Maybe KEXP just isn't that good.

The problem with KEXP in NYC is that they do not fit the same model as they do here. In Seattle, KEXP has NO competition on the airwaves and this has created a lack of resourcefulness and creativity among the staff and, ultimately, its playlist. Seattle still eats it up because what difference to we know? In NYC, however, there is WNYU & WFMU (as you mentioned), in Atlanta: WRAS & WREK, in L.A.: KCRW & KXLU, in Austin: KUT & KVRX, SF Bay: KUSF & KALX, etc. KEXP's most generic and predictable programming is the exact time they broadcast in NYC, why would I listed to WNYE when I have WFMU? Hell, I listen to WFMU about once a week and I live in Seattle and I never listen to KEXP. Also, I would rather listen to a college kid playing great music and failing to be a professional DJ than the pompous DJs and their sterilized and repetitious playlists handed down from over-paid & out-of-touch programmers-which is what we have here. Radio sucks in Seattle. Rant off.

...it's so easy to sample whatever you want, whenever you want, without having to deal with a filter, even if the filter in question has impeccable taste.

Says who? If I think the filter (i.e. the DJ) doesn't speak to or for me, I'll ignore it. Kind of like, just as an example, John in the Morning.

they should have gone to portland. maybe i'm unaware, but i can never find any good radio when I go there.

I love KEXP. I happily give them money, even though I don't get to listen as much as I would like to.

I'm glad KEXP is trying new things. If you don't fail every now and then, it means you're not trying hard enough. This online + broadcast combo is all new and KEXP were pioneers.

I love that they do in studios. I love the song of the day and other podcasts. I love the KEXP promotions, events, sponsorships, CDs, etc. I love that KEXP is an media outlet for so many new bands and great music.

My continued support is a vote of confidence that KEXP will continue to try new things.

Blow Me @ 1 - I supported KEXP's attempt to expand into South Puget Sound. It didn't work out, but I'm glad they tried.

x girl @ 4 - I don't know John Richards. But he's worth whatever they're paying him. John works his ass off during the fund drives. The money he helps to raise supports the other great DJs and programs that I enjoy (El Toro, Derrick Mazzone, Mike McCormick, etc, etc.)

John, and many others, helped build the station into what it is today, working for free for years. I don't begrudge another person for being successful. Especially when they help bring others up.

i'm not going to address the whole NY thing, but rather the anti-KEXP sentiment.

people can be very hateful, it's sad. it would be wiser to spend the hateful energy towards ACTUAL problems we have in the world. working at KEXP, i know the amount of time and dedication people put into their jobs, including and most especially John. it's kind of ridiculous, and i was shocked when i started working there. there is nothing "handed down" to the dj's. i always bring my own cds, vinyl, and mp3s and love to play a lot of what's at the station as well, and the playlist is 100% my choice. dj's have their own styles, some people are more mainstream, some are more eclectic, and i'm sure there's something for many people at KEXP... the point of the station isn't to make everyone love it all the time, but to let people experience new and old sounds they can't get anywhere else on the dial, some which they hate and some which they love and sometimes some which they are apathetic about. i am thrilled when i get both really greatful and also really hateful emails about a song- it means people are at least moved in some way, and surprised by something in this pathetic beige culture we live in.

i also worked at and ran WNYU a few years back- it was an incredible experience, and i feel very loyal to them, we got to play really weird stuff! but we had very few listeners, got moved around from shitty basement to shitty basement, the school didn't and still doesn't care about WNYU- it was wonderful to be a part of that family, but not comparable to KEXP in any way or scope, so it's useless to try to draw too many parallels. There were very few and sometimes no instudios- we get over 400 a year here at KEXP! Sidenote: When I was at WNYU, the transmitter was broken one afternoon and there were 15 minutes of pure static. One listener called in to say they loved the song. Ha! That's cool in its own way, but I really do dig how KEXP can lure in all types of people with its different flavors and not alienate people immediately. We get old guys driving home from work listening to john maus and loving him! At WNYU we had barely any community initiatives like we get to have here at KEXP with the money we get. here i've gotten to work with a bunch of kids on podcasts, help choose local nonprofits to donate money to from benefit shows, and spoken to people all over the world who don't get any good radio where they live and really appreciate the option they have with KEXP.

