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Listen "BONUS EPISODE: Vintage Audio - Steve Slaton of KISW Seattle Opens the Phones after John Lennon is Murdered"
Episode Synopsis
On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents vintage audio – recorded by him by holding his Sanyo tape recorder near the radio speaker on the night of December 8, 1980. Former Beatle John Lennon had been assassinated in New York City.
In Seattle, on FM rock station KISW, legendary DJ Steve Slaton was on the air. Within minutes of the news reaching Seattle, he did what live and local radio used to do better than any other medium: he opened up the phone lines. In this long excerpt, we hear what amounts to a master class in how thoughtful, talented and local radio voices worked regularly to subtly build community, by connecting real live people in real-time to something bigger than themselves. Radio used to do this kind of thing every day of the week, and it was especially priceless during times of crisis or heartache.
As most people know in 2025, while it has some value, social media can often feel hollow and algorithmic. The humanity is often scrubbed away and re-packaged. In this tape - from a defiantly human era of radio and a particularly heart-wrenching night - we hear a real person, organic and unfiltered and serving a mass audience, and providing that "community glue” that radio, in the right hands, can still do so well. The sound quality is not great, and during pregnant pauses, music from another station can be heard. The content is surprisingly raw, with both Slaton and one of the callers uttering expletives – which have been bleeped out after the fact (those expletives, remarkably, went out over the airwaves on December 8, 1980).
CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.
Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.
In Seattle, on FM rock station KISW, legendary DJ Steve Slaton was on the air. Within minutes of the news reaching Seattle, he did what live and local radio used to do better than any other medium: he opened up the phone lines. In this long excerpt, we hear what amounts to a master class in how thoughtful, talented and local radio voices worked regularly to subtly build community, by connecting real live people in real-time to something bigger than themselves. Radio used to do this kind of thing every day of the week, and it was especially priceless during times of crisis or heartache.
As most people know in 2025, while it has some value, social media can often feel hollow and algorithmic. The humanity is often scrubbed away and re-packaged. In this tape - from a defiantly human era of radio and a particularly heart-wrenching night - we hear a real person, organic and unfiltered and serving a mass audience, and providing that "community glue” that radio, in the right hands, can still do so well. The sound quality is not great, and during pregnant pauses, music from another station can be heard. The content is surprisingly raw, with both Slaton and one of the callers uttering expletives – which have been bleeped out after the fact (those expletives, remarkably, went out over the airwaves on December 8, 1980).
CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.
Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.
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