AKA John Richards:
KCMU DJ Prevents Mass Slaughter
by J. Kim

Every morning, John Richards prevents the mass slaughter of drivers on the 520 bridge. Without question, his morning radio show on 90.3 FM, KCMU, is the only thing preventing me from unsheathing my commuter model assault rifle and blowing away everyone who obliviously slows down to look at Mount Rainier as if they were tourists with time to spare.

Unlike commercial radio DJs in the 6:00 to 10:00 am slots, Richards neither nauseates his audience with meaningless contests and prepubescent humor, nor does he anesthetize them with a monotone voice and humor-devoid personality.

Instead, Richards treats listeners like friends, injecting a low-key anecdote or dry-witted comment after three songs. Richards converses with listeners, rather than bombarding them. Instead of shouting to wake the dead, he selects music capable of doing that.

"I think people listen to me because I'm one of the few honest personalities out there. I'm being myself and I'm honest about the music," says Richards. "KCMU definitely fills the void between terrible pop music and stuff that's so out there its unlistenable. There's a whole lot of really good music in that space. KCMU exposes people to music that no one out there is exposing them to."

A public station, KCMU bridges the gap between pirate radio and commercial stations. They do so without a playlist, but with four rotations from which DJs select music, adding at least one song from less frequently played genres like country, blues, jazz and world beat.

KCMU DJs also differentiate the station by their commitment to all kinds of local music; Harvey Danger hit 90.3 before 107.7. In contrast, commercial stations play it safe with local bands; KNDD may play MxPx, but KCMU plays Karp and more.

"Good or bad, local music deserves to be played," said Richards.

Richards takes his responsibility as cultural gatekeeper quite seriously. "There is enormous pressure that I put on myself, sometimes I just break out into cold sweats," said Richards over evening beverages at Bauhaus. "I don't want to pick out something that sucks, sometimes it's so overwhelmingly frustrating."

Richards takes in stride the daunting tasks of rising before the sun every morning and putting groggy listeners in a good mood through his musical selections and repartee. "If you love your job, then you look forward to it and I love my job," said Richards.

His journey began in Spokane, where he and his friends formed a secret society of Pixies and Love and Rockets fans. Having won $100 and a can of soup for screeching his rendition of Weird Al Yankovich's "Psycho Chicken" in a KZZU radio contest, he knew he had a future in radio.

He would sit in Denny's with friends, chomping greasy food and bragging that if he ever got a radio show, he would trash Spokane as much as possible on the air. So far, he has kept that promise.

His brother convinced him to move to Seattle to try and get a show on KCMU. Once he arrived, Richards picked up an application, but let it sit in his apartment for over a year. In the meantime he enrolled in the communications program at the University of Washington. When a teacher announced that the Communications program was facing restrictive budget cuts, Richards filled out the application and turned it in.

"I said I would do whatever they needed to help the station," said Richards, "My ambition was just to be involved, I had no experience whatsoever and I never thought for a minute that Id be on the air."

After three months of production work, he landed the Friday 1-6 am shift.

"By the grace of God, I was on after Riz Rollins, said Richards. I owe him everything, he was always there; he would always pump me up."

This was the station's least popular time slot, and Richards worked it for a year.

"I would pick up any shift, I would skip class, go in late to work - I was a radio whore," said Richards.

Just as burnout began to set in, the Friday morning drive time slot opened up. At the same time, fellow DJ Cheryl Waters broke her knee. This was unlucky for her but very lucky for Richards. Waters' pain medication induced insomnia. She would sit up all night listening to Richards in the late night slot, enjoying his work and sometimes calling the show without revealing her identity. Her recommendation helped Richards get the sought-after morning slot.

After several months, Richards and his girlfriend took a vacation to cure an overall Seattle malaise. Towards the end of the trip, his sister phoned to relay word that the station wanted the same DJ for the same time slot every day, and that all the volunteers, like Richards, would have to re-apply.

"I remember sitting in the hot tub thinking, This is never going to happen," said Richards, "So we got pretty liquored up and decided to leave Los Angeles at 4 a.m. to get back for the Friday show to make a demo tape."

After driving straight through and foregoing sleep, Richards worked his show, handed the demo tape to station manager Don Yates, then slept for several days. A few weeks later, Yates congratulatory phone call to Richards sent him hopping around in a joyous frenzy.

"I remembered every part of it because it has really kept me going through some tough times," said Richards. "And at every step of the way I was so sure Id fail."

So far, he has done nothing but succeed, albeit with some minor mishaps. At 6:15 one morning, halfway through the song break, the giant clock in the studio fell right next to his arm, causing Richards to scream hysterically. However, besides a few stalkers, Richards has led a charmed KCMU life.

The station itself has gone over a few bumps recently. UW students started KCMU 20 years ago. It has existed as a hybrid student/public station ever since. Today, pledges alone, and not UW money, support the station. Recently, the school asked KCMU to move off campus so they might free up on-campus room for classes. However, says Richards, "We're still on campus because we'll be on the Ave and the U pretty much owns the Ave."

"Its a simple fact that every time we (KCMU) make a decision we get criticized," said Richards. "Sean Nelson ripped us apart in The Stranger for selling out (with the new format). When the public looks for change, they look to KCMU. I know some students are upset that its not a student-run station, but I was a student who wanted to get on the air and I did."

Though he lives for KCMU, he might consider a job in commercial radio if the station were to allow him to program his own material. He would leave KCMU only for a station that is essentially a profit-generating pirate station.

"I think pirate radio is a healthy and viable commodity and I wish it happened more often," said Richards.

He envisions pirate radio finding a welcoming home on the Internet; though he doubts the Internet will ever totally replace radio. "Every city has an End (KNDD), so its useless for them to be on the web," said Richards, "But people will listen to our station because it's so different."

Also in Pandemonium Online:

Kill The Lights, Pando's Seattle music column (John Richards is a contributor to KTL.)