Non-profit radio stations are amazing artist incubators, KEXP is one of the greatest but some other cool ones I've found
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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Throw in the old standby SomaFM and also Big Sonic Heaven
Kexp is a huge deal!
They are a local radio station in the Seattle / Tacoma area and have given air time to some incredible small bands at the time that helped propel them to stardom; Nirvana being their biggest success story. You can listen to them on Internet radio easily, they are always throwing on massively different genres and it can help get you exposed to some new stuff!
They also have a really great third space with a cafe by the space needle if any Seattleites haven't been it's great!
They were playing a small Argentinian band Las Ligas Menores which I honestly thought I would've never heard in public. Great vibe
Every time I see Cheryl waters on KEXP my soul heals a little bit
I got to see her host Wideawake festival main stage in London! The adoration from the crowd for her was incredible, she's such a gem.
I saw that too, you could tell how much genuine warmth she had for King Gizzard.
Npr tinydesk anyone??
Tiny desk does already household names in an intimate setting.
KEXP wopop for example finds music from around the world you probably haven't heard of.
They're both great! I tend to prefer KEXP mostly as they platform pretty much every genre from everywhere, especially smaller, less mainstream bands.
I'm drinking a black sesame latte in their Gathering Space right now!
Throwing my hat in the pile as well, their live shows are on par with tiny desk concerts and can be amazing.
Radio > song dna streaming
Streaming is essentially a musical echo chamber that will trap and never expand the true horizons for the vast majority of its listeners
Exactly. I've found more music that I love and experienced just more joy of music in the past six year off streaming than I did in the last five years of Spotify.
Great suggestion. I've been moving away from Spotify style services and using Internet radio streams more. This station is exactly the kind of stuff I've been looking for.
They were hugely affected by the disbandment of CPB, so please consider donating. It's worth the money.
That being said, Eva Walker in the morning and Troy Nelson in the afternoon make my commute so much better. I love KEXP.
meh, americ*n