Beginning on March 24, 2008, Radio Liberation will air KEXP-produced programming Monday through Friday on Radio New York 91.5 FM. The programming will feature a three-hour drive-time eclectic music show followed by three simulcast hours of The Morning Show with John Richards, a nightly world music show and a weekly music variety show hosted by KEXP DJ and senior director of programming Kevin Cole.
People who are shocked probably haven't noticed the funding trend at the station: greater and larger donations are coming out of state, with significant contributions and recognition coming from the terribly hard to impress NYC. It's just like that teen movie where the poor ostracized outsider is recognized for his/her talent/looks/plot contrivance by the cool crowd, and then he/she has to re-evaluate how much they liked being uncool and hot/talented/a McGuffin versus how much they like being cool. You know the one.
Maybe it's a taboo subject to discuss market cache when it comes to non-profit member-supported organization, but to ignore the part that money and a role as taste-maker play in its eventual success is to simply ignore all the moves KEXP has made since it was KCMU. They've curried favor and asked for money for years (three times a year; the next pledge drive is in two weeks) to expand their listenership, and there's a limit to what terrestrial broadcast stations can do. So they took it to the web, where it took off exactly like it should. KEXP runs a tight, perfectly-soundtracked ship. Their programming is original, riddled with grooves and supremely listenable.
Now, they've seen the extent of the web (and ignorant, regressive copyright laws like the DMCA probably limited that horizon faster than anyone planned) and are re-establishing themselves as a tangible piece of entertainment. For New York residents, KEXP no longer floats in the clouds, it's a thing that exists in a time and place on an actual station. It's the next logical step: not a change in programming, but a packaging of it, a commoditization.
They've moved out of WMFU territory and into branding. And, hey, I've already got the mug.
