Things Shaking at KCRW Radio

by Thom White

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- March 20, 2003 -- With a progressive beat that gets LA's university-educated classes dancing together in slow motion, Santa Monica's KCRW rocks the independent radio world. Now, the foamy adult contemporary blends of cutting edge rock chops are finally paying off for the station, with the ambitious "KCRW Studio Upgrade" to be completed this year.

The Studio Upgrade was announced after the last KCRW pledge drive in which the station shattered previous fundraising records. Money poured in from sources far and wide in praise and admiration for the many succulent musical selections the station has delivered for years without cease.

The uninitiated first falls under the KCRW spell with the induced-trance of Metropolis, an early evening creation of DJ Jason Bentley. Bentley's beats are most def (on most weeknights), and are able to leap tall buildings and transform an otherwise unremarkable evening into a dance exploration of "the pulse of urban life." Metropolis casts the listener headfirst into the electronically manipulated artificiality of 21st century rave techno.

This total electronica gives way, every evening 'round the 10 o'clock hour, to the painless anesthetic injections of Soul and Beat that fuse to become one in Chocolate City. With masterful direction, the listener is transported into DJ Garth Trinidad's jumbled world of funked out bass riffs, seductive coos from mysterious ladies, and Chocolate City's overriding electron undercurrent. This ain't no "Old School R & B."

But the daddy of them all, these KCRW all-stars, is without doubt Nic Harcourt. It's like night and day, the difference between listening to Bentley & Trinidad's evening intoxication, and the gentle inspirations radiated to the world by Harcourt's Morning Becomes Eclectic.

As the name suggests, this show is all about anything. If, when asked the simple question, "What kind of music do you listen to?", you're one of those people who responds, "I like any music," Harcourt's creation is for you. There's Latin, Jazz, Pop, Adult Contemporary, everything!

As the prime "hand-picked music" selector at KCRW, Harcourt debuts many new records. So, when you hear something cool and refreshing on MBE during those tough morning hours, some sounds of music you'd never thought possible, you are indeed the first to hear it.

It must be mentioned, however, that MBE is rudely punctuated by the gov't-sponsored National PR segments. Battered and whipped for your listening pleasure, these mind-numbing bits of confuse-news come as an expected unpleasantry which can still not destroy the magical eclectitry.

Nic Harcourt has had upgrades in his own life recently with twin additions to his family last March 3. Anne Litt, filling in for the host during a brief paternity leave, told listeners that Nic's "partner" had given birth to a boy, Samuel Oliver, and a girl, Luna Elizabeth Isabel. Nic admitted that being a father really is "different."

If any radio station in Los Angeles merits an up-sizing, king of the airwaves KCRW is it. Presently radio legends like Bentley, Harcourt, and Trinidad, work in less-than-glamorous facilities located below the Santa Monica College cafeteria. I personally wish KCRW more glamorous facilities in the near future.

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