KEXP Fall Fundraising Drive: Making Contact

If the new “Space Bear” T-shirt inspires you to image extraterrestrials making contact with KEXP, you’re not alone. Fellow earthling and Amplifier Club donor James has been stargazing lately, too:

I like to imagine that somewhere deep in outer space, some alien civilization is tuning in some faint radio waves from a distant pale blue dot. They're only beginning to hear about us... maybe “Wildwood Flower” by The Carter Family and a fireside chat from FDR. Soon they'll hear Elvis and Dylan and B.B. King, and then Jimi and the Stones and Zeppelin. And then Joy Division, and then they'll hear what teen spirit smells like.

Wouldn't it be a tragedy if the only transmissions they received thousands of years from now were from corporate stations that dominated the frequencies replaying a Mobius strip of a tiny fraction of the sounds humankind had created? I can't imagine there'd be any reason for them to drop in and say hi, they'd just figure life on Planet Earth was too mundane, too monotonous, and too unimaginative to warrant a trip across the galaxy.

I just renewed my Amplifiers Club support so we can all enjoy a fuller experience of what it means to be a living being on this pale blue dot. KEXP's programming is an essential part of our human legacy. It's up to us to shape that legacy and celebrate it with our friends, both terrestrial and extra.