WFMU of course is heavenly, and it's also VERY different than KEXP. I love it but sometimes frankly it gets on your nerves. Like any interesting station! Find a program you dig and listen to it. if you hate everything on the radio listen to your internets and your music at home. Complain about songs if you will, but don't waste your time bitching about things you don't know the facts about. It's quite juvenile and unproductive overall.

For anyone who remembers how great KCMU was(That's what KEXP used to be called kiddies)…
WFMU
WFMU
WFMU
WFMU
That's who gets my radio dollars these days.

"why would I listed to WNYE when I have WFMU?"
"WFMU of course is heavenly"

I live in Seattle and I still listen to WFMU more than KEXP.

KEXP in NY has a very short lifespan.

I've been thinking about KEXP in New York a lot lately and wondering what the situation is. There hasn't really been much talk about it since, as @1 said, everyone was up in arms about John moving and his salary a few years ago. Thanks for writing this Matos. Also, what IS WFMU? Is it online? I need to get on this.

Lame. I just found WFMU online but they don't stream in a format that is compatible with my work computer. Or one that I even recognize, for that matter.

@ 13/14 - Try KALX, KXLU, WERS, WTUL, WFUV, CFUV, WUOG. You're bound to find one that likes you. If you have an iPhone, I suggest getting the WunderRadio App and you can listen to almost any station in the world whenever you want.

I have been a WFMU listener since the late 1970s it is without a doubt the best station anywhere. My dollars have been going to WFMU for 20+ years, in fact I am going home to Jersey City next week and I am marching into the WFMU office and writing them a very big check. KEXP/KCRW/WFUV etc. are merely pretenders to the throne.

No commercials, no NPR, no playlists, no sponsors, no particular format, passionate DJs, heelarious talk shows, great blog music downloads...

@14 They stream in multiple formats, there has to be one that works for you, their iphone App is great, and their archives/podcasts rule.

I miss KCMU and wish that the University of Washington hadn't forsaken its students and community by letting pros tend the non-commercial license issued to the Regents.

Support 91.3 KBCS, Bellevue College's radio station. That's real community radio, not commercial radio masquerading as "community".

@21 and 22-- Agreed! KBCS is like a big hug. Today on the Outskirts they played a song sung by Dolly Parton at age 13. I'm not a Dolly Parton fan and I don't know if that material is rare or not, but it was pretty cool. I actually stopped what I was doing to listen to it. KBCS fosters the building of community around music, KEXP fosters the expansion and diversifying of the *more* corporate music industry. Both are important.

KEXP is over-hyped, and most if not all of that hyping is done by them, which seems a little weird to me and just generally annoying. As a result, the urge to fork my dollars over to them has always been nil. I also feel like there are a lot of other causes in the world that are more pressing than those related to the music industry. Not to say that music isn't valid and doesn't deserve support, but it seems a little fanatic in Seattle with KEXP. It's disheartening to me sometimes to think about how much money folks who probably consider themselves somewhat socially conscious are willing to give to (invest in) something like radio and yet how unwilling or uninterested they are in participating in other forms of social change. I blame the hype, at least partially.

I appreciate this article. I've been asking the same question ("What [the fuck] is KEXP doing in NYC?") for a while now.

seriously kbcs IS awesome... rainydawg radio IS awesome.. c89 IS awesome..kexp ?.. well since i live there, naturally it's awesome... there should be much more radio and new yorkers themselves seemed to have wished for this for years ( and. not that anyone's arguing for
less ) sadly the story is why there isn't .@1 & @9 kexp tried this in the south sound and failed largely because there wasn't enough support there to keep it running
..and moewitsgoin i strongly hope that the same people who donate to kexp also support other causes and efforts.it certainly would be disheartening to think that anyone's participation in other concerns are stifled because of their support of kexp

I moved to Brooklyn from Seattle in September and the back of my truck has a KEXP sticker proudly adhered. People don't recognize the station at all. Some people didn't even know KEXP were call letters since everything over here starts with a 'W'. There is nothing as good as KEXP or KCRW (Santa Monica) in NYC, WNYC is the popular public radio station here and it's pretty much jazz and news. Good luck KEXP, I miss you! Oh and another thing, the Pho here does not compare either. There is not one Pho joint in this city of 8 Million people that resembles what you can get in the I-D. (I have done the legwork)

Really loved KCMU years ago and supported it. KEXP, not so much, though I appreciate their presence in Seattle. I never listen anymore, though the specialty shows are nice.

