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Chris Douridas (born September 20, 1962) is an American popular DJ and musical tastemaker at Santa Monica, California's radio station KCRW, where he hosts a two-hour program showcasing progressive new music. He is also a filmmaker, actor, television presenter, and a three-time Grammy-nominated producer of soundtracks and music videos. [1]
Douridas attended North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) on a theater scholarship where he became involved in campus radio station KNTU-FM. While there, he hosted a freeform morning radio show called The Morning Exchange, mixing blues, bluegrass, reggae, Motown, classical, jazz, and progressive pop. While still in college, Douridas was hired by Dallas, Texas, public radio station KERA, beginning as a weekend classical music host and later promoted as host of the stations All Night Jazz program. In 1987, the station transformed into an all eclectic format, [2] with Douridas hosting the innovative evening show, 90.1 at Night. While there, he created a series called Sound Sessions, live radio sessions featuring Dallas area bands. This show gave a platform, recording resources, and eventually compilation CD exposure to bands such as the Dixie Chicks. At the time the only other broadcasts that featured local bands were on KDGE.
In the 1990s, Chris Douridas became known as the host of KCRW's daily three-hour new music program, Morning Becomes Eclectic, bringing a personal character to the show. He was also the station's music director at the time. [3] When he went independent of KCRW in 1998, he maintained a link to the station by presenting a two-hour program called "Ground Zero", which was renamed "New Ground" after the 9/11 attacks. Later, the show was extended to three hours.
Perhaps Douridas' greatest contribution to the station was his hiring of most of the on air staff including Liza Richardson (a former colleague at Dallas' KERA), Jason Bentley (formerly of KXLU, and current music director/host of "Morning Becomes Eclectic"), Garth Trinidad, Anne Litt, Gary Calamar, Kevin Ponthier (a former colleague at his college station, KNTU), and Tricia Halloran. Halloran recently left the station and is a Hum in Santa Monica, CA staff music supervisor.
On Labor Day, September 7, 2009, KCRW launched Eclectic24, [4] an online 24-hour music channel. Created and curated by Douridas, who has programmed the channel since its inception, the concept features a continuous original mix of its unique eclectic programming, including many exclusive live tracks captured from on-air performances first broadcast on its flagship daily music program Morning Becomes Eclectic and other programs.
On the occasion of the 2016 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the channel staged an All-Coachella programming event on April 14–17, 21-24. The concept was further explored on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 in celebration of the 75th birthday of Bob Dylan. A Day of Dylan featured original Dylan masters, covers of and by Dylan, songs about Dylan, and interview clips.
Douridas has carved an extensive career in film music supervision producing the soundtracks of such films as American Beauty , Shrek 2 , As Good as It Gets and the Austin Powers trilogy. His work on 1999's American Beauty and 2004's Shrek 2 brought him Grammy nominations.
In the late 1990s, Douridas was an A&R executive for DreamWorks Records, the label started by David Geffen, Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker. While there, he brought in the bands the Eels and Propellerheads, and produced the Grammy nominated soundtracks for American Beauty and Shrek 2 .
In November 2006, Douridas came across an import release from an artist named Oren Lavie. [5] After a long distance correspondence, the two decided to partner on releasing his album The Opposite Side of the Sea in the US. In May 2008, "Her Morning Elegance", the album's first single, was unveiled in a commercial for Chevy Malibu, [6] and, again in January 2009, in a celebrated stop motion music video [7] that was subsequently nominated for Grammy Award for Best Music Video and viewed over 30mm times. Lavie also contributed an original song for the 2008 Andrew Adamson film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian , which Douridas was consulting on.
In 2015, Douridas embarked on a joint publishing venture with Mothership Publishing, the publishing arm of Anti- Epitaph Records, headed by publishing icon Lionel Conway and Brett Gurewitz. The first signing under this new partnership is with Canadian troubadour Andy Shauf. [8]
While attending a wrap party for his latest film project at a venue called Bardot, upstairs from the Avalon Hollywood on Vine Street, Douridas was invited to come back to DJ and curate an evening at the venue. A few months later, on April 12, 2010, he hosted the first in a weekly series described as a 'new Monday night Hollywood party'. The inaugural evening featured live performances from Dawes, The Like and a DJ set from fellow KCRW host Anne Litt. Week two featured the debuts of new projects from Chrissie Hynde and Brett Dennen. In its first year, the series was named "America's Best Party" by Paper Magazine. [9] Since then, School Night, named for the excuse colleagues gave for not being able to attend the late night weeknight event, has become a launch pad for new artist projects. The night is produced in collaboration with LA promoter Matt Goldman. To date, the series has featured the US debuts of London Grammar, [10] Michael Kiwanuka, Chet Faker, Liam Bailey, and Katy B, among others, and the LA debuts of Years and Years, James Bay (singer), The Naked and Famous, Two Door Cinema Club, Wolf Alice, Alt-J, Twin Shadow, Frances (musician), Maximum Balloon, Tom Odell, Villagers, and MNDR. Additionally, the night often hosts surprise appearances from iconic artists as well, with past appearances by Moby, Ben Folds, Chrissie Hynde, Miguel (singer), Florence and the Machine, Daniel Lanois, Brett Dennen, Vanessa Carlton with Stevie Nicks, Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, [11] Neil Finn, Matisyahu and Kimbra.
