impossible to define "the public interest" through intangibe art. You can't quantify such things, and all such petitions to the FCC relies on quantifiable data. It can't be argued that because KEXP relies on a repetitive rotation that marginalizes the outer fringe of the genres, that they are not serving the public interest. They'll throw out some numbers that will placate the judge, and will point to their fundraising totals and all that. That's what they do.

We just have to content ourselves with having a pallid noncomm radio station run by three aging, six-figure white guys with extremely limited musical palettes, until they all finally get hired by NPR or KCRW.

I repeat -- there's more than enough room in Seattle for a WFMU-type station, if we can find someone to afford it. Such a culturally evolved station, I guarantee you, would eventually unseat the staid KEXP within five years. Someone just has to take the chance.

there's more than enough room in Seattle for a WFMU-type station, if we can find someone to afford it. Such a culturally evolved station, I guarantee you, would eventually unseat the staid KEXP within five years. Someone just has to take the chance.

Paging Bill Gates...
Surely this would be a sweet tax write-off and a brilliant PR maneuver for the world's richest human being.

Paging Bill Gates...
Surely this would be a sweet tax write-off and a brilliant PR maneuver for the world's richest human being.

Heh... Well, it'd be a blast, but I'm not sure the best PR move for Th' Foundation is finance a mega-eclectic radio station for music freaks...

But we should research this! How can the financing be arranged for a venture like this? How does WFMU maintain its viability after a half-century?

I'm convinced with the right preparation that Seattle would get behind such a station. Is there someone out there interested in taking the plunge? Seattle's moved beyond redundancy... We need something new. I'm sure it would work.

Too bad you don't live in Olympia. We have three community radio stations, one of which is illegal, but still. As for Seattle, in order to start a new radio station you would need to raise money first, of course.

WFMU is the perfect "role model" for a new radio station.
I don't know anything about it's beginnings, but locally KRAB and KCMU were more in line with establishing itself as a long term true "free form" station of quality. I think one of the most impressive things about WFMU is that it is 100% listener supported. This means no underwriting, which is obviously advertising under another name. They do their fund drive once a year and achieve their goals that once. There is a small paid staff and the rest of the DJs are volunteer. (This doesn't mean that they don't receive a lot of community support, otherwise.) More importantly... they are GREAT DJs, and truly adept at the free form philosophy. Yes, there are specialty shows and the DJ's personal taste is evident... they may even have a rotation system, but I'm sure it's very open ended. The programming is excellent.
Perhaps it is time for a move toward a new local station... I believe that the best results begin with a grassroots passion and need. And yes, someone willing to pony up.

Too bad you don't live in Olympia.

I used ta. Wink wink.

I don't know anything about it's beginnings, but locally KRAB and KCMU were more in line with establishing itself as a long term true "free form" station of quality...

I agree. And I think it's time to stop the notion that "freeform radio" is a dirty phrase. KEXP management seems to imbue the phrase with childish connotations. I think it's far more immature to program a radio station by numbers. Great freeform radio is energizing and memorable, and can open itself up to a million topics. It does not have to be a 3-hour Phish bootleg. (And please, God, let it not be one.)

One thing that really bugs me about the cultural crust in this town is that the mainstream media establishment, though it's more liberal than, say, Omaha, still patronizes and condescends to a slightly "less clean" aesthetic.

KEXP management definitely doesn't want to sully their hands with the real scary stuff. They can't be confrontational.

It's hard to describe what I'm talking about, but it's somewhat comparable to the patronizing way the Seattle Weekly regards The Stranger: mockingly, condescendingly, dismissively. There's little doubt which one's the better paper. In my mind.

(I do not write for The Stranger.)

More importantly... they are GREAT DJs, and truly adept at the free form philosophy. Yes, there are specialty shows and the DJ's personal taste is evident... they may even have a rotation system, but I'm sure it's very open ended.

I believe WFMU makes a list of "most-played" recordings for the sake of reports, but it's for informational purposes only. There is no enforced rotation.

Perhaps it is time for a move toward a new local station... I believe that the best results begin with a grassroots passion and need. And yes, someone willing to pony up.

