Radioheart: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole (2026 | USA | 83 minutes | Peter Hilgendorf, Andrew Franks)

KEXP’s Drive Time has become a part of the sonic wallpaper of the Pacific Northwest for decades, and via streaming, a soundtrack for discovering important new music around the world. For those os us in the listening range, the greatness of Kevin Cole is likely self-evident by now, but Peter Hilgendorf and Andrew Franks have committed the highlights to tape. 

Their candid and valedictory documentary profiles the stunning first half-century of Kevin Cole’s career. We come to understand his career trajectory by way of his early days in Minneapolis as an unlikely club DJ who snuck a few rock tracks into his sets at the iconic First Avenue disco. It was a stint that found him guiding the venue’s trajectory from franchise to independent, and that brought him into the orbit of an emerging local icon named Prince (he spun at his parties and, in turn, spun some of his records fresh off the pressing). Later, he and his Midwest cohort took a spin at inventing independent radio only to be gobbled up by a mega-corporation to eliminate their competition. Which, I suppose, makes his career transition from radio to an upstart online retailer called Amazon just as they were expanding their empire to include music just a little bit ironic. 

Later, the music obsessive and workaholic finds his way back to where we all know him best: finding a place as a pioneering leader who navigated KEXP’s giant leap from college station KCMU’s campus broadcast to a citywide phenomenon and later a global presence. Chocked full of cameos from musicians far and wide, testimonials from fellow DJs and artists whose careers were shaped by KEXP, and personal anecdotes, the film has little in the way of controversy (a digression from Sub Pop swerves into celebrating the insanity of a Mudhoney show on top of the Space Needle, some grumbles about KEXP’s broadcasts in other cities get swept away by the emotion of having created a viral moment for Iceland and Of Monsters and Men). Instead, it offers an in-depth portrait of an impressive life — including his own words describing a journey toward sobriety and living a life of purpose — that has been deeply motivated by sharing the power of music. It’s a beautifully filmed assembly of a local hero who’s certainly worthy of celebration.

• SUNDAY, MAY 17 – SIFF Cinema Uptown – 8:00 PM
• Directors Peter Hilgendorf and Andrew Franks, plus Producer Rebecca Staffel and Subject Kevin Cole scheduled to attend.