In Southern California, there are a few key numbers that Angelenos need to know: when to take the 101 or the 405, the differences between people with 310 and 818 area codes, and why you should always, always turn on 89.9 FM when you’re in the car (and likely in traffic on the 101 or 405).
That radio dial is the home of the world-famous KCRW, NPR’s flagship station in Southern California, broadcasting out of Santa Monica College, that has been a voice for the local community and beyond for nearly 50 years.
From marquee programs like the weekday music soup served on “Morning Becomes Eclectic” to the latest offering, “Dance24,” a 24/7 electronic music channel (not to mention a rotating platter of news, political discourse, food programming, and film and art reviews), the nonprofit KCRW has been breaking the mold of what radio can be since 1977.
While its call letters could very well stand for Keeping College Radio Worthwhile, KCRW is actually an acronym for College Radio Workshop, which harkens back to the station’s foundation in the 1940s as a training ground for post-WWII servicemen to learn the ins and outs of the then-burgeoning FM broadcasting technology.
By 1970, KCRW was chartered by NPR and by 1978, then-general manager Ruth Seymour shaped KCRW into the indie-spirited, highly curated rotation it is today. Over time, its reach has extended beyond So Cal to listeners around the world who can now tune in via the station’s own popular app—and they do so from as far away as Europe, South America, and Australia.
“We’re very dedicated,” says current music director Alejandro Cohen. “We have a very dedicated group of people tapping into every corner of music. Between myself, the rest of the music department and the DJs, all together we have a pretty good take on what’s happening and a collective knowledge that is really impressive. This is our lives—the discovery of music.”
In fact, there’s only one rule for DJs: “Play what you love,” and everyone at the station takes that directive very seriously when it comes to programming. It’s one of the only terrestrial stations where you can hear the Beatles next to Gorillaz next to Angine De Poitrine, and its oath is how the station became early purveyors of now-monolithic acts like Adele, Coldplay, Tame Impala, and Billie Eilish and Finneas.
Alejandro Cohen. (Credit: Rommel Alcantara)
Back in 2015, long-time KCRW DJ and tastemaker Chris Douridas booked the O’Connell siblings for his weekly new band showcase, “School Night,” mere weeks after the release of early single “Ocean Eyes” and long before other stations had put Eilish into their rotation. The KCRW series, established more than 15 years ago, also caught on early to acts like Dua Lipa, Hozier, Florence + The Machine, and Haim.
Notably, Douridas has also worked as a music supervisor for film and TV shows like “House of Lies” as have former KCRW DJs Liza Richardson (“The Morning Show”) and Gary Calamar (“True Blood” and “Six Feet Under”). Suffice to say, the KCRW team has always been incredibly tuned in.
Even musicians like Henry Rollins and Peanut Butter Wolf have shows on KCRW. In 2025, building off that kind of ambassadorship, the station further launched the “Resident DJ” program where a notable artist takes over the airwaves every Thursday night, from midnight to 1:00 a.m., for a month.
A general view at The Village before an intmitate My Morning Jacket show presented by 89.9 FM KCRW on June 21, 2011, in West Los Angeles, California. (Credit: Karl Walter/Getty Images)
“We started with Hot Chip,” says Cohen. There’s also been spots from Tokimonsta, Thomas Dolby, and Adrian Sherwood. “It’s been really interesting to offer that, and it’s becoming a good way to get to know an artist, too, by sharing what’s in their playlist.”
That new program is just one more way that KCRW continues to embrace and expand its core DNA, says Cohen. “Terrestrial radio is key to our voice. It continues to be our biggest way to reach people. But we also are moving towards other territories that we haven’t explored fully in the past, so the discovery can continue,” he adds. “I’m excited about KCRW turning 50 and embracing radio more than ever, while at the same time embracing new forms of programming. We want to carry our original mission and bring new visions with us.”
Below, SPIN continues the chat with Cohen, “Morning Becomes Eclectic” host Novena Carmel and senior producer/Saturday night DJ Silva about the importance of community to KCRW, why human DJs are more important than ever, and how the station is rising above some of the current challenges faced by public broadcasting networks.
Chris Martin of Coldplay performs at “A Sounds Eclectic Evening” benefit concert for public radio station KCRW on March 12, 2005, in Universal City, California. (Credit: Karl Walter/Getty Images)
Take us back to the origins of KCRW. What was the original mission and how does that live on nearly 50 years later?
Alejandro Cohen: In the 1970s, Ruth Seymour, the former CEO and president, had a vision for what the station could do to serve the community and also be a place of music discovery. She started out with the program “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” which is still running today. And we continue to carry that mission and honor what the original intention of the station was: a place to support emerging artists, to give a voice to the community, and especially with the development of the internet, to embrace a global community. KCRW’s beginnings were humble, from a tiny little studio at Santa Monica College with a little transmitter to the expansion on campus today with new facilities that we opened shortly before the pandemic. But the spirit never changed.
