by So I was sitting here trying to figure how to write this happy memorial to Jolene of the mighty KISW. She announced today that she’ll be moving on, then it dawned on me, my last exchange with her was very indicative of how she always was, so let’s just start there. Even though she’s one of the most popular DJ’s in Seattle but she has always been one of the most accessible. So let me tell you how awesome she has been to the Northwest Music Scene and some of the bands we like.
A few weeks ago, on a Sunday night, I was goofing around on Twitter, answering messages, that sort of thing. Saw a tweet from Jolene and decided to ask her if she’d played anything from Ex’s With Benefits(One of our favorite new bands). She said she didn’t and by the way, this was happening right before she went on air but she really wanted to play a song from the band. After a few emails back and forth we got it done. She went the extra mile and I’ve always enjoyed that response from her.
Now to some people that won’t seem all that remarkable but for local bands that don’t get a chance to be on the radio that much, something like that is way cool and that move is just one of a ton of examples of Jolene’s love of local bands and wanting to help them out.
I remember before Northwest Music Scene(the website) was created, I was working with a popular local band called VIII Days Clean and they had quite a rabid fanbase. We finally earned a spot in the infamous cockfight in the winter of 2009 and went up against Klover Jane, Windowpane, Post Modern Heroes and others on the way to the Cockfight Hall of Fame. Poor Jolene answered the phones, answered email votes and stayed on top of what was a crazy amount of votes! And handled it like a champ!
So I mentioned how much she loves local bands and last year was a another great example of the personal touch. Seeing her at Pain In The Grass introducing local favorite Amanda Hardy it was clear Jolene wasn’t just mailing it in. She was truly happy for Amanda and happy to be presenting her to the Pain In The Grass crowd.
We used the word “Era” in the headline of the article so that should give some idea of what we think about her run here. And we are pretty good judges of DJ’s at the legendary KISW. Langdon & West, Crow & Hovanes. Then Crow & West. The Bob Rivers Show. Steve Slaton. Robin & Maynard. Rockfish. BJ. We could go on and on because there’s been so many great people sitting behind the mic in those studios. Jolene definitely left her mark and will be missed.
Click HERE to read what she has to say about leaving.
Check out Jolene’s photo album from the last 11 years. Click HERE
Stay in contact with her HERE
Listen to her last show, Friday March 29 at 6pm – to listen then, click HERE
