Where The Music Matters

John Richards gets real excited
 Photo courtesy of KEXP

John Richards is the best reason to tune in to KEXP. Not to take away from the great shows the other KEXP DJ's produce, but John Richards is the ringleader, the maverick, the voice of the radio station. Listening to his morning show streaming from Seattle is like being back in university and hanging out in the dorm room of the guy who had the killer sound system and a vast and eclectic record collection. Time spent in that room was an education in itself and John's that perfect teacher — a geek, a romantic, a rebel. He's funny and irreverent; his taste in music is stellar. Woven into each show are the instincts of an artist and great storyteller, each song choice revealing a new dimension to the tale or shading in a character's traits. Random computer generated music selections do not exist. What you get is a human being expressing himself through his musical taste, whims and encyclopedic knowledge in an attempt to connect deeply with his audience.

Name a radio station where you can eMail in a request and the DJ will personally eMail you back? Or a station that will play a song twice in a row — just because they can? If you tune in to KEXP over the next few days, you might catch John playing The Lumineers Hoy Hey which, as far as he's concerned, is the best song of early 2012. Which is why he plays it twice, back to back. That's the secret — spontaneity. He'll play Chet Baker because good friends just informed him via Twitter they had a baby and named him Chet. And then follow it up with The Replacements' I Will Dare.

It's live and interactive. It's the complete freedom to play vinyl. It's humorous and it's touching. His tribute show to his mother after her death was the most moving four hours of radio ever. It was the first time I heard Jeff Buckley's rendition of Hallelujah. I was compelled to stop what I was doing and just listen.

I was mesmerized the first time he played Death Cab For Cutie's Transatlanticism. By the end of the day I had the album. It was like that for Of Monsters and Men and Sigur Ros, for The Joy Formidable and The Decemberists.

KEXP is how radio used to be before it became formulated. It's a living, breathing, sweating organism. It's rock and roll, it's punk, it's jazz, it's Johnny Fever and WKRP in Cincinnati.  The morning show visits unexpected places. Sometimes it is a horrible failure and John knows when that happens. It's all part of the charm and mystery — he just may fall flat on his face. It's something you'll never get with an iPod. I love the immediate access to all my music, but an iPod playlist never tells me a story. The Genius feature in iTunes is less genius and more disappointing. It will create a playlist of random music based on genre and song tempo, but it never takes a leap that surprises me.

I began to tune in to KEXP while sitting at my desk at my previous job. Being on the west coast and three hours behind meant John was just starting his show when I'd be getting down to my work at 9:00 a.m. While in Seattle last year, my wife and I dropped by the station to contribute our annual donation in person. KEXP is public radio which means they subsist on donations and funding. There are no commercials to pay the bills (another reason why listening is such a pleasure). Upon learning that we'd come all the way from Ontario, the very kind KEXP'ers gave us a full tour, showing us every room and broom closet. We had a chance to talk with the staff who seemed genuinely interested in our story. They stopped their work, said hello, asked questions. These are people with purpose, crammed into a very tight building to do their work and who view running this station as a noble cause. Where The Music Matters is their mission statement and behind it is a passionate commitment to ensuring music does not go the route of indifferent automation, but retains its originality and human soul.

I didn't get to formally meet John that day. He was in a production meeting when we arrived. However, as we were wrapping up our tour, he passed us in the hall and flashed a shy smile. My instinct was to stick my hand out and say, "John!  Love the show!" but it felt intrusive and with part of me inside shrieking like a hysterical teenage girl as the guy who I've spent so many mornings with walked by, I needed to play it cool.

I am content to keep listening each morning and share the occasional eMail exchange. I plan my work around John's show — it is the very best way to start the day. I am continually inspired by his unwavering belief that by playing music that would rarely get airplay anywhere else, by sharing his daily musical story and journey, he is making the world a better place.

And he is.