Can you talk about the intentionality that sets college radio apart from commercial radio and how KCRW lives up to those standards?
AC: Being part of the network of college radio stations, and part of the NPR network as well, it gives us that internal mandate of supporting emerging voices, what commercial channels normally don’t support. In my tenure as music director, I’m trying to be more intentional about why, when, and what we’re doing on the radio, and that starts with who the DJs are and what the DJs play at what time. For example, on Fridays, we’re focusing on more rock and alternative music with DJs like Henry Rollins and Luxxury, and we’re airing some of the original “Snap!”episodes by Deirdre O’Donoghue at midnight. On Saturdays, we really focus on dance with a four-on-the-floor vibe, and Silva has been key to that. And then Sundays we’re focusing in the evenings on a more soulful kind of sound with new shows featuring Peanut Butter Wolf, LeRoy Downs, and a number of other DJs that will be joining soon for more funk, soul beats, and jazz.
Silva: As an organization, we have people tuning in that trust that we’re not going to be shoving the same thing down their throats like commercial radio. With Saturday nights, it’s dance music that you should know about, electronic music, all different types of genres that are so important to the culture. I want people to think about what they’re listening to—that’s the magic that happens within those two hours on a Saturday.
Novena Carmel: I’ll give you an example with some recent programming for “Morning Becomes Eclectic.” For the broadcast on April 1, I started with a song that was inspired by the date. Exactly 60 years prior, on April 1, 1966, John Lennon and Paul McCartney went into a bookstore and discovered this famous doctor’s book that was encouraging finding new levels of consciousness through psychedelics. And in that book, Lennon came across a few lines that he found fascinating, which ended up on a song from Revolver. So, we started out the show taking it back in history to that date with a band that everybody loves. But that was an era where they were incorporating South Asian sounds like the sitar into their music. From there, I allowed the set to breathe off South Asian sounds and the rock sound that the Beatles made. Then listeners heard an artist named Sid Sriram who’s famous for being in Bollywood films in India, but he’s also from California and made an R&B album. In that set too, we had Gorillaz because they were inspired by their trip to India on their most recent album. So, I try to do a mix of playing new music that we’re excited about, having some fun storytelling that you wouldn’t expect, and add in some nostalgia.
Silva. (Credit: Rommel Alcantara)
What are each of your backgrounds in music and how does that influence your ways of discovering new artists?
AC: I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentina, originally. I moved to L.A. in 1996. Or, more like I ended up here by accident. It was supposed to be a trip visiting friends for a couple of months, but I never left and it’s because I felt like, from day one, the city welcomed me in many ways. I’ve always been of the belief that this is a very collaborative city. In the beginning, I was playing in bands and was on the label Plug Research, along with a bunch of other artists, including KCRW DJ John Tejada. Then in 1999, I started at the radio station Dublab, which was a small collective that evolved in a very grassroots way. When Dublab turned 25 in 2024, I thought that was a good time for me to close that chapter. By pure coincidence, the opening for music director at KCRW appeared and I’ve been here a year and a half. When it comes to discovery, I go through every single release and I really do my best to give a chance to those that are coming from a big label, but also from a demo that we get. Because it’s really important to discover voices from every corner. Sometimes the more off it looks, the more I want to pay attention.
Silva: I’ve been a DJ for 15 years and working in electronic music for over a decade. I was at Dash Radio for seven years and then hosted Dim Mak Studios on iHeart Radio, which was part of Steve Aoki’s label. I worked with Amazon Music as part of a group of shows called Nectar Radio, and that’s where I really got to spread my wings. But KCRW was a bucket list. I’m a SoCal native and I always wanted to find a way to be a part of the organization. I started off as a volunteer, then a mixer, then a DJ. For finding music, it could be sent to me from radio promotions people, it could be sent directly from the artist. I’m big on music and film and TV, so if I watch a show, right away I’m looking at who music supervises, who is the music director, and then I dive deep into that. I always have a demo day where I just listen to demos too. I’m also just an audiophile. My godmother was a disco dancing queen in the ’70s, and she exposed me to Donna Summer and Sylvester and Chic and just all this music that I knew about starting from when I was a child.
NC: I’ve been with KCRW since 2019. I started out at the Lab, which is where the new DJs would start. It was 3:00 to 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday night. And then I just kept moving up from there. But before KCRW, for about 13 years, I was working for a small company that owns multiple venues and hospitality businesses throughout L.A. I was booking entertainment for them, so I actually knew a lot of the DJs at KCRW before I ended up working there. In one way or another, I’ve been in music pretty much my whole life. I started playing piano when I was 5. I’ve been in bands. The funny thing too is my major at UCLA was in mass communications, but I didn’t know that I would end up in radio. I find artists everywhere. I’m always listening, everywhere I go. I also listen to the other DJs’ shows. There are a lot of record labels that we’re connected with that send us their music. There are people that cold email me, and sometimes I listen to those. Even on social media, somebody may be showing photos of their trip to Costa Rica, but what I’m paying attention to is the song that they put behind it. I’m always Shazam-ing stuff in movies and TV shows, and when I go to a concert, I’ll go for the opening band. There’s music everywhere.
Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon and KCRW’s Jason Bentley attend KCRW’s taping of “Morning Becomes Eclectic” with Little Dragon at Sonos Studio on August 25, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. (Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Sonos)
KCRW has an incredible track record of spearheading careers of artists like Adele, Angel Olsen, Beck, Billie Eilish, Black Pumas, Tame Impala, Fiona Apple. What’s been the secret?
AC: KCRW had always had that vision, which is quite remarkable. DJs and music directors like Tom Schnabel, Nic Harcourt, Chris Douridas, Jason Bentley, Anne Litt, they all had that touch, that vision to say, there’s something special here. With “School Night,” that’s also a place where we showcase a lot of artists in early stages of their careers. It’s the same when our listeners are able to see these artists performing live in our studios a few feet away and later they’re seeing them in a big arena. Last night, we had Steven Bamidele, who you’re like, oh my God, you can be the next Seal. As a station, we’re just getting behind the music we believe in, and I think the world just happens to agree with us a few months or years later.
Silva: I’ve joked that Chris Douridas has the Midas touch. He’s discovered so many people. KCRW gives these artists a chance without judgment. We’re going to give you that opportunity, whether it’s playing the song one time or multiple times. I think that’s what’s really what makes KCRW special.
As the world becomes more automated, why is it important to still have human DJs at the boards at KCRW?
Silva: It goes back to when I would interview people. I’ve interviewed more than 250 artists. I want to tell a story. The more I know about this person, the more information I can give to the masses, and the more intrigued those people are going to be. Also, it’s the radio so people can’t see you and they are hanging on your every word. So you have to be able to use very compelling language and feel passionate about what you’re talking about. I try to find out where these people are playing, where they’re from, and a cool little anecdote to talk about on the air. To me, it is so important to give that courtesy to the artist that you’re trying to have people discover.
NC: It’s truly amazing how much of an impact that we can make as live DJs on the radio. People can count on us being there and hearing a familiar, measured voice is really meaningful. I’ve had people say I’ve helped them get through cancer. Or they’ll send me videos of their daughter dancing to the music that I’m playing and saying, ‘I love Novena!’ or something like that. And that makes me think, wow, I’m inspiring a little girl so she can think she can do something like this. Or somebody just the other day was like, ‘I’m watching in my hospital bed, and you’re really lifting my spirits. Thank you.’ Knowing that every day that I’m doing my job is making somebody else’s day better is pretty fucking amazing. Another thing that’s always really important for the community is being live for moments that are happening in real-time. A really powerful example was when we had the fires here about a year and a half ago. Everybody at the station, whether it was reporters or DJs, we were getting information in real time and wanted to share that with the community. Or somebody important in music passes away. It’s natural to be like, who do I talk to? And rather than just going on CNN and seeing a general rehash, you can tune in to your friend at KCRW who you know is going to play the songs of that artist.
Novena Carmel. (Credit: Rommel Alcantara)
How much has the community expanded beyond Southern California in the past 50 years?
AC: We have a global community, and we get messages from all over the world. With “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” we started streaming it on YouTube. And we get thousands of people tuning in from Spain, Greece, Brazil, all over the world. For some, it’s become their daily routine.
There are so many challenges facing radio right now, whether it’s advanced technology or the threat of funding cuts to public broadcasting. What are some of the hurdles KCRW faces and how are you able to combat that?
AC: The challenges and the defunding of radio is real. With funding, more than ever we rely on the community to support us. But every challenge brings the opportunity to adapt to change. It’s the same with the dehumanization of the music experience through technology: It’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity to be more human than ever in what we do. We’re trying to show the world that we can meet you where you’re at. We can meet you on the dial. We can meet you online. We can meet you on other platforms that exist and engage in a genuine way. We can also meet you in real life, at events like Summer Nights or a new L.A. Metro collaboration that we’re doing where we have created mixes for commuters so when they’re riding the bus or Metro, they can scan a QR code and listen to very curated mixes by different DJs. We want to always make sure listeners know that there’s a heart behind KCRW, there’s the blood, sweat, and tears behind it. That passion is really what drives us.
Silva: In the midst of all these changes and the loss of funding and the state of the world, I think it’s a huge testament to see the turnout for our events. The last event we did, at the Gene Autry Museum for our annual Pie Fest, there were like 10,000 people there. It felt like a music festival. The community feels stronger than ever.