There's a new web site dedicated to that lovable rabble rouser (formerly on 107.7, 1962-1984)
http://www.krab.fm/
http://www.krab.fm/
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KRAB Memories.......
- Thread starter Bongwater
- Start date
Bongwater said:
What a dynamic sounding station.... nah...
Well, I think it's all in one's perspective. Commercial broadcasters thought KRAB was a waste of an FM frequency, Stuffy traditional public broadcasters were embarrassed by them and you could count their regular listeners on one hand. Yes, they were a perpetually bankrupt disaster, living off the radio equivalent of welfare until Reagan cut that off.
But while most broadcasters thumb their noses at KRAB, you have to give them SOME credit - In the 1970s, they were the very first station in Seattle to play something called "hip-hop". They also introduced Seattle to punk and reggae. To me, they were just the lovable underdogs.
Scrappy ne'er do wells they were, I'd sooner listen to KRAB than any jockless MP3 player they call "radio" today.......
Crainbebo - KRAB played blues, obscure classical, folk, bluegrass and anything else on one condition - it must not be heard anywhere else on the dial.
But while most broadcasters thumb their noses at KRAB, you have to give them SOME credit - In the 1970s, they were the very first station in Seattle to play something called "hip-hop". They also introduced Seattle to punk and reggae. To me, they were just the lovable underdogs.
Scrappy ne'er do wells they were, I'd sooner listen to KRAB than any jockless MP3 player they call "radio" today.......
Crainbebo - KRAB played blues, obscure classical, folk, bluegrass and anything else on one condition - it must not be heard anywhere else on the dial.
madman moscowitz moved his show(music with moscowitz) to KRPM 106 FM for many years on sunday nights. i think his show eventually ended up at KSER, before he done passed on?
fremont said:
You seem to have missed the whole point of what the station wanted to be.
The "Special Interests" was Sunbelt...Norm Feurer et al. As much as I like Norm personally, I thought that company brought a VERY dark day to Seattle broadcast history when their arrogant executives went on the air to launch the end by saying what a SHAM the AC format was and how poorly it was done. Complete lack of class.
I don't think anyone came out of KRAB intentionally looking to hit the big time (P.S. I also forgot to mention Stephen Rabow (KZAM-AM, KYYX, KHIT, KNHC.) I think that just fell in their laps.
But the fact they hosted very unique shows played a HUGE role in their post-KRAB radio success. The freedom they had to make radio the way they wanted was what made KRAB interesting. And gave Seattle radio something you can't measure in dollars
Other famous KRAB shows:
Life Elsewhere (hosted by Norman B.) Here's a link to a punk blog that hosts a couple files of this show.
Listen on the 1st one for two things.
1, He plays the UNCENSORED original 1981 UK punk version of "So What?" Anti-Nowhere League. (Younger folks know this GLORIOUS shock-o'-rama from Metallica's LAME cover version, which signed off KZOK-AM's Z-Rock format in October 1993. Which was also played uncensored.) Just COUNT the F-Bombs! Multiply by the maximum FCC fine.
Read the lyrics and enjoy right now if you want:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MlrPESdDI
2. He talks about the "terrible shape" of the station's finances. If I got my timeline right, this was just after the meager government grants KRAB existed on were cut.
Here's the Life Elsewhere audio files:
http://yourskullismybowl.blogspot.com/2009/11/life-elsewhere-with-norman-batley-krab.html
Shortwave News (Who needs Dial Global? KRAB ran the BBC World Service....via an actual shortwave radio!)
The Lao Community Hour (my aunt who is from Laos listened to this religiously every weekend.)
I remember you also heard a lot of dead air. KRAB had another bizarre philosophy: If no show was scheduled (or a no-show host) they just left the studio mike open and and dead air (or as we called it, "KLAM") for whatever amount of time until you heard the studio creak open and someone sits in an equally squeaky chair and does a show prep as if nobody heard him/her (which was for the most part, correct.) Then goes into their show at the top of the next hour.
When KRAB's government funding was stripped, there was a LOT of internal turmoil (not unlike anything you see at Pacifica.) and KRAB's "dead air" became "OFF the air" to save on the power bill. I also think their cranky old transmitter was acting up part of the time too. Sometimes it went off the air in mid-program.
