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<html lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="dEL5CABV9_bMGQdmWzT4oZAmV4S5yz8RL8RUMo2STd0" /> <meta name="Keywords" content="KRAB, FM, Seattle, listener supported radio, radio, Lorenzo Milam, Pacifica, 107.7, alternative radio, public radio, FCC, Jack Straw, Gary Margason, archive, radio archive, community radio, Jon Gallant, Jeremy Lansman, Jack Straw Memorial Foundation, piano drop, notes from the underground"> <title>KRAB-FM, Seattle - 1962 to 1984 - An online archive of listener-supported radio - 1962 to 1984</title> <meta name="Description" content="An online archive of radio station KRAB-FM, Seattle, 1962-1984, with photos, articles, program guides, and audio from 22 years of broadcasting"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/stylesheet.css" type="text/css"> <style type="text/css"> </style> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> <script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org/", "@type": "Organization", "url": "https://www.krabarchive.com", "name": "Online Archive of Radio Station KRAB-FM, Seattle", "logo": "https://www.krabarchive.com/images/postcard-square-small.jpg", "image": "https://www.krabarchive.com/images/donut-shop-rowland-krabapple-600w.jpg" } </script> </head> <body> <h1 align="center"><a name="topofpage" id="topofpage"></a>The KRAB Archive<br> KRAB-FM 107.7 Seattle, Washington 1962-1984 </h1> <table align="center"> <tr> <td width="620"><p><img src="images/donut-shop-rowland-krabapple-600w.jpg" alt="KRAB 107.7 FM Seattle - The Doughnut shop" width="100%" title="The Doughnut shop - KRAB's first location (1962-1972) 9029 Roosevelt Way NE"></p></td> </tr> </table> <noscript> <p align="center"><strong>Please enable javascript. Otherwise, you won't be able to see or hear much on this site.</strong></p> </noscript>  <table align="center"> <tr> <td width="700"><p align="left" class="small"><strong>K-R-A-B</strong> were once the call letters of a non-commercial, educational FM radio station (107.7) in Seattle, Washington that went silent in 1984.  This site has nothing to do with the station in Bakersfield that now uses these call letters. <p align="left">When KRAB went on the air in late 1962 it was the fourth station in the country to attempt an audacious experiment: The founders of KRAB, and of the three stations that preceded it (KPFA, KPFK, and WBAI), naively believed that there were, are, enough people like themselves, intellectually curious, artistically adventuresome, open and willing to be challenged by political views contrary to their own, and believers in the power of communication to improve society, so that a radio station not serving commercial interests could be financially viable. That thesis continues to be tested.</p> <p align="left"> Like KRAB and the Jack Straw Memorial Foundation, this web site does not seek to profit monetarily from what is presented here.聽 These archived materials are shared for educational, cultural and scholarly purposes to assist the curious in understanding what an imaginative group of people can do with a radio frequency, a transmitter, and little money.聽 If our writing sometimes gets "jokey", it reflects the humor of the station and era it inhabited. In the documents shared here, the people who started and operated KRAB for 22 years speak for themselves.</p> <p align="left">Pictured above is KRAB's first location, 1962-1972, The Doughnut Shop at 9029 Roosevelt Way NE. <a href="krab-the-doughnut-shop-9029-roosevelt-way-ne.html">To see additional photos at that site, as well as photos from KRAB's other two locations, click here.</a></p> <p>Audio here is streamed and is not routinely available for download.</p> <p><a href="new-in-the-krab-archive.html", title="(Click here)">New in the KRAB Archive</a> - Check here to find out what's happened since your last visit.</p> <p><a href="krab-primary-sources-and-links.html", title="(Click here)">About listener-supported radio</a> - Books and articles about using the radio medium for a grander purpose than selling laundry detergent.</p> <p><strong>The Archives - Program Guides for reading and audio for listening</strong></p> <blockquote> <p><a href="program-guide-archive/krab-1963-to-1964.html", title="(Click here) ">Program Guides</a> - Over 304 of KRAB's bi-weekly and monthly program listings have been scanned and are presented here, with Lorenzo Milam's essays from 1963 to 1968. In addition to KRAB program guides, you will find a small, but growing, collection of <a href="program-guide-archive/ktao-1970-to-1971.html">guides from KTAO, Los Gatos</a>.