The SoCal Sound is still rocking amid federal cuts to public radio

It’s different bright, sunny and promising Thursday greeting successful Los Angeles successful aboriginal October, but things are not going good for the greeting squad connected the nationalist vigor presumption KCSN, known arsenic the SoCal Sound.

Morning amusement hosts Nic Harcourt and Jet Raskin are 7 days into the station’s eight-day “shortfall” fundraiser, named for the play and the funds the presumption is attempting to marque up aft its astir $250,000 assistance from the Corp. for Public Broadcasting was canceled aft the enactment was defunded by Congress successful July.

This morning, Harcourt and Raskin are experiencing their ain shortfall. They’re down connected their extremity for the archetypal 2 hours of the show, yet they are plowing ahead, pleading with their listeners to lend to the cause, offering premiums specified arsenic performance tickets, vinyl records and a specially designed long-sleeve hoodie T-shirt with the words “Protect Public Radio” written connected a graphic of an acoustic guitar held successful a clenched fist.

After the impassioned plea comes much music. David Bowie’s “Nite Flights,” a Walker Brothers opus featured connected the precocious legend’s 1993 medium “Black Tie White Noise,” blares from the speakers. It’s not the medium version, but alternatively the “Mood Swings Remix” released successful 2010. It’s followed by “Ico,” a caller opus from upstart Canadian indie enactment Jo Passed’s forthcoming album, that’s been designated arsenic the show’s “Fresh Squeezed Track of the Day.” You’re not apt to perceive the 2 songs back-to-back anywhere, particularly connected the radio, but that’s the entreaty of the SoCal Sound. The presumption has a playlist, but it allows its DJs to adhd their ain picks to the mix, making it a listening acquisition connected the vigor dial.

The on-air mic successful the presumption astatine 88.5 FM SoCal Sound.

(Matt Blake)

A fewer hours later, Harcourt and Raskin are breathing easier arsenic the pledges commencement to rotation successful and they’re astir backmost connected track. For Harcourt, the highs and lows of a fundraising run are thing new. He estimates he’s done much than 60 of them if you harvester his years astatine KCSN and KCRW, the city’s best-known nationalist vigor presumption which archetypal introduced the British-born DJ to Los Angeles listeners successful 1998.

“The old-school mode of doing it was 2 money drives a year, a outpouring and a fall, but successful caller years, nationalist vigor stations person recovered that that’s not enough, truthful you’ll find mini drives and pop-up drives oregon time present oregon time there,” Harcourt said successful a caller telephone interview. (The presumption besides receives enactment from a fig of section sponsors and underwriters including My Valley Pass, the Pantages, the Hollywood Bowl and others.) Aside from the greeting thrust show, Harcourt is besides heard weeknights from 6 to 7 p.m.

He got his commencement successful vigor astatine WDST, a tiny commercialized presumption successful Woodstock, N.Y., aft a person suggested helium bring his cognition and postulation of records by artists from Australia, wherever helium spent his mid-20s, to the presumption for a specialty show. Harcourt got the gig and yet became the greeting big and programme director.

At KCRW, helium became synonymous with breaking caller artists arsenic the station’s euphony manager and big of “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” and those artists haven’t forgotten. At their gig this summertime astatine the Hollywood Bowl, French set Air thanked Harcourt from the stage, years aft helium gave them their large interruption successful America.

Raskin, his co-host since March 2020, is simply a comparative newbie. An creation past large astatine the College of the Canyons successful Santa Clarita, she switched her absorption to broadcasting aft an teacher said her dreams of becoming the caput curator astatine the Getty Museum were unrealistic. She recalled listening to KCSN successful her car, changed her large to broadcasting and transferred to California State University, Northridge, wherever the SoCal Sound has its studios. Initially, she was moving successful promotions until she was offered an overnight shift. “I was like, ‘Yes. You don’t person to inquire maine twice. Of people I privation a shift,’” she recalled. That led to weekends and yet the greeting show. When wide manager Patrick Osburn suggested that Harcourt adhd a co-host, helium requested Raksin. She besides flies solo from 6 to 7 a.m. weekdays connected “Jet Into Work.”

The station’s different regular unit is simply a premix of vigor veterans, with astir refugees from commercialized vigor who are thrilled to permission that satellite for a nationalist vigor presumption wherever they person much freedom. Music manager and midday big Julie Slater’s resume includes a lengthy stint astatine WXRK (K-Rock) New York, wherever she followed Howard Stern. Program manager Marc Kaczor, who got the nickname Mookie from precocious stone ’n’ rotation madman Mojo Nixon erstwhile they some worked astatine XTRA (91X) San Diego, is connected from 2 to 4 p.m.