I definitely think it's time. I think someone should look into it.

It's not easy, though Lisa Wood apparently thinks we can just "start our own station" at the drop of a hat. That's the mocking statement of someone who knows they've got the guns and the numbers. And it's one reason we need a new station.

North St. Irrelevants: Please email me Monday morning at segal@thestranger.com. Thanks.

great idea! with all the things wrong in the world today let's all get the local community-supported radio station a big fine!! yeah!! then we'll loose it! yeah! fuck you Dave for suporting this. can't we think of a more constructive way to get electonic music support? Ya'll fucking stupid - buy an I-pod bitches (it's just like a little radio station that fits in your pocket! yeah!)

fuck you Dave for suporting [sic] this.

It's called reporting news. And it's generating a valuable dialogue.

Segal: Will do so tomorrow, thanks...

Hun: It's not about electronica music. I'm not particularly a fan of electronica music. I wish I had an easier way to explain it, but it's just something I hear going on at KEXP. Hopefully I can figure out a way to articulate it.

I agree with a lot of Greg's assessment, but I don't agree with the idea of an FCC petition. I just don't think it's going to work. I think what we need to discuss is the idea of creating a new station. Maybe not now, but eventually.

iPod's aren't a bad idea either... that's where the real groundbreaking is going on these days.

I think people should pull together and just make a new radio station. At first, it could be really low-power, but then with time you could upgrade. Or you could work with what you have-KEXP, KBCS and see to improving those. If KEXP seems impossible, look at working with KBCS because they are more of a true community radio station, although not like WFMU.

You know, I love WFMU, but I think the WFMU's of this world are very few, and I wish you luck in making a similiar station. I try to work with what's in Oly, and improving that. There may be too many radio stations, perhaps. WFMU had the fortune of being backed by a college for a long period of time before the current manager bought the station when that college closed its doors. Unfortanetly, you would have to start from scratch. Also, you will need a good an internet presence as WFMU to be successfull as them. It helps to be innovative, so that even people like me can support them, because I know there are few beacons of supporters of interesting music in this world.

"great idea! with all the things wrong in the world today let's all get the local community-supported radio station a big fine!! yeah!! then we'll loose it!"

Nobody is trying to get KEXP fined. My goal with the petition is to get KEXP to start paying attention to everyone in the community in which they broadcast, not just the people in their decided target market demographic. The petition is simply a means of forcing KEXP to do this, since they have stubbornly refused to voluntarily pay attention to the larger community.

"can't we think of a more constructive way to get electonic music support?"

As was already said, it's not about just electronic music. It's also about hip-hop, and jazz, and blues, and world, and funk, and soul, and any other popular genre of music that is all but completely neglected on KEXP (three-hour long once-a-week specialty shows are not nearly enough to fill in these gaping voids).

I'll tell you what I think is missing, and what KEXP isn't set up to serve: a station that relies on the entire breadth of music history, doesn't shy away from the super-super-indie stuff, allows its on-air talent to develop a personality and cultivate an audience, and looks beyond the CMJ and A-list indie labels for adventurous music.

It is not an easy proposition at all. As pointed out, WFMU is a rare case; it's been around a long time and enjoys being in the #1 market in America. A new station like it in Seattle would have to start with small expectations -- but with huge enthusiasm. I am positive there are people that can do that.

KEXP's a decent mainstream indie station with flashes of greatness. I'm not really interested in fighting them. I'm up for starting something different, something that will galvanize listeners to delve into music more deeply. Shows that I'll remember and be loyal to.

I'm not fond of three guys picking a rotation -- yeah, programmers make their own playlists, but they have to select from a finite amount of current releases, so they're not really programming their own shows. It's still the same three guys choosing their sources.

Whoever starts this new station has to operate under rules and expectations completely different from KEXP. Having no enforced rotations reduces the business angle of the new station, and the monetary gain. We have to be prepared to accept that.

But I'm completely convinced that a station with great programs, that allows their DJ's the opportunity to let their personalities shine, will eventually find adherents. And over time, listeners' loyalties will be stronger than that of a CMJ hit parade.

