Streaming Live African Music from the Pacific Northwest:

Seattle Area African Music Radio Programs

African pop music has had a home on Seattle non-commercial radio since the 1970s. Although not devoted to solely to African music, KRAB-FM was the early pioneer having several shows touching on African themes, including music. In June, 1984, Jon Kertzer started one of the first feature programs of African music in the US with his two hour weekly show, The Best Ambiance, on KCMU. The program has been running continuously ever since on KCMU and KCMU's successor, KEXP. Jon is back as the host of Best Ambiance with Doug Paterson filling in about every fourth week.

Today, the Seattle area has five hours of African music programs weekly on two public stations, plus considerable exposure of African music within regular programming (on public radio) throughout the week.

The weekly Seattle African music schedule:

• The Best Ambiance, hosted by Jon Kerzter and Doug Paterson.
  Mondays, 6 - 9pm Pacific time zone (0200-0500 GMT Tuesdays), 90.3 FM--KEXP Seattle.  This station has the best streaming audio options anywhere plus they retain a two week archive of The Best Ambiance.
  
  
• Music of Africa, hosted by Doug Paterson.
  Thursdays, 7pm - 9pm Pacific time, 91.3 FM--KBCS Bellevue/Seattle. Streaming with live playlist. Archived playlists and last two programs archived here. Playlists also emailed by subscription request.
  Send information about stations and programs having significant African music content to DPaterson@aol.com. I will mention them and link them here.

African Music Radio in North America:
Nearly all of these stations offer online streaming of the programs.

Saturday

• Kumekucha Saturday mornings from 9-11am ET (6-8am PT); streaming audio from Penn State University on The Lion 90.7FM, WKPS, State College, PA.
  
  
• KGNU Boulder CO (88.5FM) presents African Roots Saturdays 6-8pm ET (3-5pm PT). Dance to the beat of her jungles, streets and townships: jitjive, Rai, Soukous, African jazz, Mbnaqanga and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Hosted by Jill Rosenbloom, Joe de Cordoba, Bill Nyerges, Moutiou Yessoufou, and Ewket Assefa.
  
  
• Afro-Dicia, Saturdays, 6-8pm ET (3-5pm PT), KPFK 90.7FM, Los Angeles. Host: Nnamdi Moweta. Live stream from KPFK.org and rebroadcast 24/7 on afrodicia.com.
  
  
• World Journey, the program covers the globe including Africa, 5-7pm ET (2-4pm PT) on WWOZ 90.7 New Orleans.
  
  
• Oh Africa radio program Saturdays from 9pm-10:00pm ET (6-7pm PT). CJSW 90.9FM Calgary Alberta Canada.
  
  
• Africa and World Beat with DJ Lovey airs every Saturday evening, 8-midnight ET (5-9pm PT), since 1990 on WEAA 88.9FM Baltimore.

  Sunday

• From Midnight-2am Eastern time (Saturday, 9pm-11pm PT), Kofi Kisi Dompere presents African Rhythms and Extensions on WPFW 89.3 FM (Pacifica Radio) Washington DC.
  
  
• Every Sunday afternoon from 4-6 pm ET (1-3pm PT) on WNCU radio (90.7 FM), Senegalese native Bouna Ndiaye hosts Bonjour Africa, a radio program dedicated to the music of Africa.
  
  
• African Rhythms can be heard Sundays, 6-8pm ET (3-5pm PT) on WFSS 91.9 Fayetteville, NC. It's hosted by Joe Ross and Nosa Obanor.
  
  
• Sundays, 6-8pm ET (3-5pm PT), Michael Stohr & Nadine McNulty host Karibuni, "a musical journey around the continent of Africa, listen to the classics and the latest hits, hear interviews with artists and get news and information on the local African music scene ... in Toronto." CIUT 89.5 FM, University of Toronto, Ontario. Podcast available here.
  
  
• From Richmond, Virginia, you'll hear Ambiance Congo from 3pm-5pm ET (Noon-2pm PT) on WRIR, Richmond Indie Radio, hosted by David Noyes. The program alternates each Sunday with Charles Williams', The Other Black Music You Don't Get To Hear On Richmond Radio.
  
