In this guide
Seattle sounds like a KEXP set on a wet morning commute, a choir singing live from St. Mark’s Cathedral on a Sunday night, and a public high school’s station pumping out dance music across the city. Here’s where to find the voices that know this place best, on the dial, in your podcast app and on YouTube.
We listened for local voices first: community and student stations alongside the big public broadcasters, podcasts made here about life here, and channels run by people who know the trails and the archives. Every station below was on the air or streaming when we checked in early November, every podcast has released an episode in the past few months, and every channel has posted recently. Show times and release schedules appear only where the station or show publishes them.
Updated November 2026
On the radio
KEXP
90.3 FM
The listener-powered nonprofit is the station Seattle music fans set their week by, from DJ-hosted shows to a steady stream of in-studio sessions. Missed something good? The two-week streaming archive lets you replay any show.
- Listen
- 90.3 FM and online
- Good for
- new music, local bands, live sessions
- Don’t miss
- Audioasis, three hours of Northwest music with Kennady Quille, Saturdays 6–9 p.m.
KUOW
94.9 FM
Seattle’s NPR news station is also an independent nonprofit newsroom, and its local reporting fills the hours between the national shows. At noon, Soundside puts regional leaders on the spot and opens the phone lines to listeners.
- Listen
- 94.9 FM, 90.3 FM in Bellingham, 1340 AM in Tumwater, and online
- Good for
- local news, civic deep dives, the drive home
- Don’t miss
- Soundside with Libby Denkmann and David Kroman, Monday–Thursday at noon, rebroadcast at 8 p.m.
KNKX
88.5 FM
Jazz, blues and NPR news share the schedule at KNKX, which broadcasts to both Seattle and Tacoma. Locally produced programs such as Jazz Northwest and School of Jazz sit alongside the NPR staples, and its Studio Sessions bring musicians into the station’s Seattle studios.
- Listen
- 88.5 FM (88.7 Bellingham, 88.9 Sedro-Woolley, 90.1 Olympia) and online, plus the Jazz24 stream
- Good for
- jazz and blues, evenings at home, NPR news
- Don’t miss
- All Blues with John Kessler, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 6 p.m.
Classical KING
98.1 FM
Listener-supported classical radio with local hosts at the microphone, from Mozart at 8 in the morning to NW Focus Live, an hour of live performance with new guests every Friday at 7 p.m. Its Sunday-night broadcast of the Compline Service, a partnership with St. Mark’s Cathedral since the 1960s, is a Seattle ritual all its own.
- Listen
- 98.1 FM, with Calm on HD2 and Christmas on HD3, and online
- Good for
- focus, dinner, a slow Sunday
- Don’t miss
- the Compline Service, sung live from St. Mark’s Cathedral, Sundays 9:30–10 p.m.
KBCS
91.3 FM
Bellevue College’s community station is largely volunteer-run, and its tagline, “music + ideas,” fits. A single day can move from news and public-affairs talk to afternoon roots and soul, then reggae and dub late into the night.
- Listen
- 91.3 FM and online
- Good for
- Eastside listeners, roots music, independent news and talk
DANCE 89.5
89.5 FM
Nathan Hale High School’s station, long known as C89.5, relaunched in July 2026 as DANCE 89.5, keeping its electronic dance format and its hosts. It’s still a self-supporting service of Seattle Public Schools, where students learn the trade on a real signal.
- Listen
- 89.5 FM and online
- Good for
- workouts, drum and bass, getting ready to go out
- Don’t miss
- DANCE 89.5 Mornings with Drew Bailey, weekdays 6–10 a.m.
Hollow Earth Radio
104.9 FM
Hollow Earth began in 2007 as an internet station run from its co-founders’ attic, went on the air as KHUH-LP in 2017, and now broadcasts from The Black Lodge in Eastlake. Its motto, “Keeping Radio Weird Since 2007,” is fair warning. Between shows like Moondog Memories and The Canadian Content Hour, it’s a forum for music and voices that rarely reach the airwaves.
- Listen
- 104.9 FM around Lake Union and online
- Good for
- freeform radio, underground music, local DJs
Rainy Dawg Radio
Online
University of Washington students run this internet station out of the HUB, where more than 50 volunteer DJs host hour-long live shows. It’s a direct line to what students are actually listening to, one show at a time.
- Listen
- online
- Good for
- college radio, new indie music, student DJs
KSER
90.7 FM
Up in Everett, KSER has been community public radio for the North Puget Sound since 1991, with the same programming on its sister signal at 89.9 FM. A typical weekday mixes Democracy Now! and World Cafe with music blocks such as 10,000 Good Songs, and the Radio Replayer keeps shows online for two weeks after they air.