It's a huge risk, but I think Seattle can accommodate it. It'd be nice if someone with relatively deep pockets would take the chance.

Maybe not Bill Gates, but how drunk can we get William Buffet?

"While I completely agree with many of Greg's assessments regarding the skewing of KEXP's playlists towards a rotation scheme, I can't see how [a petition] will work. It's impossible to define "the public interest" through intangibe art. You can't quantify such things, and all such petitions to the FCC relies on quantifiable data."

I disagree. You certainly can quantify a radio station's programming. Your average, casual radio listener can easily discern which genre a particular song is in. Although there is of course a certain amount of cross-over between genres, your average radio listener can quite easily tell whether a song is rock/pop, or hip-hop, or jazz, or electronic, or blues, or world, etc. You would not need an expert witness to tell a judge that KEXP's programming is extremely weighted towards rock. So all we need to do is look at the playlists (which are all archived on the KEXP website for anyone to see) and count the number of songs in any given hour/show/week/month and then divide that by the number of songs in each genre that were played. I already posted this, but here's an example of exactly what I'm talking about. Here are two randomly selected recent shows from assistant programming director John Richards and senior programming director Kevin Cole:

John Richards' show Thursday July 20:

In the first hour he played 12 songs. 2 were electronic, 10 were rock/pop.

In the second hour he played 13 songs. 1 was electronic, 1 was hiphop, 11 were rock/pop.

In the third hour he played 14 songs. 2 were electronic, 12 were rock/pop.

In the last hour he played 15 songs. 1 was electronic, 1 was hiphop, 13 were rock/pop.

Total songs played: 54

Rock/pop: 46 (85%)
Electronic: 6 (11%)
Hiphop 2 (4%)
All other genres of music combined: 0 (0%)

Kevin Cole's show Monday July 24:

In the first hour he played 13 songs. 4 were electronic, 1 was hiphop. 8 were rock/pop.

In the second hour he played 11 songs. 1 was electronic, 1 was hiphop. 9 were rock/pop.

In the third hour he played 14 songs. 1 was electronic, 1 was reggae, 12 were rock/pop.

In the last hour he played 13 songs. 2 were electronic, 1 was hiphop, 10 were rock/pop.

Total songs played: 51

Rock/pop: 39 (76.5%)
Electronic: 8 (15.5%)
Hip-hop: 3 (6%)
All other genres combined: 1 (2%)

If that's not quantifiable data that you could present to a judge, than I don't what is. Then it's all just a matter of collecting enough signatures from people in the community who are willing to sign a petition saying they demand that KEXP - as a public radio station in their community - program a more diverse and eclectic mix of music. It's going to take A LOT of signatures to get the petition to be considered by the FCC, state legislature, or University of Washington (who owns KEXP's broadcast license) but with enough dedicated people I firmly believe we could accomplish this.

"It can't be argued that because KEXP relies on a repetitive rotation that marginalizes the outer fringe of the genres, that they are not serving the public interest."

That is not my argument. My argument is that KEXP is not adequately serving the interests of the community by programming upwards of 80% rock/pop and less than 20% every other genre of music combined. This overwhelming emphasis on rock is clearly only in the interest of serving their decided target market demographic and is not in the interest of the greater community, as is required by the FCC of all public radio stations.

Greg, I get your point, and like I've said I agree with the large share of your assessments. I'm just saying I don't know the FCC will accept that data, meticulous as it is. I think a judge will find financial data (fundraisers) more persuasive than abstractions, and will probably balk at any data about genre divisions.

That's just my guess. I hope your efforts prove me wrong, but that's my guess.

KEXP relies on rotation. It's a statistical breakdown for them. It's a business; a machine. I'd be shocked if they change their minds, because they're locked into numbers to make programming decisions. That's why I think a true community station would eventually work, because I think most non-commercial fans appreciate not being spoon-fed by a station that feels incumbent on harnessing creativity.

I hope you take this with all due respect. It's just that KEXP has stonewalled dissent -- it's part of their DNA. They classify freeform radio as the domain of immature babies, for no other reason than it's not a careerist endeavor. They don't care -- they're the biggest fish in the pond, so they don't have to listen to criticism. It has always been this way with KEXP.