</p> <p><a href="krab-audio-archive-main-menu.html", title="(Click here)"> Audio Archive - Main menu</a> - With links to spoken word, music, and everything else</p> <p><a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('../cgi-bin/rand_link.pl','krabplayer','width=500,height=300')">Listen to a randomly selected KRAB program</a></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="krab-staff-volunteers-and-supporters.html", title="(Click here)">Staff, Volunteers, Programmers</a> - The people that contributed time, effort, and skills to KRAB. <a href="krab-people.html">For some, there are photos.</a></p> <p><a href="krab-who-what-why-when-historical-rumblings.html", title="(Click here)">Who, what, why, when - Historical rumblings</a> - Anecdotes, photos, and remembrances of past glories and follies.</p> <p><a href="krab-publications.html", title="(Click here)">KRABgraphic</a> - flyers, brochures, bumper stickers, posters</p> <p><a name="searchbar"></a><a href="krab-letters-and-things.html", title="(Click here)">Letters and Things</a> - Feedback from readers. Where to share your thoughts and recollections.</p> <p><a href="krab-timeline-1959-to-1961.html", title="(Click here)">The KRAB Timeline - Events and documents in the history of KRAB</a> - Beginning with the beginnning</p> <p><a href="krab-search.html", title="(Click here)">The KRAB Pot</a> - A Google search of the KRAB archive web site</p> <p><a href="finding/krab-audio-spoken-word.html">Finding aids for spoken word, music, and documents</a></p> <p><a href="krab-radio-archives-on-the-internet.html">Finding other Non-commercial Radio Archives and History on the internet</a></p> <p><a href="about-the-krab-archive.html", title="Click here">About the KRAB Archive - Mission - Accomplishments - Collaborations</a> </p> <hr> <p align="left"><a name="hoover"></a>My own association with KRAB began sometime in early 1964 when, at the age of 15, I heard a reading on the station of a poem by <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('programs/krab-paul-celan-todesfuge.html','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=750,height=750')">Paul Celan (Todesfuge)</a> and decided I wanted to use it to fulfill a school assignment to recite a poem. Being unable to find Celan in the local library, I took the bus from the suburbs into Seattle and found my way to the station where, for a modest sum, one Jeremy Lansman made a copy of the tape for me. Not long after, to the horror of my father, I was a volunteer with a FCC Radio Telephone Third Class Operator Permit.</p> <p> During high school, my first paying job was at KRAB: On Sunday's I would be "in charge" from about noon until 7:00pm when the evening board operator and announcer would arrive. "In charge" included engineering the recording of any programs scheduled for production during that block, traffic, and taking the garbage out. For this I earned $10.00 per week, and always felt over paid. One Sunday <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('../ralphmag/GW/silence-cage.html','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')">John Cage</a> nearly stumbled over me in the transmitter room unwrapping recording tape from the roller of a Hoover vacuum. He was there to be interviewed by Lorenzo. For the next 25 years I was in and out of the station, filling a variety of staff positions that always seemed to include removing garbage.</p> <p>The success of this archive is dependent upon the willingness of people to share. You can see who has donated material (tangible and intangible) on the <a href="krab-staff-volunteers-and-supporters.html">Staff, Volunteers, Programmers</a> page. If you are also able and willing to help, please send an email to the address below.</p> <p>-chuck reinsch</p> <p><a href="reflections-of-the-author-about-krab.html", title="(Click here)">More of the author's reflections</a></p> <hr> <h5>What hath God wrought? Experiments in contemporary obsessions</h5> <p>KRAB and the KRAB Archive are in <strong>FaceBook</strong>, here: <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('https://www.facebook.com/groups/52686313097/','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')">https://www.facebook.com/groups/52686313097/</a> If you are a former KRAB listener, staff, or volunteer you may find an affinity with others in the FB group.