Goodbye and Thanks Jolene!
Since tonight is Jolene’s last night on KISW, I wanted to take a second to thank her, and let Jolene know how much she has meant to us here at the Seattle PA.
When we started, Jolene was the first person to reach out to us interested in what we were doing. We were young, only on our 2nd or 3rd issue at the time. She was genuinely stoked on the zine, and wanted me to come on her show “Loud & Local”, play some bands, talk about the zine, etc. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity. It helped us spread the word on a lot of great bands, and our zine as well. I went back on the show 3-4 times after that, each time with more music, and more members of the staff with me as well. We featured Jolene in issue 7 of the zine, so if you want to know more about her 20 years in this business, check it out in the issue archive here, and you can stream an old episode from 2012 with myself and Pam Sternin here.
Regardless of what you might think about KISW’s music most all the time, Jolene took the opportunity and power she had worked so hard to gain and put it back in to the local community, hosting “Loud & Local” almost every Sunday night since 2006. Having such a powerful advocate for local music has helped out so many bands in this town. You could tell she did this purely out of the love of local music here in Seattle.
I think I speak for the entire Seattle PA staff in wishing you the absolute best in whatever comes next, and we appreciate everything you have done for us, and the local scene. Thank you for everything Jolene, you’ll be missed.
-James Ballinger
Photos by Invisible Hour
