Seattlest Interview: John Richards
Last week, Seattlest visited the KEXP studios, met some of our fave DJ's and spoke with one of the most influential voices in Seattle music.
John Richards hosts the Morning Show, is the Associate Program Director for KEXP, and Produces the weekly local music show, Audioasis…
KEXP has become a real fixture, not only in Seattle, but in the entire Northwest. What, most of all, would you attribute the station’s success to?
The bottom line really, is that it’s us programming the music. That’s what makes us different. We actually care about our listeners. Commercial radio does not. They care about their listeners so far as that they’re listening, so they can have ratings, so they get ad revenue, but they could give two shits about their listeners.
Have web-streaming technology and the growing worldwide appeal of KEXP changed the way the station operates, or affected the goals and philosophies of the station?
It’s always a challenge to broadcast to a worldwide audience using that technology, and remain local. I think we struggled with it, maybe a year or two ago… We were exploring this new popularity of the station online, seeing all the different ways we could reach these people… And we’re not big enough organization to be doing two massive things at once, so while we were concentrating on that, I think we lost a little sight sometimes of our local roots. We still supported the local bands and supported the local music scene, but I think we got to a point where we said, okay this is as much as we can do, let’s take a step back and sort of refocus, get back to the original idea behind this station. We never lost it, but we definitely were so busy trying to find what we could do with this exciting new technology, but you know, you don’t want to get too far out there because you’ll alienate your local audience, and that’s our core. That’s who we broadcast for. We now feel that our broadcast is a broadcast for our Seattle listeners, and other people are listening in to that. You know, this city has such a great reputation that it actually adds to the appeal of the station. You know like… well, I don’t want to disparage any town, but… well, I might as well… If the station was Spokane Washington, where I’m from, it’d be a little different than being from Seattle. Even if it was a great station you know, you’d still be like, “I don’t know, Eastern Washington… I don’t really know too much about that place…” but Seattle has an appeal, and people recognize that great ideas, great music comes from Seattle.
Obviously the music scene here is legendary, so if a station is this great at programming music and it comes from Seattle, then it’s awesome. And another thing, like this morning, having Young Sportsmen on the show… the best part about broadcasting to all those people is, all of our local bands get a worldwide audience, and not many cities can say that. So suddenly you’ve got a band like Young Sportsmen getting tens of thousands of people listening to them because we’re playing them right next to international bands and bigger bands, so it puts them on an even playing field. We played Skullbot today, a demo, and I got like five emails from people wondering where they can find it. A guy in San Jose asking me where he can get this in San Jose, and I’m like, you can’t even get this in Seattle, it’s a demo. So you put that right next to Mudhoney, and right next to The Buzzcocks… And so, suddenly it’s Buzzcocks, Skullbot, Mudhoney, and you’ve heard of two of those, but who is this other band? So it gives it a bit of a reputation, or even cred by putting it with those other bands. So, just to sum up the technology thing, we can use it to promote local music better than anyone.
Abe Beeson, Sean Nelson, Lisa Wood and yourself have been playing tag team on the local music show, Audioasis. Can you tell us a bit about the show and why it’s so important?
One thing about the local music shows is… you want them in the hands of people who can play local music and who are on the front lines… And it’s really hard sometimes to be on the front lines, because sometimes when a band isn’t getting played, they decide you’re to blame, or if a band isn’t successful, you’re to blame. But at the same time, you get the credit if something goes well. It got to the point where I thought that it’s really unfortunate that this city really only has two local music shows. I mean, there are others, but only two that people are listening to, and I hosted them both. And while, you know, I like my taste in music and I think I’m doing a good job, I thought, I’d really like to open this up so that other bands, other genres even, so we could get more of a voice. So, that was just about when we moved the studio over here and we’d decided to part with the Liveroom, so we brought Abe Beeson in to host, as he had hosted the Liveroom. We added an extra hour to Audioasis and then I hired Lisa. She had been working over at KISW and had been asking for a local show there for years and they wouldn’t give it to her. So, I hired her and gave her one. And I was looking for somebody else, and I wanted somebody different, somebody that wasn’t necessarily a DJ, and I found that person in Sean Nelson, and he’s great! I wouldn’t want him anywhere else. He’s become a DJ, but he’s his own DJ. He’s very original, and has experience on the other side of the microphone so I thought that perspective was really cool.