So I think, in concurrence with your petition idea, we seriously should look into creating our own station. KEXP will make fun of it, will denigrate the people involved with it, and probably mock it. But so what? We should know they won't approve, and will condescend to people with a true love and talent for free-form radio. That's the entitlement money and popularity gives to people: The perceived right to pooh-pooh on viewpoints about music and radio different from their own. They're the establishment, the monarchy, the moneychangers.

We need something to counteract that, which is why I think we should look into a new station, and ignore KEXP. Which for me is an easy thing to do.

I love the idea of starting another station, if at all possible (are there even any available frequencies?). I don't think there's any need to go into it with an antagonistic mindset, however, or to assume people at KEXP will make fun of it, denigrate those involved, etc. It could be just another facet in the cultural makeup of Seattle - another thing helping to make this a great city.

In fact - and I'm going to sound like a big hippie here - I think it would be a huge mistake to go into this - assuming it were even possible - with any kind of negative energy toward outside institutions. Do it because you love it, and because you want to see it happen, not because you're angry at KEXP.

Do it because you love it, and because you want to see it happen, not because you're angry at KEXP.

Both are legit motivators.
"Anger is an energy." -John Lydon, PiL

Thanks Levi. I'm not mad at KEXP, just annoyed. It's a long-standing annoyance, but it's just annoyance. And even then, not at them so much as the state of radio in Seattle. But you're right that getting something permanent to come out of hatred is not easy.

And don't forget, as already mentioned, money, talent and intelligence as essential motivators... NSI and Greg have both said some amazing things to outline why another station could be valuable. Of course, it would take a bankroll with someone equally interested and enthusiastic. Perhaps it'd be wise to start as an internet only station as a way to gather forces? Maybe someone in the tech industry that supports broadcasting might get behind it? Just a thought... ALthough in the internet world, you're competing with stations like FMU, a VERY tough act to follow.
Seems like it might be easier than a land station, at least for starters.

Finding a spare frequency for over-the-air broadcast is essentially impossible, so unless you can find a station which is about to relinquish it's frequency, and somehow queue-jump with the FCC to get that band, you'll be S.O.L.

BUT....with the advent of HD-radio, each traditional frequency is capable of delivering up to 4 CD-quality parallel broadcasts. Finding a station to frequency-share is probably the most realistic way to start a new broadcast station.

Hmmmm.... I wonder what KEXP will do with its expanded capacity? I wonder if the UW could require KEXP to allow Rainydawg to use one of their HD-channels?

As I understand it, the equipment to allow HD-broadcast is about $150k, which is actually quite a small amount, compared to starting from scratch.

One of my jobs is in the burgeoning podcast industry, so naturally I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to consider some sort of Seattle podcast collective or distribution site, borrowing from the structure of a radio station. I don't know what the point would be business-wise, but I'm sure someone could figure it out.

I wouldn't even consider "competing" with WFMU, or anybody -- the internet is a gigantic tent (or series of tubes, if you prefer) where co-existence is extremely easy. Producing great shows would be my main motive in that case. But it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Well, if you're relying on public and listener contributions, then you're in competition. Which isn't a bad thing. If you've got the backing, then competition isn't such an issue, however... there is only one pair of ears per listener. Show me.

Finally -- a constructive discourse. Keep it up.

Good idea - an internet radio station based in Seattle. I wouldn't want to compete with WFMU either, especially since they are on the oppoisite side of the U.S. You can take inspiration from them, but don't copy them. Good luck, my Seattle friends. Olympia calls me away..

Yeah, I'm glad this discussion has taken a turn for the civil. (Maybe that's 'cause there's no KEXP DJ's flipping us the finger by laconically suggesting we start our own station, when they know damn well we can't... oh, there I go again!)

Seriously, though -- the HD idea really intrigues me. I really think that's worth investigating.

What I think might be doable now is a Seattle-based podcast collective, for lack of a better word. It sort of emulates what's going on with radio statins, many of whom are simply putting broadcast shows up as podcasts for later download. You'd lose the immediacy of a broadcast, of course, and things like live callers, but it could be marketed as an internet station.