Perhaps the station’s astir well-known personality, Matt Pinfield is simply a erstwhile MTV VJ and one-time big of the fashionable alternate euphony amusement “120 Minutes.” He’s connected from 4 to 6 p.m. and is blessed to beryllium backmost connected the air. In January, helium suffered a life-threatening changeable and caught MRSA pneumonia portion recovering successful the hospital.

SoCal Sound programme manager Marc Kaczor, left, and DJ/MTV fable Matt Pinfield.

(Photo from SoCal Sound)

“I’ve gotten a batch of my abilities back,” said Pinfield, who returned to the aerial successful June. “Certainly, I’m a batch further on than they ever expected maine to be. They told some my daughters that I was ne'er going to locomotion oregon speech again and astir apt request 24-hour care.”

The presumption besides has respective specialty shows, including Byron the Curator’s “Bilingual Sounds,” heard weekdays from 9 to 11 p.m., “L.A. Buzz Bands” and “Rock ’n’ Roll Times,” heard Sunday and Wednesday nights, respectively, hosted by erstwhile L.A. Times columnist Kevin Bronson and longtime popular euphony professional Robert Hilburn. While the presumption has 12 paid employees, the play unit is mostly made up of volunteers.

Broadcasting from the field of CSUN, the presumption struck a woody successful 2017 with KSBR astatine Saddleback College successful Mission Viejo, which shares the 88.5 frequency. The concern allows it to beryllium heard successful Orange County arsenic good arsenic the San Fernando Valley. Still, determination are parts of Los Angeles wherever it’s hard to prime up the presumption connected the radio, but it’s besides disposable to watercourse connected the web and assorted vigor apps. It besides has a concern with chap nationalist vigor presumption KPCC, the news/talk presumption known arsenic LAist, wherever SoCal Sound DJs notation their listeners to for news.

Staffers astatine the SoCal Sound instrumentality large pains to constituent retired that the presumption does not broadcast quality but became collateral harm successful the Trump administration’s evident warfare connected liberal-leaning NPR stations. “We don’t play news, but we got benignant of caught up successful each of that,” Raskin noted.

The SoCal Sound’s continuing conflict to past comes astatine a clip erstwhile each vigor stations are struggling to clasp their audiences amid contention for euphony streaming services, podcasts and societal media apps similar TikTok. “It’s a large media marketplace and we’re trying to find our spot wrong it with large behemoths and practice brands,” said Kaczor. “We ever thin into the localism and the grassroots of it each and present we’re leaning into that adjacent more.”

Aside from offering listeners a spot to perceive a curated premix of new, section and older artists, Osburn, who became wide manager of the presumption successful 2019 aft moving successful income for respective years astatine commercialized stations successful San Diego, points retired the SoCal Sound plays a important relation to a circumstantial conception of the euphony industry.

L.A. set La Lom performs astatine SoCal Sound’s unrecorded show studio.

(Photo from SoCal Sound)

“The labels and the euphony manufacture emotion this format, and they emotion this vigor presumption due to the fact that we’re Triple A and we’re successful Los Angeles,” helium explained. “The manufacture needs america to past and beryllium determination to interruption caller artists and to interruption caller euphony by existing artists,” helium added. “They truly don’t privation to spot america spell away.”

Paul Janeway, frontman of St. Paul & the Broken Bones, tin attest to that. The seasoned neo-soul set precocious released their sixth workplace album, a self-titled effort connected their ain autarkic label, Oasis Pizza. The pb azygous from the album, “Sushi and Coca-Cola” precocious topped the station’s play playlist, which is simply a large boost for a set that enjoyed a next-big-thing buzz a decennary agone erstwhile they played Coachella and appeared connected astir of the web late-night TV shows.

“For us, it’s been a agelong journey, but we’ve ever benignant of lived successful that satellite of KCSN and the nationalist vigor sphere,” Janeway said. “We’re not Top 40 artists. It’s a level and a spot for america to live. We person nary different spot to go.”

As for the SoCal Sound, the presumption fell a spot abbreviated of its extremity to screen the magnitude of the assistance wealth that was rescinded, Kaczor said. “Although we didn’t deed our goal, we see the past thrust to beryllium a success. We really had amusive doing it,” helium added. “We’ll beryllium doing our champion to rise adjacent much wealth moving forward. We whitethorn person to get originative with it.”