The dubiously monikered David Segal (no relation) has a recent piece in the New York Times that delineates similarities between rappers and conservative talk-radio pundits. It somewhat recalls a feature about Southern hiphop's resemblance to Fox News by Ben Westhoff that I assigned over a year ago while I was music editor at OC Weekly. Whatever the case, both articles are worth reading and pondering.

Segal's gist:

Obviously, there are limits to all these parallels, but there is one more worth noting: rap has inspired its share of fear and now, liberals and moderates are asking the same question about conservative talk radio that conservatives have long asked about rap: How dangerous is it?

Westhoff's gist:

[T]hough FOX News and Southern rap both have anti-intellectual appeal, there's more to the story than that. Rather than simply pandering to the red-state masses, they have tapped into powerful populist sensibilities in areas that didn't previously have a national voice.

On Friday afternoon, Line Out reader Doug e-mailed us to ask about the recent schedule changes at KEXP:

"What's going on with the KEXP DJ changes, why isn't anyone talking about it? There's nothing on the KEXP website or blog, nothing in Line Out--it's very frustrating to see such a lack of transparency around lineup changes when they're always talking about being listener-powered (and yes, I've been a member for years)," he said. "I know that Larry Rose had his show moved from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday night, which is crazy because he has one of the best and most popular shows on the station. Can you get something going on Slog/Line-Out about this so we can at least find out what's going on?"

So I forwarded the e-mail to the folks at KEXP and asked them about the recent shuffle. As Associate Program Director John Richards explains, they're not trying to hide anything at all, they're just updating their programming, as many radio stations often do. Read on for Richards' run down of the new schedule:

You're right, we recently updated our programming schedule and added a few DJs to the roster as well. As you know Larry Mizell Jr is our new hip hop show taking over for B Mellow who did a great job over the last many years and will be missed. Can't think of a better host to replace him then Larry. We also were able to add DJ Sharlese, Tim Betterley, DJ Alex and DJ Shani to our line up. Stevie Zoom is doing Saturday and Sundays from 12-3. Michele Myers has moved from Friday nights to Saturday 3-6 and Quilty moved to Sunday 3-6pm. We made our 9pm-1am shifts even stronger by moving DJ El Toro, Troy and Chilly out of the overnights and into these shifts. Riz moves over to Mondays and Larry Rose joins them on the Tuesday shift. Jack Walters left Saturday afternoons to focus on his job in production at KEXP.

In regards to the question of Larry's move, we couldn't be more excited. One of the benefits is that he now has a 4 hour show (as opposed to 3 on the weekend) and joins some of the best djs on the dial (Riz, Kurt, Troy and Chilly) at that slot. He does a great show and the vibe totally fits evenings on KEXP. Quilty has been on the air, like Larry, for over a decade and will continue to do her strong show on Sunday afternoons. Its never easy to have any of our DJs move to a new slot as we all get used to DJs at certain times but we also hope people will join others who use the streaming archive to hear whatever show whenever they want to hear them (all shows are available at any time). As for announcing the changes, we made sure the DJs were announcing on air whenever they were able, and will do our best to update our website as well, as we know many people tune in at different times and miss those.

Oh, and Larry will continue to get shifts outside his current shift, in fact you can tune in to hear him fill in on Sat 8/15 and Sun 8/16 from noon to 3pm both days.

John Richards
Associate PD

You can stream KEXP online at KEXP.org. And, as Richards mentions, archives of all the shows are also available, if you miss your favorite DJ.

Beginning August 24th, KBCS will begin to add more news programming to their daily broadcast. These changes will offer up more voices on the national level, adding Public Radio International's The Takeaway. The expanded news additions will also include syndicated programs like the Sound of Young America, as well as locally-produced and Pacific Northwest community-oriented programming, including Listen Up Northwest.

To accommodate these additions, some shows will have to be slimmed down or cut entirely. Peter Graff, Program Director at KBCS, was unavailable for questions on the reductions and subtractions from the schedule. These changes were made by the Bellevue College and the Board of Trustees. Technically, KBCS is not owned by the community, but they still operate with help from volunteers, public support and donations. You can read more about the changes on the program changes Frequently Asked Questions.

You realize Michael Jackson just died, right? Are you out to lunch? A late lunch?

UPDATE: KEXP now has someone reading emails to the station about Michael Jackson. At least that's something. How about you play some songs, KEXP?

UPDATE 2: Ah! Ben Gibbard's cover of "Thriller." Nicely played.

AHEM!: I stand corrected. Someone at KEXP points me to this afternoon's playlist. Kevin Cole been scattering in MJ songs (and a wild variety of covers) all afternoon.

Effective immediately, Sharlese Metcalf will handle Mondays from 1 am-6 am and Alex Ruder will take over Saturdays 1 am-6 am on KEXP 90.3FM. Data Breaker featured Ruder last year around the time he hosted the station's Decibel-centric Audioasis. We knew back then Ruder was destined to ascend KEXP’s ladder.

We wish both programmers and their biorhythms the best.

ht: Kurt B. Reighley

Photo from Alex Ruder’s MySpace by Herman Moore.

I first wrote about my kinky relationship with KUBE 93 two years ago, and now I must do it again.

In case you don't know, KUBE 93 is "Seattle's #1 hit music station!," playing mostly hiphop and R&B, and typically focusing on about a dozen and a half songs, which are played over and over and over. And over and over and over. This is the point of KUBE.

My previous post dealt with how KUBE's brazen repetitiveness was oddly soothing (familiarity doesn't always breed contempt) and fostered a sense of community (it’s nice to know that so many others are being stalked by the same songs I am). But today I want to focus on the repetition not of songs but of a sound.

Specifically, that staggered snare pattern that appears in literally 98 percent of the songs currently in rotation on KUBE.

God knows who used this tappity-tap beat first, but I first noticed it on the Clipse's "Mr. Me Too", then had it shoved down my throat—with pleasure—by Lil Wayne's "A Milli."

Then I started hearing it everywhere, thanks entirely to KUBE, which still can't play enough of Jamie Foxx's "Blame It" or the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" or T.I.'s "Whatever You Like."

My favorite recent uses of The Ubiquitous Tap come from Soulja Boy Tell Em's "Turn My Swag On" (which has that dreamy drifting-beat thing that I'm hoping becomes the next ever-present trend (see T.I. track above) and lets the usual snare-tap explode like firecrackers) and the New Boys' "You're a Jerk", which is the most staggered-snare-soaked song to yet come down the pike. (Added bonus: This track provided me with my first experience of hearing a new KUBE standard being born. Specifically, I heard the song for the first time (on KUBE) a Wednesday evening while driving to Piecora's. 45 minutes later, I drove home from Piecora's and KUBE was already playing it again.)

Thank you, KUBE (and if any of Line Out's hiphop know-it-alls knows the "first" use of this damn snarey beat, let me know....)

You can listen to them live on KEXP starting in five minutes.