  
• Africa Kabisa, a program of comtemporary African pop music, airs from Cambridge, MA on WMBR 88.1FM on Sundays, 4-6pm ET (1-3pm PT).  "Since 1992, we have been sharing the vibrant sounds of contemporary and classic African music with the Boston area and beyond." Africa Kabisa is hosted and produced by DJ Julia Goldrosen. There is a streaming archive of the show which features the last two programs aired (and sometimes more).
  
  
• Motherland Influence Sundays 5:00-7:00pm ET (2pm-4pm PT). Richmond Indie Radio (WRIR) hosed by Charles Williams and David Noyes.
  

Monday

• The Best Ambiance, hosted by Jon Kerzter and Doug Paterson. Mondays, 9pm - 12 midnight ET (6-9pm PT), 90.3 FM--KEXP Seattle.  This station has the best streaming audio options anywhere plus they retain a two week archive of The Best Ambiance.
  
  
• Georgia Tech's 91.1 WREK, Atlanta, Georgia presents Sub-Saharan Vibes every Monday, 9-10pm ET (6-7pm PT). Description: "STILL NOT AN AFRO-POP SHOW! King Sunny Ade, Fela, Miriam Makeba, Master Drummers of Dagbon, people whose names we don't even know. From the modern to the ancient. Your hosts try to prove that African Music really is a 'Vast Sprawling Cornucopia of Sound'!. Fortunately, that's not an especially hard task." mp3 of latest show.
  
  Tuesday
  
  
• Tuesday mornings, 6-8 PT (9-11am ET), basabasa soukous soukous soundz has a great mix of pop music from across Africa coming from McGill University's CKUT 90.3FM. Programs are archived and available for listening on demand, download and podcasting.
  
  

  Wednesday
  

• Africa Media Collective hosts an African current affairs and discussion program, Africa Now, every Sunday night from 11pm-Midnight ET (8-9pm PT) on WPFW 89.3 FM (Pacifica Radio) Washington DC
  
  Thursday
  

• KBOO in Portland, Oregon gives us African music from 5pm-7pm ET (2:00-4pm PT) with Africa O-Ye!. Streaming audio from the KBOO homepage.
  
  
• The African Show, Thursdays, 10pm-Midnight ET (7pm-9pm PT). New York's longest running African program featuring music, news, and politics airs from Columbia University on WKCR, 89.9 FM , New York. Since the late 1970s, the program has been hosted by Dr. Lawrence Nii Nartey.
  
  
• Music of Africa, hosted by Doug Paterson. Thursdays, 10pm - Midnight ET (7-9pm PT), 91.3 FM--KBCS Bellevue/Seattle. Playlists emailed by subscription request, last archived show available from the KBCS online playlist.
  
  

  Friday

• From the University of Windsor (Windsor Ontario), Tom Fleming hosts a program "called the Freedom Principle which involves a significant content of African as well as Caribbean and Afro-American styles. The program airs every Friday at 5pm-6:30pm ET (2pm-3:30pm PT) on CJAM-FM 91.5 FM. Past programs include Manding Swing, Congolese Rumba, Zimbabwean Liberation, South African Jive Jazz, African Impressionism in American Jazz etc.The philosophy of the program is to see acoustic ensemble music as a world jazz incorporating many styles and rhythms which draw from indigenous sources."
  
  
• From San Francisco, KALW's Pamela Brown and Emmanuel Nado bring you Africa Mix, Fridays Midnight - 3AM ET (Thursdays, 9pm - Midnight PT).The most recent broadcast is archived here.
  
  
• African Vibe with Tim Rooney is on KRFC 88.9FM, Fort Collins, Colorado at Noon-2pm ET (9am-11am PT), featuring current and past African artists and their musical influence around the world.

Also look for streaming African music programs from www.Live365.com.

To contact Douglas Paterson, send email to DPaterson@EastAfricanMusic.com.

Last updated 22 May, 2010.