The problem would be obtaining licenses to play ASCAP/BMI/SESAC regulated material, which is a whole area of the DMRC law that I'm fuzzy on. But, if we had a central podcast site, with several shows coming off one server, could we purchase the licenses just once for all shows on that server? Or would it have to be individual?

I'm jumping ahead of myself, but if there were a central site, structured as a tree of radio shows, that could program music with one license covering all shows, that would be really great to have; conceivably it could happen really soon.

Anyway. Nuts and bolts can come later. Just throwin' it out there.

I meant DMCA, not DMRC. I believe I mixed up the digital copyright acts with that Tipper Gore explicit-language thing from the 80's, the PMRC. Oops.

Well, that's okay, since her hubby invented the internets.

"Greg, I get your point, and like I've said I agree with the large share of your assessments. I'm just saying I don't know the FCC will accept that data, meticulous as it is. I think a judge will find financial data (fundraisers) more persuasive than abstractions, and will probably balk at any data about genre divisions."

You may very well be correct, and believe me when I say that I have considered this as a possibility, but I definitely think it's worth a shot, especially if we can get enough signatures. It's going to take hundreds of signatures, perhaps even thousands, but with some energetic signature collectors I think this can be accomplished.

"KEXP relies on rotation. It's a statistical breakdown for them. It's a business; a machine. I'd be shocked if they change their minds, because they're locked into numbers to make programming decisions."

You are absolutely correct about that, and I'd be shocked too if they voluntarily decided to start listening to all the community (and not just their target market demographic) and changed their minds about their programming. But that's the whole reason for starting a petition - to force them to do this.

"So I think, in concurrence with your petition idea, we seriously should look into creating our own station."

I wholeheartedly encourage and support anyone who wants to look into the idea of creating a new radio station, and idealy that would be the best solution, but it's also a solution that I think is an extremely difficult one to accomplish. Starting an internet-only station is quite feasable with a relatively small amount of capital and some technically knowledgeable people, but as far as I am aware (and I've been working in radio for a combined ten plus years) starting an FM station is extremely tricky. There is an almost complete absence of available FM frequencies in any major urban area, and the capital needed to purchase or rent the necessary equipment (high power transmitter, radio tower, signal relay transmitter, etc) would require major investment capital. KEXP could not even afford to hold on to KXOT 91.7FM, if that gives you any idea of the ammount of money needed. In case you're unfamiliar with KEXP's attempted KXOT expansion, you can read about it here
http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/0549/051207_music_kexp.php

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's impossible to start a new FM station, and I do think it's something worth looking into, but for now I think it's a more realistic goal to try reclaim the public airwaves that KEXP management hijacked from us all five years ago when they accepted Paul Allen's money and switched from KCMU to KEXP. So before I start seriously giving thought to starting a new station, I'm going to persue the petition idea I have and I would urge you and everyone else who is dissatisfied with KEXP to join me in this endeavor by signing the petition and/or helping to collect signatures.

Of course, as you said, anyone can always sign the petition and/or help collect signatures AND persue the idea of starting a new station. It doesn't have to be one or the other. But for now I am going to focus on the petition. It's going to be a time consuming endeavor and I still have to work and earn a living, so I have to pick my battles.

But I sincerely wish anyone who looks into starting a new station the best of luck and I am more than happy to help in any way I can (mind you that for now my time will be very limited).

I can shed some light on the podcast idea that you mentioned.

As U.S. copyright law currently stands, you need to have licensing rights for every single song you offer as a download, and that includes podcasts. So whenever you hear a podcast that contains copyrighted music, it means the podcaster either obtained licensing rights to every song in the podcast or they are doing it illegally. Now I happen to know for a fact that there are many people offering podcasts illegally (they're not hard to find on the web). I have spoken to some of these people (who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons) and they all have told me the same thing - that the RIAA has way bigger fish to fry than going after some small time player who is breaking copyright law by offering podcast of underground artists (read non-major label artists). In case you're not familiar with the RIAA, it is the Recording Industry Association of America and is basically the lobbying group for the big four major record labels (Sony-BMG, Warner, Univeral, and EMI). Whenever you hear about a peer-to-peer network file sharer being sued, it's the RIAA who's sueing them.