It's depressing to hear people who make 8 dollars an hour, calling in during pledge drives and donating their hard earned pittance to KEXP and it going to supporting John Richards and NYC expansion.

For what reason would John Richards decline the interview for this article? Isn't this an opportunity to promote his radio station?

No surprise that an intelligent indie leftie station is having trouble in the most be-ipodded city in the nation, one where Debbie Gibson, ACDC, FiftyCent and Bon Jovi still dominate many of the bigger airwaves.

NYC, fountainhead of at least half of punk, didn't even have a punk station when I lived there. W.T.F.

@27 Pho what, learn to love your easy access to good pizza, pastrami, buybacks at bars and bagels.

jon deserves every cent and should get even more, even if we have to put more commercials on the air. the playlist could be made more accessable too, in order to broaden the listenership and get more money to fund festivals in austin and new york. I really like being consantly reminded about how much fun Im missing because I dont live in new york. Who is this jon guy anyway? has he hypnotized everyone there? blackmailed them? remember when sellout was a bad thing?

jon deserves every cent and should get even more, even if we have to put more commercials on the air. the playlist could be made more accessable too, in order to broaden the listenership and get more money to fund festivals in austin and new york. I really like being consantly reminded about how much fun Im missing because I dont live in new york. Who is this jon guy anyway? has he hypnotized everyone there? blackmailed them? remember when sellout was a bad thing?

KUPS in Tacoma has done a decent job of filling the void since KEXP stopped broadcasting on 91.7. It was nice to see them get some recognition recently when they were given a "Woodie" award by MTVu. (whatever the fuck either of those things are,it's still recognition) I've listened to KEXP's online streaming @ work for the last 5 years & have found myself more frequently annoyed by the playlist. i.e: "that song/band again?"

Apparently KEXP decided that south sound listeners were such a hopeless lot, they pulled the plug on a project that cost a cool six million ( http://www.publicradiocapital.org/client… ). On top of wasting funds/donations (it is "listener powered radio", after all), they duped Bates into thinking their station would be used for public broadcasting and not "...some other broadcasting interest" as Bates' interim president L.H. Horton had hoped ( http://www.srg.org/capital/Bates-KEXP-PR… ). It's like handing an unwanted kitten to PETA and expecting it to find a good home and not have its neck wrung in the back of a van.

I had some other witty commentary, but after digging this stuff up, my stomach turned. After KUPS' signal peters out around Kent, I'll be content with books on tape or just plain silence.

Redacted links from previous post are as follows:
http://www.publicradiocapital.org/client…
http://www.srg.org/capital/Bates-KEXP-PR…

kexp sucks! one out of 20 songs played is music that actually "matters" [as defined in the encyclopedia of important music] Why play crtically mediocre stuff when theres a mountain of solid gold out there. they need to hire cutthroat curators and critics to do programmng. not these pussies obsessed with localism and diversity. Riz is the only dj that plays consistently interesting stuff [or at least he used to back when I listened]

To be fair, if you are going to compare populations, you should compare KEXP's reach in Seattle vs. KEXP's reach in NYC. According to the census bureau the Seattle Metropolitan Area's population is 3.35 million, so NYC's population is less than 3 times Seattle's, not 14. Let's face it, you can't explain their lack of success on population size. KEXP is successful here because it's homegrown, it plays (some) local music, has local DJs, and has had shows and DJs that have run for 20 years. It took decades to establish itself and gain loyalty in Seattle, many of us listened to it back when it was a college station at the UW as KCMU. In NYC however, KEXP is a new outsider where there are already better, well established stations with local history and support. KEXP's expansion into NYC seemed from the get go like another in a string of bad, poor-planned business decisions by KEXP management. Getting local Seattle fans to fund a station in New York while increasingly marginalizing themselves from local events and bands in Seattle does nothing to help build listenership here or abroad.