The broadcast booth is seen through a soundproofed window at the Rainy Dawg Radio studio in the ASUW suite of the HUB on Nov. 8, 2024, in Seattle.
When you imagine radio, what do you think of? A glowing “On Air” sign above a smoky room? An announcer clad in a full suit, reading a script of news into an oversized microphone? A DJ, stationed behind a counter of equipment, mixing clips of sounds into melody? The monotonous voices of NPR playing in your headphones on your morning commute to campus?
What you probably aren’t picturing is a door in the HUB, tucked within ASUW offices and storage spaces. This unassuming location houses Rainy Dawg Radio, and behind their studio door is an eclectic conglomeration of musical elements. The studio is characterized by categorized CDs on bookcases, band posters plastered on every available wall, microphones scattered across surfaces, and a recording studio complete with a cushy bean bag.
As UW’s only student-run radio station, Rainy Dawg operates out of their website to broadcast music 24 hours a day. Each DJ has an hour-long slot once a week, with the only criteria being to create a unique set. With approximately 80 DJs in full swing, Rainy Dawg’s sets span genres, themes, and structures.
"It feels like a very safe space to be a music nerd,” second-year student Sean Klinkum, the promotions coordinator for Rainy Dawg, said. “To me, Rainy Dawg is a space where we all get to come together, bond over our collective interest in music, and just [experience] everything I love about music.”
Klinkum’s set, titled “Hard Exterior,” is unique because he mixes live on air, meaning he blends multiple sound sources in real time. Klinkum pulls from a variety of electronic music, such as techno, house music, or early 2000s dubstep.
General manager of Rainy Dawg and third-year student Lydia Manville explained that the college station was initially part of KCMU and attached to a radio tower –– a 10-watt transmitter affixed atop McMahon Hall in 1972 –– until KCMU became an independent radio station in 2001. It was UW students who pushed to bring back the college radio station, and with the assistance of ASUW funding, Rainy Dawg was reborn online in 2002.
As I discussed the role of Rainy Dawg across campus and in the lives of those who work at the radio, all the DJs shared a similar appreciation and recognition for the niche community at the station.
“Rainy Dawg in particular brings a lot of different people together,” DJ Fiona Rivera said. “Obviously music is very diverse, but I think that everyone who’s a DJ at Rainy Dawg has such a specific outlook on how music has transformed their lives personally.”
Rivera’s set, “ritmo del sur,” is inspired by Latin indie music. The show explores how music is translated throughout borders, along with how music is produced globally.
“I think community radio is just such an awesome thing to have, it throws you into a whole new world of music,” third-year DJ Caitlyn McCulloch said. “With being in Rainy Dawg, I’ve learned so many other artists and every show is so unique, and everyone has endless ideas and it’s such a privilege to get to work with everyone … it’s awesome that UW has such an open platform about it as well”
McCulloch hosts “Husky Hippie Hour,” playing music from the ‘60s and ‘70s and examining social and countercultural movements from the era.
Along with this emphasis on community, many DJs spoke about how college radio remains important as a means of combating algorithmically curated music.
“There’s two ways to think about [Rainy Dawg],” Manville said. “As a club of people who enjoy music and people who enjoy broadcasting … on the other side, it’s a way to break from that algorithmic chain, because people are curating their own shows.”
Fourth-year DJ Irene Hu spoke about how she has made a deliberate attempt to find music through people or artists that she knows, and how radio supports that endeavor. Third-year DJ Dawson Fourier noted that radio also guides listeners to smaller performers that they may not discover otherwise.
“Radio, to me, is music selected by people, real people, not algorithms,” Klinkum said. “There’s something really special about discovering something being put on by another person, by a radio DJ, instead of just finding it through Spotify.”
Rainy Dawg embodies how listening to music is a personal experience, both for the DJs who curate songs for the listeners taking in their content. Although Rainy Dawg has a listener count displayed in the recording booth, Rivera noted that it isn’t always accurate, which motivates her to consider her own connection to the music, rather than simply playing popular songs.
Manville estimated that the number of listeners peaks around 30 to 40, but hovers around eight to 10 on average. The listener count also jumps significantly during Rainy Dawg’s ticket giveaways to local concerts.
One of Manville’s key goals for Rainy Dawg this year is to expand its base, both through radio sets and additional events. The station also provides concert reviews via the Rainy Dawg Radio Blawg and organizes live shows with other UW organizations.The most notable of these events is the annual Rainy Dawg B-Day Fest, a free show on the HUB Lawn to celebrate the radio’s long tenure on campus.
Overall, the DJs interviewed encouraged students to listen to Rainy Dawg to engage with smaller artists, support the students who curate the shows, provide a base for the station as a whole, and ultimately assert the value of radio in today’s algorithmic music industry.
“Listen to radio, break out of your musical bubble, try something new,” Klinkum said. “Don’t be afraid to just experiment, and you never know, maybe you’ll discover your next favorite thing.”
Students can tune in to the live radio and access Rainy’s Dawg’s complete DJ schedule here.
Reach Development Editor Anna Hull at pacificwave@dailyuw.com. X: @anna_fph
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