I've heard some inside wanted to make KRAB more of a mainstream public station - with a dedicated format (But what format? KING-FM and KUOW owned Classical, KCMU had punk/indie rock, KBCS had the folk/Americana crowd and KPLU was just starting it's Jazz format.) Others wanted to keep things exactly as they were. As I heard it said, the infighting was unbelievable and the lack of $$$ was no help. I also remember KING-TV made KRAB the subject of their "Top Story" shortly before they gave up the ghost.
Ater KRAB left the air for good, they made a pass at a share-time deal with KNHC. Not good. "C-89" had just launched it's hugely successful dance music format and KRAB's proposal seemed like a hostile takeover, demanding more time on 89.5 MHz than KNHC itself. Luckily, it failed. But we also lost the KRAB call letters to Bakersfield. And in an area when crab is a native food staple, that's sad. They BELONG in Seattle.
Jack Straw had to carve out a slice of spectrum on it's own. So they went to Everett. The result was KCMU moving to 90.3 and a power boost (not sure if Jack Straw helped them in any way with that. Would have been a nice gesture.) and 90.7 open to what would become KSER (which according to an article in the old Lynnwood Enterprise, named after Lake SERene, near their former studios and transmitter site in the North Lynnwood Safeway strip mall.)
Which was always interesting because technically, they were WAY outside their city of license in both studio and transmitter site.
KSER initially was pretty much, for all intent and purpose, a Lynnwood station (and so much so, many publications actually listed them AS a Lynnwood station) and the Everett COL was some weird technicality. Because until they put a translator on 90.5 for a few years in downtown Everett, you could hardly hear them at all there.
Jack Straw got out of the radio station business in the mid '90s and is now a pretty successful recording studio and public radio syndicator.
In the late '90s, KSER finally moved their studio to downtown Everett and their tower to Gretchen Hill, near Marysville and upped to 5,800 watts and is ready to launch KXIR on 89.9 out of Freeland on Whidbey Island. The plan here is to move the music programs to KXIR and turn KSER into a KUOWish News/Talk station.
I always loved KRAB's only known logo "KRAB 107.7 It Stays On Your Mind"
http://www.jackstraw.org/main/about/krab.shtml
Trivia: What were the only songs heard on all three incarnations of 107.7 (KRAB/KMGI/KNDD)?
Answer:
"Since You're Gone" The Cars
"True" Spandau Ballet
"Don't You Want Me" Human League
All three were heard on a KRAB new wave show (possibly Stephen Rabow's, but I remember there was another - maybe it was Life Elsewhere) before KJET and KYYX took the format commercial. And the last two tracks were only available as UK imports months before their American radio release.
"Since You're Gone" was played during the initial pre-launch testing phase of KMGI, "True" was in regular rotation on Magic 108 and "Don't You Want Me" was added during KMGI's i-107-7 phase. And they're all KNDD "Resurrection" classics.
But the fact they hosted very unique shows played a HUGE role in their post-KRAB radio success. The freedom they had to make radio the way they wanted was what made KRAB interesting. And gave Seattle radio something you can't measure in dollars
Other famous KRAB shows:
Life Elsewhere (hosted by Norman B.) Here's a link to a punk blog that hosts a couple files of this show.
Listen on the 1st one for two things.
1, He plays the UNCENSORED original 1981 UK punk version of "So What?" Anti-Nowhere League. (Younger folks know this GLORIOUS shock-o'-rama from Metallica's LAME cover version, which signed off KZOK-AM's Z-Rock format in October 1993. Which was also played uncensored.) Just COUNT the F-Bombs! Multiply by the maximum FCC fine.
Read the lyrics and enjoy right now if you want:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MlrPESdDI
2. He talks about the "terrible shape" of the station's finances. If I got my timeline right, this was just after the meager government grants KRAB existed on were cut.
Here's the Life Elsewhere audio files:
http://yourskullismybowl.blogspot.com/2009/11/life-elsewhere-with-norman-batley-krab.html
Shortwave News (Who needs Dial Global? KRAB ran the BBC World Service....via an actual shortwave radio!)
The Lao Community Hour (my aunt who is from Laos listened to this religiously every weekend.)