A monthly event dubbed School Night NYC was launched at The Bowery Hotel in 2010. In July 2013, Douridas announced a weekly series would start September 8, 2013 at Brooklyn Bowl, in Brooklyn, New York. The New York event moved to Baby's All Right in Brooklyn in June 2016.
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, School Night temporarily rebranded into a virtual concert series under the name Home School.
Douridas' began his career as an actor in Texas. While in high school, he was a national champion at the 1980 National Forensics Competition. At North Texas State University, he was a theater major and scholarship recipient. In the late 1980s, Douridas appeared on stage at the Dallas Theater Center, Stage #1, and Dallas Repertory Theater. Film acting credits include the 1984 television movie The Jesse Owens Story , which was Douridas' first film role, a 1986 episode of Dalton's Code of Vengeance , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 , Waterworld , and Wim Wenders' 1997 film The End of Violence . Television roles include appearances on Party of Five and Ellen .
Douridas hosted the inaugural season of Sessions at West 54th , a live interview and performance series on PBS. The first season featured sessions with Beck, Fiona Apple, Philip Glass, Ani DiFranco, Yo Yo Ma, Sinéad O'Connor, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, and David Byrne, among others. Douridas brought in renowned documentarian D.A. Pennebaker to shoot the accompanying interview segments for each of the first season's performances.
Douridas was Vice President of Music for America Online, overseeing the popular Radio@AOL service, a network of 125 original online radio stations. This service was created by Spinner.com, a project spearheaded by Josh Felser and Jim Van Huysse. Felser lured Douridas from DreamWorks. While at AOL, Douridas launched the online interview and performance series "Sessions@AOL", which he hosted and produced.
Following his work with AOL, Douridas was hired by Apple's Steve Jobs to be a creative consultant for the launch of the iTunes music store, creating and producing the iTunes Originals series and iTunes Essentials, a popular lifestyle playlist series.
Douridas was born in Columbus, Ohio.
In January 2006, Douridas and a friend were arrested at the Circle Bar in Santa Monica after a witness accused them of trying to drug and kidnap a female patron, who was underage and at the bar using her cousin's identification. [12] The girl was taken to a local hospital and later released. The Los Angeles County District Attorney awaited toxicology results before deciding whether to file charges. No charges were ever filed following the toxicology results and an investigation. [13] [14] In an article in the Los Angeles Times , Douridas's ex-wife Mieke Kramer said Douridas was having a drink at the bar when he noticed a girl whom he’d met that evening was becoming ill. Seeing no one else moving to assist her, Douridas took it upon himself to help her outside to get fresh air, she said. She described him as "the kind of person who pulls over when he sees someone’s car is broken down. This is a case of good intentions misinterpreted and an example of why people don't help each other anymore." [13] Douridas maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, as did his longtime workplace, KCRW, who "could have easily distanced itself from Douridas by placing him on administrative leave... stood staunchly behind Douridas from the moment of his arrest." [13] Douridas was released on $1 million bail. [12] After a five-month investigation, no charges related to the woman were ever filed. [14]
On April 30, 2006, Douridas' only daughter died in a drowning accident while having a seizure while bathing in the bathtub at her family's home in South Pasadena. She was 14 years old. [15]
KCSN is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Northridge, California, and owned by California State University, Northridge. The station simulcasts with KSBR from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. The station primarily airs adult album alternative (AAA) and Americana music with a mix of legends, new music, and local music with some specialty programming on weekends.
KCRW is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming from NPR and other affiliates. A network of repeaters and broadcast translators, as well as internet radio, allows the station to serve the Greater Los Angeles area and other communities in Southern California. The station's main transmitter is located in Los Angeles's Laurel Canyon district and broadcasts in the HD radio format. It is one of two full NPR members in the Los Angeles area; Pasadena-based KPCC is the other.
Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen is a tribute album to Leonard Cohen, released in 1995 on A&M Records. It takes its name from a song by Cohen which originally appeared on Cohen's album I'm Your Man. However the song "Tower of Song" does not actually appear on this tribute album.
Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station programming format in which the disc jockey is given wide or total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commercial radio stations, in which DJs have little or no influence over programming structure or playlists. In the United States, freeform DJs are still bound by Federal Communications Commission regulations.
