A couple of weeks ago this article was published in the News section of the Stranger.
The story brings up the possibility of John Richards, KEXP’s popular morning DJ, being biased to The Blakes, a Seattle band that he is co-managing. While stating that this is not illegal, the article seems to attempt to lead the reader to believe that this so-called conflict of interest could be unethical.
The story quotes members of the Seattle music community, many of whom think that it is unethical for Richards to have a financial interest in a band that he plays on his radio show.
Most people will probably find it odd that people in the Seattle music community would be so concerned about this, considering how many people involved in music in this city have interests in different aspects. Record store owners and night club employees playing in prominent local bands, record companies employing, and sometimes being owned by local musicians, members of bands owning recording studios.
I find it interesting that the Stranger is so concerned about Richards’ apparent conflict of interest, when many of its own music writers are strongly involved in the music community themselves, perhaps even a little too much. Not only is Eric Grandy a popular DJ (as mentioned in the article) but Megan Seling is known to have friendships with members of certain local bands, and has even been seen around town and at shows wearing t-shirts and sweatshirts promoting local bands.
I’m just saying. It could be argued that biased journalism is much more unethical than a guy who hosts a morning radio show having financial interest in a band or two. People expect DJs to be opinionated about their music, and to have different relationships with the bands that they play. This is especially true with a radio station like KEXP, which is loved so dearly by Seattle music fans because of its dedication to playing and promoting local music. They also expect journalists to be objective, and it could be a conflict of interest, whether real or apparent, if a music journalist is friends with members of the bands (s)he reports on.
John Richards has been the owner of Loveless Records for years, so it’s odd that this is just now becoming an issue.