I remember you also heard a lot of dead air. KRAB had another bizarre philosophy: If no show was scheduled (or a no-show host) they just left the studio mike open and and dead air (or as we called it, "KLAM") for whatever amount of time until you heard the studio creak open and someone sits in an equally squeaky chair and does a show prep as if nobody heard him/her (which was for the most part, correct.) Then goes into their show at the top of the next hour.
When KRAB's government funding was stripped, there was a LOT of internal turmoil (not unlike anything you see at Pacifica.) and KRAB's "dead air" became "OFF the air" to save on the power bill. I also think their cranky old transmitter was acting up part of the time too. Sometimes it went off the air in mid-program.
I've heard some inside wanted to make KRAB more of a mainstream public station - with a dedicated format (But what format? KING-FM and KUOW owned Classical, KCMU had punk/indie rock, KBCS had the folk/Americana crowd and KPLU was just starting it's Jazz format.) Others wanted to keep things exactly as they were. As I heard it said, the infighting was unbelievable and the lack of $$$ was no help. I also remember KING-TV made KRAB the subject of their "Top Story" shortly before they gave up the ghost.
Ater KRAB left the air for good, they made a pass at a share-time deal with KNHC. Not good. "C-89" had just launched it's hugely successful dance music format and KRAB's proposal seemed like a hostile takeover, demanding more time on 89.5 MHz than KNHC itself. Luckily, it failed. But we also lost the KRAB call letters to Bakersfield. And in an area when crab is a native food staple, that's sad. They BELONG in Seattle.
Jack Straw had to carve out a slice of spectrum on it's own. So they went to Everett. The result was KCMU moving to 90.3 and a power boost (not sure if Jack Straw helped them in any way with that. Would have been a nice gesture.) and 90.7 open to what would become KSER (which according to an article in the old Lynnwood Enterprise, named after Lake SERene, near their former studios and transmitter site in the North Lynnwood Safeway strip mall.)
Which was always interesting because technically, they were WAY outside their city of license in both studio and transmitter site.
KSER initially was pretty much, for all intent and purpose, a Lynnwood station (and so much so, many publications actually listed them AS a Lynnwood station) and the Everett COL was some weird technicality. Because until they put a translator on 90.5 for a few years in downtown Everett, you could hardly hear them at all there.
Jack Straw got out of the radio station business in the mid '90s and is now a pretty successful recording studio and public radio syndicator.
In the late '90s, KSER finally moved their studio to downtown Everett and their tower to Gretchen Hill, near Marysville and upped to 5,800 watts and is ready to launch KXIR on 89.9 out of Freeland on Whidbey Island. The plan here is to move the music programs to KXIR and turn KSER into a KUOWish News/Talk station.
I always loved KRAB's only known logo "KRAB 107.7 It Stays On Your Mind"
http://www.jackstraw.org/main/about/krab.shtml
Trivia: What were the only songs heard on all three incarnations of 107.7 (KRAB/KMGI/KNDD)?
Answer:
"Since You're Gone" The Cars
"True" Spandau Ballet
"Don't You Want Me" Human League
All three were heard on a KRAB new wave show (possibly Stephen Rabow's, but I remember there was another - maybe it was Life Elsewhere) before KJET and KYYX took the format commercial. And the last two tracks were only available as UK imports months before their American radio release.
"Since You're Gone" was played during the initial pre-launch testing phase of KMGI, "True" was in regular rotation on Magic 108 and "Don't You Want Me" was added during KMGI's i-107-7 phase. And they're all KNDD "Resurrection" classics.
More KRAB Trivia: WHO was the Jack Straw in The Jack Straw Memorial Foundation?
Answer: http://www.jackstraw.org/main/about/jack.shtml
Answer: http://www.jackstraw.org/main/about/jack.shtml
Four years have passed, and I continue to add material to the KRAB archive. It now has 500 hours of audio, and I've begun sharing the files of the law firm that represented KRAB/Jack Straw before the FCC. The old URL still works, but there is now also http://www.krabarchive.com
Most non-commercial broadcasters thought that too.
Having been involved in defending against JSMF trying to shanghai KNHC's frequency after selling 107.7 to Sunbelt, I have some even less complementary terms for the group. All of the terms are not family friendly.
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