</p> <p>The <strong>Twitter</strong> experiment has concluded (Nov 5, 2022). </p> <hr> <table border="5" align="center" cellpadding="30" bordercolor="#333333" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr> <td width="620" bordercolor="#333333" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" order="5"><h3 align="center">Lorenzo Milam 1933 - 2020</h3> <p>Lorenzo Milam, founder of KRAB, and the person most responsible for what KRAB sounded like during its first six years, passed away July 19, 2020 at his home in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. After those six years in Seattle he went on to promote, inspire and take part in starting a number of small community owned and operated radio stations across the country. Eventually he moved on from radio, and took up editing and publishing a magazine, The Fessenden Review (named for Reginald Fessenden, credited as the first person to broadcast a program of music and voice over the radio in 1906). He occasionally doled out small grants to artists, writers and people with dreams. When The Fessenden Review ran out of money he edited and published an online magazine of book reviews, The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities. And, between 1968 and 2013 he wrote a series of books, some about his experiences in radio, others dealing with the devastating effects of polio and the psychological traumas of the disabled, and others of humor and insight.</p> <p>KRAB, and therefore this Archive would not exist without the efforts of Lorenzo Milam. We encourage you to read <a href="https://www.krabarchive.com/krab-primary-sources-and-links.html">some of his writings</a> or listen to <a href="https://www.krabarchive.com/programs/krab-lorenzo-milams-page.html">some of his programs,</a></p> <p>We recommend the following tributes written since Lorenzo's death</p> <p>Jesse Walker writing in Reason Magazine, <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('https://reason.com/2020/07/23/the-death-of-a-radio-pioneer/','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')"> The Death of A Radio Pioneer</a> </p> <p>Richard Sandomir in the New York Times, <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/business/media/lorenzo-milam-dead.html','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')">Lorenzo Wilson Milam, Guru of Community Radio, Is Dead at 86</a></p> <p>Tim Gilmer in New Mobility Magazine, <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('https://www.newmobility.com/2020/08/lorenzo-milam-1933-2020/','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')">Lorenzo Milam, Unique Voice in the Disability Canon and Public Radio Pioneer: 1933-2020</a></p> <p>Nan Rubin in Current Magazine, <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('https://current.org/2020/08/lorenzo-milam-legendary-pioneer-of-community-radio-dies-at-86/','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')">Lorenzo Milam, legendary pioneer of community radio, dies at 86</a></p> <p>And, if you missed the 6 hour online "Zoom" wake, Acorn Radio has made the first 2 hours available for listening here: <a href="javascript:;" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('https://acornradio.org/2020/08/24/memorial-for-lorenzo-milam/','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')">https://acornradio.org/2020/08/24/memorial-for-lorenzo-milam/</a></p> <p>Note: Much, but not all has been lost. RALPH (The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities) can now be found here: <a href="https://www.krabarchive.com/ralphmag/index.html">https://www.krabarchive.com/ralphmag/index.html</a></p></td> </tr> </table> <hr> <p>If you possess any souvenirs (program guides, tapes, or photos) or have a story about your experience with KRAB you are willing to share, please email <a href="mailto:archive@krabarchive.com">archive@krabarchive.com</a></p> <p><a href="#topofpage">Go to top of page</a></p> <p> <script language="JavaScript"> var lastUpdate = new Date(document.lastModified); var thisDate=lastUpdate.getDate() < 10 ? '0'+lastUpdate.getDate() : lastUpdate.getDate(); var thisMonthNum=lastUpdate.getMonth()+1 < 10 ? 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