Radio station: KEXP Seattle
August 25, 2008
Growing up in the pre-Internet world, I was fortunate enough to have a decent independent indie-and-alternative radio station in Toronto, as well as a much cooler older sister who listened to CBC’s Brave New Waves and exposed me to new stuff. Then I moved to Boston, just as music was starting to migrate to the Internet, and I pretty much stopped listening to radio (with the exception of WMBR, of course). As I was preparing to relocate to Seattle, the radio station KEXP kept coming up, mostly in sentences to the effect of, “You’ll want to listen to KEXP.” So I switched my stereo over to 90.3 FM, and set it to turn on in the morning.
As I was lying bleary-eyed in bed, I gradually realized that I was familiar with the song that’s playing, an instrumental. Even more gradually, it dawned on me that it’s Holy Fuck. Holy Fuck! On the radio!
This Friday morning alone, they played The Hold Steady, Hot Chip, The Hidden Cameras, and both Oasis and Pulp, plus great older alternative artists like James, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Dead Milkmen. And, of course, a whole slew of new bands I’d never heard of. Fortunately, KEXP also maintains an amazingly detailed playlist, updated in real time.
Sadly, however, there is a significant downside to my newfound love of KEXP – since it’s replaced NPR as my morning auditory stimulation, I’m probably going to be significantly less well-informed this year.
KEXP 90.3 Seattle (streaming links in top left corner)
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KEXP might be the best radio station in the US. Every time I roll into Seattle I tune the rental car radio to KEXP and then I know I’m really home. Sadly most US radio is pure shite…
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