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# KCRW launches campaign to digitize its 60,000-title music archive
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/investigation/
- Published: 2007-08-07T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:31:52.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*KCRW preserves its history*

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE Deep in the recesses of the KCRW radio offices here is a small walk-in closet-sized room that houses what is considered to be one of the most eclectic collections of music in the world.

The National Public Radio affiliate is pushing to preserve and modernize its musical archive of more than 60,000 individual titles, an accumulation that includes an assortment of formats from vinyl to cassette to compact discs.

The station is hoping to accomplish this feat by gradually converting the collection to a high quality digital format, which is expected to cost close to $1 million. Through the recently-launched fundrais-ing efforts, “The Music Match: A Campaign to Save KCRW’s Library,” the station has secured several supporters, including The Annenberg Foundation and RealNetworks, which produces the online RealPlayer.

Climbing on board last week was BluWave Audio, which has agreed to repair and archive the more than 1,200 exclusive live studio recordings that date back 20 years. A division of Universal Studios Sound Department, BluWave Audio specializes in digital mastering and restoration.

The extensive collection is housed in a cramped 15 by 20 foot room in the KCRW station, which is located in the basement of the Cayton Center at Santa Monica College.

The compilation of musical titles has been building up for the past 30 years, spanning three KCRW music directors, including Tom Schnabel, Chris Douridas and Nic Harcourt. Today, there is very little wiggle room in the music library, stacked high with albums and singles, each aisle just wide enough for one person to try and locate a recording to use on a show.

“Some of the records and tapes are feeling the ravages of time,” said Ruth Seymour, the station’s general manager.“They are deteriorating and there is no room to add things that are being produced today and there is no way for the DJ to get to them apart from climbing tall ladders.”

DJs occasionally run into the problem of being unable to locate the album of their choice, sometimes because another DJ is using it for their show or because they forgot to return the item, said Eric J. Lawrence, the station’s music librarian. Modernizing the collection and placing it on an internal hard drive will enable the DJs to access the music without making the trip to the library.

Lawrence’s desk is piled high with several hundred CDs. The corner of his office is stacked with bins containing several hundred CDs each, which the station receives every week. They include albums from the well-known artists to the unknown aspiring musicians that created a CD in their own bedroom.

The station plays an eclectic mix of music, but if KCRW ever decided to switch to an all jazz or classical music format, it has the capacity to do so thanks to its extensive collection, Lawrence said.

“It’s a unique setting,” Lawrence said. “There’s no other place that has the range of our library.”

Seymour estimates that the collection can be modernized in the next six to eight months.

The live collection can be digitized in about eight to 10 weeks, said Tom Regal, BluWave’s director of audio restoration and preservation.

A long-time KCRW fan, Regal was listening to the station when he came across an advertisement for the music library campaign. He called into the station to see if he could somehow lend a helping hand.

“Having met everyone there and seeing the library and their passion for music, it’s something that’s amazing to be a part of,” Regal said.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/080707-01_02.jpg)

KCRW SAFE FOR THE AGES: KCRW is in the midst of a project to preserve its considerably eclectic archive of music. (Photo: Photo courtesy)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 7, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)