Alternative Rockers and KCRW's ESP

Alternative rock is alive and well at KCRW. KCRW is a radio station operating out of the basement of Santa Monica College as a community service of the college, and they know alt rock. They have an intuitive grasp of what is hot in alt rock and actively promote it. If a KCRW disc jockey is playing a new hot alt rock track they just discovered this weekend, bet on it being in the mainstream a few weeks or months from now.

KCRW is one of the few radio stations left in the country where the DJs still pick the music they're going to play. For alternative rock fans, this is a godsend. Time and again, I've heard a new alternative rock band played on KCRW, only to find that alt rock band touted on more mainstream media later as the latest, greatest thing to come down the pipeline. It's uncanny how they just know.

Then again, it may not be just a matter of clairvoyance. KCRW DJs literally comb the alt rock world for new music and they're diligent about bringing it to airplay. For fans of alternative rock, they search the globe for the latest, best bands and will actually go to Europe, Asia, Africa, or South America in search of the best alternative bands. And it doesn't hurt that they are located in Los Angeles where new alt rock bands are coming up from obscurity all the time. When they find it, no matter where they find it, they play it. There aren't many radio stations left in America where the DJs are allowed to play what they want to play.

KCRW hosts a wide range of music programming but also features National Public Radio news programming in the morning and afternoons. Monday through Friday, you will have access to NPR news from 3 a.m. until 9 a.m. and from noon until 8 p.m. From 9 in the morning until noon, KCRW hosts Morning Becomes Eclectic with Jason Bentley, and he features a daily podcast with new and known alternative rock bands. These are free to download, too! On the weekends, music runs from noon on, with an hour's news from 5 to 6.

For you alt rockers not fortunate enough to have KCRW available on your radio airwaves, there are a number of options for you to listen. You can listen live at http://www.kcrw.com or, if you prefer alt rock music without the news feeds, try http://www.kcrw.com/music/eclectic24.