Sounds Eclectic, was a weekly syndicated public radio program hosted by Nic Harcourt that plays a variety of music, often by emerging artists. A trademark of the program is recordings of live sessions from artists both established and new, taken from the archives of the daily KCRW program Morning Becomes Eclectic. A number of well known bands, such as Coldplay, Norah Jones, Dido, Jem, Sigur Rós and David Gray were featured on the show before they achieved widespread fame.
KUSC is a listener-supported classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and operated by the University of Southern California, which also operates student-run Internet station KXSC (AM) and San Francisco's classical station KDFC. It is the largest non-profit classical music station in the country and one of the two classical music stations in the Greater Los Angeles Area along with KMZT.
Sessions at West 54th is an American television program that featured music performances, and was in some ways a pop music variation on the theme set by the long-lived Austin City Limits, though the featured musicians represented a number of musical genres. It was called Sessions at West 54th because it was taped at Sony Music Studios on West 54th Street in Manhattan. Jeb Brien and Niki Vettel, APS senior v.p. for program development, developed the series after working on APS concert specials with Suzanne Vega and Ottmar Liebert. It was produced for public television syndicator American Program Service (APS) and was carried on many public television stations. It first aired in most places on July 5, 1997, when it was included in the Saturday late-night lineup of stations covering 85% of the country. After the program ended, an edited commercial television version also aired on the commercial Trio cable television network.
Nic Harcourt is an English-born American radio and television presenter, producer, and journalist best known as the former Music Director and on-air presenter for the Santa Monica, California-based radio station KCRW. Harcourt hosts the weekday 88.5 FM Morning Music Mix at KCSN in Northridge, California.
Morning Becomes Eclectic (MBE) is a three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill trilogy of plays, Mourning Becomes Electra.
Mark Moseley is an American voice actor, radio personality, stand-up comedian, and singer-songwriter. He has appeared in a variety of films, television shows, and video games. He is best known as a voice double for actors such as Eddie Murphy, Patrick Stewart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patrick Warburton, and Robin Williams.
Jason Bentley is an American radio disc jockey of electronic music in Los Angeles, California. On December 1, 2008, Bentley replaced Nic Harcourt as the host of Morning Becomes Eclectic and as Music Director for KCRW. Previously he had hosted two radio programs: Afterhours on KROQ-FM, and Metropolis on KCRW, the latter for 16 years until November 28, 2008. Bentley and KCRW revived Metropolis in 2013; the show currently airs Saturdays in the 8PM to 10 PM slot.
Oren Lavie is an Israeli songwriter, author, theatre and video director. His music video for "Her Morning Elegance" earned a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video" and has become a YouTube hit with over 35 million views to date.
Raul Campos is a music host on the Los Angeles–based public radio station, KCRW/KCRW.com. Raul Campos creates a mix of emerging artists and current favorites, bringing essential cuts from around the world and a little closer to home. He is regarded as an important DJ in dance music, indie rock and Latin electronica and was described by the Los Angeles Times as a “unique voice in LA radio.”
Thomas Daniel Schnabel is a music consultant, producer and DJ. Based in Los Angeles, he was formerly the music director at KCRW.
Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project is a compilation album consisting of cover songs performed by a variety of artists on KCRW. The recordings come from "Sounds Eclectic", a weekly syndicated public radio program hosted by Nic Harcourt that plays a variety of music, taken from the archives of the daily KCRW program Morning Becomes Eclectic. One exception is The Flaming Lips' performance of Radiohead's "Knives Out", which was recorded in their tour bus on the way to the studio. The album was sold exclusively at select Starbucks locations starting March 13, 2007. A portion of sales helped the station's effort to digitize its music library.
Gary Calamar is an American film and television music supervisor, who has been nominated five times for Grammy Awards. Calamar's notable credits include The Man In The High Castle,Six Feet Under, True Blood, House, Weeds, Entourage, Dexter, and Varsity Blues. He also hosted a long-running program on the influential radio station KCRW in Santa Monica, before moving to 88.5 KCSN in September 2018. Calamar is also a songwriter and recording artist.
missFlag is an indie pop-rock band from Jerusalem. Formed in 2005, the band's music is mostly influenced by the new wave of British music and alternative rock. The band consists of Gil Assayas, Assa Bukelman, Shai Saadia (bass), and Assaf Kraus. The band formerly included Ohad Eilam.
Throughout their career, The Cranberries recorded several radio and television sessions in the form of recording studio sessions, live studio sessions, and live audience sessions.
Ruth Seymour was an American broadcasting executive known for her innovative work with public radio. She has been described as a pioneer in public radio and "a commanding presence in the public radio arena".
Chris Morris is a music writer based in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his coverage of L.A.'s independent scene in the 1970s and 1980s, which made him "a central voice in Left Coast music journalism." He has also written well-received books on Los Lobos and Bob Dylan.
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