As KAOS turns 50, the community radio station is bouncing back from pandemic
Turn on your radio at home, crank that tuning dial to the left and you’re bound to hear the public radio station at 89.3 FM, a station that has been providing eclectic independent music, news and community information to Olympia for the past 50 years.
It’s KAOS, which was started by students at The Evergreen State College and remains there today, still in the College/Campus Activities Building, although on a different floor.
As the station prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, it is in a much better place than it was during the pandemic, when the campus closed, offering only remote learning, and volunteer disc jockeys were forced to do their recordings at home — if they did them at all.
During the pandemic, the number of DJs fell to around 17 from a pre-pandemic level of 40-45, representing both students and community members. General Manager Jon Hamilton, now approaching six years with the station, was one of the few allowed on campus to keep the station going after the campus shut down.
Hamilton agreed it was an “Omega Man” experience, a reference to the Charlton Heston sci-fi movie that finds Heston alone in Los Angeles. Hamilton would show up early on a dark, foggy morning and have the campus to himself, then put in 45-50-hour weeks to keep the station functioning.
He remembered the day he finally saw someone else at a campus bagel shop and they waved at each other excitedly.
It’s the kind of situation that might chase a lot of people away, but Hamilton, who came from KEXP in Seattle to join KAOS, said he loves community radio. The music got him in the door, but it’s the sense of community that keeps him around, Hamilton said.
“I think we’re in a really good place,” he said about the station, which is building up its base of student DJs again and is now set to get out into the community more, including the 50th anniversary celebration at the Capitol Theater on Nov. 30.
The station operates on an annual budget of about $250,000, provided by a combination of student activity fees, underwriting and community memberships. For example, if a resident spends $60 or more, they get a T-shirt and membership card that qualifies them for discounts at certain stores, such as Rainy Day Records, he said.
The college holds the license to the station.
The station also used to be known for its fund drives, but it hasn’t done one since the pandemic, Hamilton said. He said the station has around 40 DJs, but 60-70 DJs would be ideal because then the station could have substitute DJs to call on, Hamilton said.
The heyday of college radio
KAOS started as a 10-watt station (which transmitted less than 5 miles), then became a 400-watt station. It now operates at 1,110 watts, which is strong enough so that the station can be heard throughout the greater Thurston County area, said former general manager Michael Huntsberger, who spent 20 years at the station, 18 of them as GM, from 1980 to 2000.
He later went into consulting, then pursued an academic career, earning a doctorate at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. He later became a tenured professor at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, where he still teaches part-time.
Huntsberger recalled his days at KAOS as the “absolute heydays” of college radio, a time when the station was nationally known for its independent music policy and the recording industry viewed college radio as a place to introduce new artists. That policy is still in place at KAOS today, which emphasizes that 80% of music played at the station must be independent as opposed to major label recordings.
That policy has a little wiggle room, said DJ John Ford, who has had a longtime jazz program at KAOS. Most older jazz music was only recorded on major labels; however, he acknowledged that if you were to show up and play nothing but the Billboard Top 40, “you are going to get some static,” he said.
There also was a time when the station had as many as 120 volunteers, earned as much as $5,000 during a pledge drive, carried Evergreen commencement speeches, was on site for the Evergreen-based community event known as “Super Saturday” and had people call in during the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle to report from the scene, Huntsberger recalled.
“It was that moment when college radio was really happening,” he said.
KAOS also had one of the first radio programs in Spanish and once covered all five days of the Thurston County Fair from the fairgrounds, he said. There also were less successful moments like the time they played the song “Money (That’s What I Want)“ by Barrett Strong over and over again during a fund drive that didn’t work as intended, Huntsberger said.
He also had his own radio shows: An adult folk alternative music show called “The Penguin Cafe” and an R&B program called “Five Guys Named Moe.”
Bruce Pavitt, who went on to form the Sub-Pop music label, was a former music director at the station, he said.
Huntsberger, too, reviewed the current show lineup at KAOS and singled out programs that have been on the air since he was at the station, including, Dr. T.G. Hokum — The Audiological Phatasmagoria, Spin the Globe and John’s Place.
DJ John Ford
Ford, who said he has held every role at the station other than general manager, has been hosting a radio show at KAOS since 1993. He has multiple shows at the station, but is perhaps best known for “John’s Place,” a four-hour jazz program from 4-8 p.m. Mondays.
“It started a hell of an adventure,” he said.
Ford came to Evergreen late in life. He was working as a features writer for the Niagara Gazette in Niagara Falls, New York, when he got the chance to interview Greener and “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening. That conversation inspired him to enroll at the college at 40 and emerge from it four years later. In between, he got hooked on radio.
“I think KAOS matters,” said Ford, acknowledging that community radio has always been a little financially precarious. “We do good things and good work.”
What keeps him going? He enjoys sharing music and he takes it seriously, saying a big part of the job is sharing yourself and to make sure you are delivering your “best self” because listeners are inviting you into their homes or cars.
He has had his share of high-profile moments, including interview’s with Frank Zappa’s widow, PBS’ Bill Moyers, a member of the Indigo Girls, Dr. Cornel West and former Evergreen President Les Purce, who would sometimes bring his guitar, Ford said.
The station itself is home to a large collection of CDs and it still has turntables to play records, although now Ford said many of the volunteer DJs play music directly from their iPhones, iPads and computer laptops. Some, too, play nothing but vinyl, he said.
Evergreen students at KAOS
Given the huge transition from analog to digital media that has has happened over the past 20 years, one might wonder about the appeal of radio to those who grew up on digital downloads.
Still, there are students at Evergreen interested in radio, such as assistant production director Wriston Marshall.
“In an age where everything is streaming, it’s nice to have the old ways that are still going and to be part of that is really cool, and in the process you find a larger community of people,” he said. “I hope that these formats can continue to influence generations and inspire.”
Forest Ember, a former outreach coordinator for the station, said she likes the social aspects of radio. It fees like you’re hanging out with someone listening to someone on the air, she said. And the station became an important social destination to meet new people and make friends, Ember said.
Student and production director Adam Hahn takes care of everything that is pre-recorded at KAOS, editing, mixing and mastering before it goes on air, or what he called the “nitty-gritty of all the technical aspects” of radio.
What is his assessment of KAOS at 50?
“We are prospering after a long arduous recovery,” he said.
The 50th Anniversary Celebration
Where: Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30.
Who: Oh, Rose and Jack Habegger’s Celebrity Telethon are set to perform.
How much: Tickets are $22.
Want to be a DJ at KAOS? Go to kaosradio.org and click on DJ training.
