Does Anyone Remember KRAB? Care To Troll Down Memory Lane? (Seattle: live, station)

[Ruth4Truth]

A thread about old radio stations on another city forum reminded me of Seattle's (and one of the Nation's) first listener-funded radio stations, KRAB. It only lasted about 20 years, unfortunately, but it was quite innovative for its time. Was anyone here a fan, back in the day? Any memories to share, about favorite programs, or anything from the history of the station?

[CrazyDonkey]

KRAB-FM, Seattle - 1962 to 1984 - An online archive of listener-supported radio - 1962 to 1984

KRAB-FM 107.7 (Seattle) - HistoryLink.org

I started listening to it as a teenager in the mid-60s. You never knew what you were going to get - it was a cultural smorgasbord.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

KRAB-FM, Seattle - 1962 to 1984 - An online archive of listener-supported radio - 1962 to 1984

KRAB-FM 107.7 (Seattle) - HistoryLink.org

I started listening to it as a teenager in the mid-60s. You never knew what you were going to get - it was a cultural smorgasbord.

They also had discussions on political topics that were kind of hot potato issues, represented by different sides, as I recall. Conversations in depth that you couldn't get anywhere else; conversations that would go on for an hour or more. They put all kinds of stuff up on that station. A friend of mine was invited to do a weekly Romanian cymbalom music hour, that turned out to be so popular (who knew??), that when they removed it for a while, the station got flooded with complaints.

One of the founders worked in the UW's ethnomusicology dept., which is where the cymbalom idea came from, and the station's music programmer was the Chair of the Ethnomusic. dept.

Bless them. The best Seattle has along those lines, is KUOW, now. And it's not as wild and wacky as KRAB was. Not as free-form.

[creinsch]

Thank you Ruth4Truth for remembering KRAB, and CrazyDonkey for sharing the link to the KRAB Archive.

The KRAB archive was started about 6 years ago when I decided the effort that volunteers and staff put into the station needed to be celebrated in some fashion. The archive now has over 600 hours of audio examples of the range of KRAB programming, 300 scanned program guides, and a collection of memorabilia and historical anecdotes. New material is added to the site each month, and an email sent out listing "what's new".

If anyone out there has souvenirs of listening, subscribing, or producing programs for KRAB, we are in a continual search for material (tapes, guides, photographs) that should be scanned, digitized, preserved, and shared.

Does anyone here remember the Piano Drop of April 28, 1968? There are plans to commemorate the event in early 2019: The remains of the piano that fell to earth will again be used to produce sound(s). Composers and musicians are being invited to produce a short work no longer than 4’33” to be performed on said "piano". The Jack Straw Foundation (JSF), former licensee and owner of KRAB, has agreed to host and coordinate this event. Hopefully we can find a radio station or stations to broadcast and stream it. Hopefully this will bring former KRAB listeners, volunteers, and piano drop participants together for a celebration of KRAB, Helix, and the imagination of the 1960s.

The JSF has issued a Call for Scores. More information about the exhibit and performance will be forthcoming: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/...id=nCig7jNPexY

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by creinsch

Thank you Ruth4Truth for remembering KRAB, and CrazyDonkey for sharing the link to the KRAB Archive.

The KRAB archive was started about 6 years ago when I decided the effort that volunteers and staff put into the station needed to be celebrated in some fashion. The archive now has over 600 hours of audio examples of the range of KRAB programming, 300 scanned program guides, and a collection of memorabilia and historical anecdotes. New material is added to the site each month, and an email sent out listing "what's new".

If anyone out there has souvenirs of listening, subscribing, or producing programs for KRAB, we are in a continual search for material (tapes, guides, photographs) that should be scanned, digitized, preserved, and shared.

Does anyone here remember the Piano Drop of April 28, 1968? There are plans to commemorate the event in early 2019: The remains of the piano that fell to earth will again be used to produce sound(s). Composers and musicians are being invited to produce a short work no longer than 4’33” to be performed on said "piano". The Jack Straw Foundation (JSF), former licensee and owner of KRAB, has agreed to host and coordinate this event. Hopefully we can find a radio station or stations to broadcast and stream it. Hopefully this will bring former KRAB listeners, volunteers, and piano drop participants together for a celebration of KRAB, Helix, and the imagination of the 1960s.

The JSF has issued a Call for Scores. More information about the exhibit and performance will be forthcoming: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/...id=nCig7jNPexY

Hey, thanks for joining the thread! Thank you for your work, in setting up the archive! I miss KRAB! Good to know that JackStraw will be involved in the commemorative event. There need to be more commemorations of KRAB, and more involvement by the elder JackStraw folk, while they're still alive and kicking! What a brilliant, fun, innovative bunch!

And what a nice Xmas surprise, to find your post, btw.