KEXP and Car Toys, sittin’ in a tree, a-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-i-n-g

I usually pledge to KEXP in the spring, but this year I spaced it; I was kinda busy and some resentment was bubbling within the Vinny, so I didn’t make a call. I hear that the summer pledge drive is coming up so it’s time to fish or cut bait, donation-wise, and this means it’s time for another rant on my blog.

When I first moved to Seattle in 1998, it didn’t take me long to stumble on KCMU, and I instantly fell in love. Idiosyncratic DJs, a huge variety of music, and no ads… what could be better? OK, there were ads, but they were about 8 seconds long, just mentioning the name of the local business that supported the station and mentioning where you could find them. Over the years, these ads have gotten longer and longer, to the point where Car Toys and Live Historic now get mini-essays spoken about them throughout the day: long, boring lists of their product offerings, website info, whimsical mottoes, yadda yadda yadda. It’s been driving me nuts, because I still fundamentally don’t understand what part of my KEXP experience these ads enable that would be otherwise impossible. Can the station not survive solely on listener support? Would listeners donate more if the ads were shortened to their 1998 levels?

Here’s what their website says:

Underwriting is an important source of funding for the station. While contributions from listeners is a major source of revenue for the station, underwriting support from the business and non-profit communities is just as important and enables KEXP to produce and broadcast programming we could not otherwise provide.

And hey, advertisers! Check out the cool demographic you reach by “underwriting” the station:

KEXP attracts one of the market’s most sought-after demographics. KEXP’s audience is comprised of a high concentration of active 18-54 year olds that are well educated, have high disposable income, are discerning in taste and have a passion for cutting edge music, entertainment and technology. Through supporting KEXP’s programming, your business or organization can reach this valuable audience with on-air marketing messages or through sponsorship of one of KEXP’s special broadcast events.

I’ve complained about this before, but it’s actually affected the way I give to the station. In the early naughties I was giving around $150 a year, but that number has shrunk as they’ve filled up airtime with ads. It’s either “community radio” or it isn’t, and I can’t bring myself to donate that much to an organization so wedded to cluttering up the music with ads.

Here’s what would bring me back: Announce that the policy is changing, that ads are going back to the old ultra-short limit. Explain to listeners what that would mean for the future of the station:

• Is there music that the station can’t afford without underwriting?
• Are there road shows DJs can’t afford to visit?
• Would expensive in-studio performances be cut back?
• Would DJs get paid less?
• Would it jeopardize the economic future of the station?
• What extra funding would the community need to kick in to make these things happen?

“C’mon, Uncle Vinny! Are Car Toys ads really that annoying?”

Yes, ducklings, yes they are. I’m donating $5 a year until KEXP makes up its mind which way it wants to go.

And hey, DJ Riz, Kid Hops, Larry Metro, Larry Rose, Chilly, Johnny Horn, John Kertzer and Darek Mazzone…  you people are geniuses! You are the reason I keep tuning in. The part of “where the music matters” that is true is entirely your doing… the rest ain’t your fault.

Hey KEXP: Just be KEXP

One of the reasons I fired up the ol’ blog again was that I wanted a space to rant about KEXP. I love the DJs, love the music, love the idea of community-driven alt radio, but I have a list of nagging issues that I need to gripe about.

Some of this is based on info in the (well-hidden on the site) Annual Report.

For now I’m just going to throw up a list, and try to flesh out some of my arguments in the future:

• Less self-promotion, please. Spend less time talking about how great you are, and just be great.
• Less advertising for KEXP events and discs, especially given that the amount it adds (4% for each) to the annual budget is slim.
• More on-air credit to listeners (56% of income) , and less to Car Toys, Rhapsody, The Bon Marche, (30%) etc.
• More transparency on the budget, operating decisions and long-term strategy of the station. I.e., the board meetings should not be conducted largely in off-the-record executive sessions.
• Be a truly local station that happens to have a world-wide audience, not a station that wants to be a sprawling, traveling internet radio show.
• Commercials are getting longer and longer. Back in 1998 when I started listening, the ads were mostly just short acknowledgments of the name of the commercial sponsor, with a short tagline about the company.
• Put fewer “corporatist” types on the Governing Board. What the heck is Peter Nordstrom, Nordstrom’s president of Merchandising doing on KEXP’s board? I don’t care that he really likes the station; the mindset and advice that he brings to the station has got to be: Target a Demographic, Aggressively Pursue the Demographic, Cram the Product into Demographic’s Mindspace, Gloat to Advertisers About Our Awesome Demographics, SELLSELLSELL. (Don’t get me started on the Vulcan venture capital guy who just joined the board…WTF?)
• Stop pestering me with letters asking for more money. I donate once a year, and I’m happy to support the station. But don’t pretend that the survival of the station and independent music is hinging on extra donations…
• Let the DJs truly play what they want. The “variety” DJs at KEXP are required to have the official “rotation” of songs as part of their playlist. The details are confusing, and I’m still reading this incredibly long rant by Greg Jaspan (fired from KEXP a while ago) about how this actually works. During pledge drives you hear a lot about the freedom that DJs have… I’m not so sure about that.

The big picture is that I’d like to see the station move firmly away from business support towards more listener support, and more transparency and democracy in the way it’s run. It should also be more proud to be a Seattle station, a local station; that flavor and identity will appeal to people from all over the world. How to go about this? I’m donating less, for one thing. I used to give a couple hundred dollars to the station per year, and now I’m down to $25. It will probably take a lot more community organizing to pressure the station into any sort of change; maybe there’s already a group of people who feel the same way?

I’ll post more about this later. I’d be curious to hear from anyone at the station or in the community who disagrees with any of the above; the points above are just off the top of my head… more research could definitely change my mind, or solidify it. Lemme know!