Anyay, so far I have not heard about any podcasters being sued or even threatened by the RIAA (although that doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't happened). My guess is that right now the RIAA has it's hands full with sueing the file sharers. But I'm sure the podcasters are in their sights and I don't think offering illegal podcasts is the way to go for anyone who wants to have even a modest profile on the web. And doing it legally by obtaining licensing rights for every single song would be a very arduous and expensive task, I think.

That being said, podcasting is still a very new concept and copyright laws may change so as to make it much more feasable to offer legal podcasts. For example, congress (or even the RIAA) might come up with a license that anyone can purchase which allows you to offer podcasts containing as many copyrighted songs as you want. So in other words, instead of having to obtain licensing rights for each song individually, you would just purchase one license that would cover all the songs. Although I think the RIAA would only do this as a last resort (if they were unable to shutdown illegal podcasting through lawsuits) and it's unlikely that congress will take the first step, but you never know.

Thanks, Greg... yeah, that whole license-purchasing thing was what I wondered about. Like I said, I'm not clear about the logistics of that whole deal. It would seem to me -- forgive my naivete if applicable -- that certain artists would sacrifice spot profit for exposure, which is something podcasts can offer. I know for a fact that a lot of indie labels appreciate the support from podcasts. Hell, I can name some indie labels who deeply appreciated Napster for the attention it brought to their rosters.

The type of podcast I've done before -- what I'm best at -- would probably require clearance in some way. I just wonder whether a deal can be brokered involving an upfront sum. I hope it can; it's cost-effective when you consider how much free support podcasts can offer musicians. But I favor playing it safe and getting licenses.

After chewing on this for awhile, I've been swung around to the idea that we need to embrace new technology as a way to diversify, and present music.

What I envision is a Seattle-based site, or podcast aggregate, that offers a big variety of programming options on a regular basis. KEXP can't stand that kind of wide net, since they're so tightly controlled. But I'm convinced we can come up with a place where all the music matters -- not just the music on top of the CMJ charts.

KEXP has limits and boundaries as to exactly what type of music matters. Some music, according to KEXP, just doesn't matter at all. I refuse to believe that. I think all music matters. I think most people would appreciate a station tied to that ethic. Major indie bands do not have a corner on relevance.

It'll be very hard to start a station, which is why I got the podcast idea. Podcasting is where true artistic freedom waits.

The thing that angers me the most is Lisa Wood's suggestion that we start our own station on the FM dial is that she knows full well that nobody will be able to do so. You need massive capital and a frequency. That's nearly impossible to obtain, at least the frequency part. But KEXP has both.

So of course Wood can say "go start your own station." She knows we can't. She knows it's impossible. Her saying "go start your own station" is merely a polite way of saying "Fuck you."

What she really means is "We rule the airwaves, and raise more money than you'll ever know in your lifetime. So go ahead and try your little freeform station, you stupid brats -- it'll never get off the ground."

She was being dishonest with her suggestion, because she knows we can't afford it. And that's exactly how KEXP perceives the whole issue: We're babies, thumbsuckers, and we can't afford to get anything done. Capitalism's the American way, and we're foolish for thinking otherwise.

I resent Lisa Wood for making such a flagrantly vacuous suggestion. She knows nobody will be able to get a new station off the ground in Seattle. So of course she's going to say "start your own station." She knows that will never happen.

That's the KEXP view of the world, and that's why I can't stand listening to them right now. They got the guns, and they got the numbers. Why the fuck should our complaints mean anything to them?

So I think, with the odds against us in spades, with the knowledge that we cannot compete with KEXP's money, we should think about a podcast aggregate. It's the only way we'll get certain music out there. It's the only way music will truly be free. All music should matter -- not just the part of it KEXP deems worthy. So let's bring on some podcast shows that illuminate the entire spectrum of music -- the kind that moves us, the kind that inspires.

Efforts to change KEXP won't matter. They chose their side, their strategies. It's money.