So you have someone who came from the commercial radio world who hated it, and Sean Nelson who’s been in bands, has worked for the stranger, and you have Abe who hosted Liveroom, and then you have me who’s hosted these live shows, and thus, it was created! I started hosting less and producing more, mostly because of my schedule… I just couldn’t do it… and because of my schedule I left [107.7 The End’s] Young and the Restless as well, not too long ago. So, now I’m hosting a bit more… And now we have Chilly. He’s going to come in and help us do an all hip-hop Audioasis. Michelle has come in to do an all electronic Audioasis… We’re just bringing in a lot of guests, people from all over town who really give a shit about local music. It’s been really cool… a lot of work but, it’s worth it.
Obviously you’re a busy, busy man. With everything you’re involved with, how do you maintain a good balance between KEXP and your personal life, your family?
That’s a good question… It’s actually one that came up last night cuz I was a little burned out. So, funny you should ask… It does come to a head sometimes. The pledge drives are brutal. Add being on the air all week, and the stress and the energy and the work… and having an 18-month old and a wife, and a record label, and I’m doing writing now for Seattle Sound, and NPR, and some A&R work and some music consulting for some advertising firms, and… not that I’m bragging… It’s just all the things I’m doing. I don’t know why I keep taking them on… Oh, and Sasquatch Publishing wants me to do a book about music… I just don’t say no to those things because I find them so interesting! But yeah, as far as balance… getting up at 3:45 or 4:00 every morning and coming to work for ten hours everyday, then getting home to my 18-month-old son, who’s got more energy than anyone I know… I guess I just really have an understanding family and friends, cuz I don’t get to see them that much.
But, you know, the trade off is, I get to do what I love. People ask how I get up so early… I’m getting up early to program music… for thousands of people who trust me. That’s the greatest job on earth. I’ve never been late. I’ve never gone into a show half-ass. Anyone who can say that about their job, they love their job. I mean, when I worked other jobs, I half-assed it all the time, cuz I didn’t care about it, but I care about this place enough that I’m willing to work my ass off and stress myself out and probably lose years off my life. But, like I said, I think that’s the price for the payoff of doing what you love. It takes a lot of time and energy. I’m trying to find a balance… I mean I’m getting older. I have a family and a house now. I feel like I’m growing up. But it’s harder now than it ever was before. Before, I could adjust. But now, I’m a father and it’s so hard, because I just hate being away from Arlie. He’s the biggest part of my life and it just drives me crazy being away from him.
Is he showing any musical interest yet?
It’s all he knows! People ask, “What kind of music do you play your son?” And I’m such a bad person to ask, because I don’t believe kids need to listen to shitty kiddy music… like Barney or whatever… That will never happen in my house. If anyone ever watches Arlie and plays him that music, that will be it. They’re done.
You don’t want to insult their intelligence…
Exactly! Arlie listens to this station. It’s one of the only media outlets I let him listen to right now because it’s one that I know, and one that I know isn’t corrupted, I know there’s integrity, and there’s passion behind it. I don’t know that about other places. I don’t like to see McDonalds and Wal-Mart before Sesame Street comes on, so I don’t even feel good about him seeing that. You know, once he’s old enough to decide to watch that, I won’t have a problem with it. I’m just trying to keep those things away from him for as long as possible. So, he listens to KEXP, he knows Cheryl [Waters], from the air more than anything else, he knows Kevin [Cole], he knows me when I’m on the air… He’s probably seen thirty bands play live now because of our in-studios and our live-remotes. Like one day he was here in the studio, sitting on John Doe’s lap… he’s hung out with Nada Surf backstage at the Triple Door. This kid’s never going to know anything different, and I’m jealous of that. I didn’t even see my first show until I was 18 or 19 in Spokane, and he’s seen more bands then I’d seen by the time I was 21. Not that he’s even aware that this isn’t a normal thing, and that’s what’s cool. He can grow up in this music world and have it just be a natural thing. Not that I’ll ever force it on him, cuz if I did that, he’d just end up rebelling and listening to the next Korn or Limp Bizkit, or Young Country, God forbid… I’d throw him out of the house… So maybe he’ll be a musician, I don’t know. His mother is very musically inclined, I’m not… Who knows, maybe he’ll be a DJ. He loves the microphone.