- Listen
- 90.7 FM, 89.9 FM and online
- Good for
- Snohomish County listeners, eclectic music, news and talk
Podcasts
Seattle Now
KUOW
KUOW’s daily news podcast boils the region’s top stories down to quick headlines and sharp context, with a fresh episode in the morning and another later in the day.
- New episodes
- every weekday morning and afternoon
- Good for
- catching up fast, the commute
City Cast Seattle
City Cast
The newest daily show in town arrived in November 2025 as Seattle’s edition of the City Cast network, and it sounds like friends talking over coffee about the city. Recent episodes weighed RapidRide against Route 7, asked why Ballard light rail feels doomed, and broke down election night.
- New episodes
- every weekday morning
- Good for
- city news with personality, transit talk
Seattle Nice
David Hyde, Erica Barnett and Sandeep Kaushik
Since 2021, these three have been arguing their way through Seattle’s council fights, homelessness debates and election races, aiming for the most opinionated analysis of city politics anywhere. Now and then they tape in front of a live audience.
- Good for
- politics junkies, election season
Seattle Eats
KUOW
Host Brandi Fullwood tracks down what to eat around Seattle right now, from soups for a gray day to grilled skewers and sake after a long one. One episode got J. Kenji López-Alt to share the spots he sends visitors to.
- New episodes
- every Thursday
- Good for
- picking this weekend’s dinner
Booming
KUOW
KUOW economy reporters Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg dig into the forces shaping life in the Pacific Northwest, from the sobering outlook for Washington’s wine and beer makers to the people trying to grow a seaweed industry and save small cinemas.
- New episodes
- weekly
- Good for
- making sense of the regional economy
The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Jennie Flaming and Craig Romano
Fourth-generation Seattleite Jennie Flaming and guidebook author Craig Romano trade seasonal trail advice for every level, from old-growth river valleys on the Olympic Peninsula to winter birding in the San Juan Islands.
- Good for
- planning the next weekend hike
Move to Tacoma Podcast
Marguerite Martin
Tacoma real estate agent Marguerite Martin has been interviewing her neighbors since 2015, and the show adds up to a running portrait of the city’s neighborhoods, history and community projects. Guests have included UW Tacoma’s chancellor, Grit City Magazine’s Sierra Hartman and Heather Swanson, and Laura Svancarek of Tacoma On the Go on living car-free.
- Good for
- Tacoma newcomers, South Sound curiosity
On YouTube
KEXP
YouTube
This is where KEXP’s in-studio sessions live after they air, posted as single songs and full sets, with new ones arriving often. Queue one up for a lunch-break concert.
- Good for
- live music, discovering bands
Cascade PBS
YouTube
The Northwest’s PBS station posts Knute Berger’s Mossback’s Northwest, true tales from the region’s past such as the Great Wedding Scandal of 1909, alongside The Newsfeed’s plainspoken explainers on Washington elections and policy.
- Good for
- local history, understanding Washington politics
Converge Media
YouTube
Founded by journalist Omari Salisbury in Seattle’s Central District, Converge covers community news from street level, plus culture and conversation. Recent videos range from Rainier Beach High School’s new performing arts center to Tacoma’s hip-hop scene, and the channel also carries Brian Callanan’s politics talk show, Seattle News, Views, and Brews.
- Good for
- Black Seattle voices, community news, South Seattle and Tacoma stories
Evening Magazine
YouTube
KING 5’s Evening Magazine has spent 40 years on what to see and do around Seattle, Tacoma and Puget Sound, and its channel posts full episodes alongside single stories, such as a look at RUBYS beneath Pike Place Market.
- Good for
- weekend ideas, food finds, Northwest personalities
hikeart
YouTube
Filmed on the trail, this long-running channel follows hikes and scrambles across Washington: golden larches at Lake Ingalls, fresh snow on Bandera Mountain, basalt cliffs in Umtanum Creek Canyon. Watch before you drive to the trailhead.
- Good for
- trail scouting, armchair hiking
Seattle Municipal Archives
YouTube
The City of Seattle’s archives posts footage from its collections here, a window onto the city’s recent past. Uploads include 1990s video of young dancers at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute and a mid-2000s Hip Hop Back to Its Roots program.
- Good for
- history buffs, old Seattle footage
Know a station, show or channel we missed? Tell us.