Let's see how we can prove that great music doesn't fall within the constraints of the CMJ Top 200. Let's open up to everybody. We don't need them. Let's find a way to go further and take the chances KEXP doesn't feel they can make.

I guarantee you that Seattle, and the rest of the world, will be up for such adventures. I promise that.

we've been (illegally) podcasting our City Soul radio show from KBCS since day one. You can use this link with your iTunes to subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/citysoulradio

Funny, that last post sounded angrier than I was. Excuse me. Just had a Mel Gibson moment.

To clarify, KEXP is not responsible for all the wars in the world.

I don't know that Seattle needs ANOTHER internet station with a freeform variety mix: although it is student radio, RainyDawg Radio is definitely freeform (I work there) and has a prominent focus on DJ choice and variety. It's also one of the best, if not THE best place for Seattle hip-hop, what with Street Sounds being only on once a week and KUBE being a fucking joke.

Thanks Greg J and North St. Irrelevants!!!
Great discussion on the fucked-up state of KEXP, community radio, and the futility of trying to start a new RADIO station in this town.
I started a blog entry, concerning fiscal mismanagenet at KEXP over on the Strangers SLOG last Dec. 2005 and it is still going.
We called for a boycott of KEXP.

http://forums.thestranger.com/showthread.php?t=1831

If these threads die, please continue your discussion there, or maybe the Blog Wizard can link them.
Over 20,000 people have gone to those posts, so maybe there is enough momentum now to get a petition rolling and wake the listeners up.

My god, lighten up. It's a little thing called SARCASM. Way to read into it far too deep though.

My point being: KEXP is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise very stagnant world of radio. No, none of us can afford to start our own station, which was my point.

We should be HAPPY about what we have and not try to petition it away.

Leave Seattle for a bit, surf the dial. I think that will make you realize what you have here.

And if not, NO ONE is making you listen.

Well, yeah, Lisa... my whole point was the sarcasm of the statement. I think the perceived arrogance behind that sarcasm might be what some people are upset about.

You're right. Many markets in the US do not have a resource like KEXP. All things considered, its assets to this city outweight its faults.

But I'm trying to understand why so many have expressed a disenfranchisement from the station lately. In fact I'm trying to figure out my own disenfranchisement -- the real reasons, not the simple kneejerks I, admittedly, sometimes give into.

Maybe it only came out because of the Jaspan firing, but there seems to be a lot of people out there who question KEXP's motives. Not yours, so much, but the whole game plan. I feel there's a distance between KEXP's braintrust and the community they serve. And no offense intended -- really -- but your using sarcasm kind of reinforces that distance. That'll piss me off every time, although I should take my own medicine and measure some of my responses more constructively.

I dunno. I'm having a hard time articulating how I feel about this whole thing, because I feel it's important to figure out a way to say it that will promote the most good, that will open up the whole marketplace of ideas.

When I did my community radio show I felt lucky to do it. It was a gift, a blessing -- not really a reinforcement of my own self-image, just a chance to do something valuable for six years. And I let my audience know that: It could just as easily, just as rightfully, be them on the radio instead of me. And they would have something valuable to contribute, too.

I just feel sometimes KEXP loses sight of that. Not the programmers like yourself, necessarily, but maybe the executive branch.

But I enjoy being surprised, even if, maybe especially if, it means I'm proven wrong about something. So go ahead and surprise me.

Thanks.

North,

I do feel lucky and incredibly blessed every day to get to do what I do.

I can only speak for myself, but to me, KEXP is really amazing and you know, no one can tell me that how I feel is wrong.

Agree to disagree, I guess.

Thanks for the well thought out response.

I agree with NSI: If there's one thing that's been systematically drained from radio--even from some non-commercial radio--it's the element of surprise. It's always baffled me why KEXP plays it so safe so often (not always, superfans and true believers, not always!) when it theoretically has much more freedom than do commercial stations. And that mystery, I think, is what KEXP's upper echelon doesn't want the public to know. Why such a tight leash? Why so hell-bent on hive-mind mediocrity? The cynic in me knows the answer to these questions, but another part of me wonders if there's something else at work here.