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Today KEXP and a public radio station in New York (WNYE 91.5FM) announced they have joined forces to create a partnership called: Radio Liberation. The partnership will bring six hours of weekday KEXP programming, a nightly world music show, and a weekly Kevin Cole broadcast to New York starting March 24th. Radio Liberation also plans to expand KEXP's already extensive live programming and performances, tapping into New York City's vibrant touring and music scene.
The partnership has the potential to increase KEXP's terrestrial (not internet based) listenership by 14 million in the New York market. That's invaluable exposure for local artists featured on KEXP, who might be able increase their own fan base by millions.
We want to know, what do you think about KEXP's new partnership?
image from kexp.org
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Awesome! I wonder what the folks over at Gotham think... and what the reaction will be across the island.
I'm a bit skeptical of the whole arrangement. This partnership seems to have been driven by the fact that John Richards wants to live in New York, so I'm guessing that things will skew away from Seattle and towards New York as this thing ages.
I hope that doesn't happen, as I love KEXP.
i think this sucks. if john richards wants to live in new york, move to new york and get a job in new york. they will probably need another pledge drive each year to afford his first class tickets back and forth. i really don;t want more of a new york feel to kexp. i live in seattle.
the only positive i see out of this is i won;t have to listen to john and cheryl babble on so much during their shift change.
I wonder what benefit this has for Seattle listeners, if any? The way I see it, we're going to end up with a local station that is less local focused than it already is.
I agree with the above commenters: If John wants to move to NYC, go, leave us be.
I admit, I am also nervous about an increase in an already heavy NYC/Brooklyn band play on KEXP. And other than audioasis and (ahem, cough cough) The Blakes, I dont think KEXP plays nearly enough Seattle music as it is today.
I doubt KEXP could ever play enough local music to satisfy local listeners -- the only way to do that would be to play all local music all the time, but that's not KEXP's mission. (This comment is particularly funny coming just a day before KEXP hosts two local acts live in studio.) A lot of local bands do get good exposure on the station, and imagine how much more they'll get to a NYC listening audience. I doubt you're going to see a lot of local bands complaining about that. Anyway, it would be nice if people considered the facts before making huge assumptions (http://www.kexp.org/newyork/qa.aspx). The New York deal was going on long before John made any decision, and if you read his playlist, you'll find out why he's going. It's a personal decision. Regardless, there will be three hours of his show airing in NY. The final hour will only be aired in Seattle. How could he forget about Seattle music? I realize that there will always be haters, but what difference does it make to them? Are they listening? There's an easy solution for them: turn the dial. Fans of the station, though, needn't worry. It's a relatively small percentage of the programming that will be broadcast in NY, and there's the added benefit of more in-studios (in NY). I bet most people don't know that Kevin Cole has had a show airing on WNYE for many months now. Has that changed his show in Seattle? But as always, conversation always comes back to John, whose show amounts to 12% of KEXP's programming. There is no doubt that KEXP is venturing somewhat into the unknown, but if the organization and programming are to grow, that's what it needs to do.