KAOS (FM)
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KAOS 89.3 FM is a hybrid college-community radio station founded by students of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Broadcasts began January 1, 1973. Since then, the station has been a mainstay in Olympia's local music scene, including a famous early appearance by Nirvana on April 17, 1987 (their second ever) and a Kurt Cobain solo acoustic performance on 1990 (both included on the Nirvana box set With the Lights Out). Today the station, which continues a music policy of at least 80% independent music, broadcasts at a power of 1,500 watts and also streams live via the Internet. The station continues to offer free radio broadcasting training to any member of the community.
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[edit] Programming
KAOS's mission is to present voices that are underrepresented in mainstream media. This includes Native American, Women's, Hispanic, alternative news programs, and independent music. KAOS currently broadcasts many public affairs programs, such as Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! A wide variety of music is played, including world music, metal music, folk, experimental music, garage, psychedelic, electronic, Celtic, surf, alt country, comedy, indie pop, prog, free jazz, indie rock, bluegrass, dance, dub, reggae, hip hop music, salsa, roots rock, r&b, blues, and more.
[edit] Influential KAOS Programmers
KAOS is community radio in its truest sense. The DJs or "programmers" on KAOS serve as inspiration and mentors for future on-air talent. Here are some of the KAOS DJs who have made a significant impact on their radio listening community: Brooks Martin, Phan Nguyen, Martha Copeland, gary galbreath, Jenny Jenkins, Diana Arens, Michelle Noel, Domenica Clark, JJ Syrja, "DJ Shannon" Wiberg, Rob Keefe, Ricardo Wang, Duncan Green, Juli Kelen, Erika Lari, "Free Jazz" Fred Kellogg, Tom Freeman, Vitamin Def's "DJ From Full House", and Carmen Acavado-Perez. Bill Wake is the station's longest running programmer.
[edit] Music Policy
KAOS is famous for its independent music policy, devised in KAOS's earlier years by John Foster. The policy states that 80% of the music broadcast must be from an independent record label. Green lines on a record, CD, or tape in the KAOS library represent independent labels and red lines represent major labels. A more recent development includes blue lines for local artists and yellow lines for female artists.
[edit] Long-running Programs
There are a number of programs that have been around for well over ten years and are currently still on the air. These are some:
- Sister Sound - Women's Music
- Free Things Are Cool - Independent rock
- El Mensaje Del Aire - Spanish-language
- Retroactive - Roots rock, R&B, Soul
- Hello Olympia - Comedy and Talk
- The Classic Hick - Nature Sounds, Commentary, Classical
- View From the Shore - Native
- Wheels of the World - Celtic
- Music from the Underground - Psychedelic
[edit] Former DJs
Over the years, the station has had many former DJs go onto larger fame, such as Calvin Johnson (founder of K Records), Bruce Pavitt (founder of Sub Pop Records), Chris Scofield (founder of Strange Attractors Audio House Records), Tobi Vail, Lois Maffeo, Mark Hosler (of Negativland) Arrington de Dionyso (of Old Time Relijun), and Steve Fisk (producer and musician).
