Astoria is a magical place with more bookstores, arcades, ice cream shops, breweries, historic theaters and bridges than make logical sense based on the population size. We have a 100 year old column on top of a hill that serves no practical purpose except to delight people. We have many mysterious hidden pathways and a single sandy beach. The disintegrating remains of numerous canneries (and one brewery) populate the waterfront and Astoria is also home to KMUN – a volunteer-run community radio station serving the north coast of Oregon and southwest Washington.
Fort George employees work hard to make an impact in our community by volunteering for local non-profits like KMUN. Fort George Vice President Brad, Marketing Director Brian, Co-Founder Jack Harris and Graphic Designer Skyler all volunteer at the station regularly, helping to keep community radio alive and well in Astoria and beyond. KMUN broadcasts across the North Coast area from the Tillicum House, the Fort’s Exchange Street Neighbor.
If you’re on the coast, you can tune into 91.9FM and listen to live broadcasts, local news, interviews, local interest shows and a wide range of music from indiepop to country, from international tunes to 60s classics. If you’re not on the coast, you can still listen in at kmun.org.
Brian is currently a volunteer programmer at the station. You can hear him every other Thursday on The North Coast Range. In the past, he was Operations Manager on staff and volunteer engineer for Troll Radio Review.
Skyler hosts a show which airs every other week. You can listen to The Son of Dario Charnay every other Saturday at Midnight. Skyler says: “It’s a Late-Night Musical Variety Show for Those Who Prefer Their Tunes with a Bit of Grit.”
Brad is a volunteer programmer for the station, hosting Dead Friday – one hour of Grateful Dead and a second hour of Grateful Dead-adjacent artists and tunes.
Jack has been a volunteer with KMUN for over 25 years. Starting in 1998, Jack has hosted Late Night Radio, Thursday Morning Folk, and was a founder of Dead Friday, Gospel Train and more. Off the air, Jack has served on the board of directors including as President of the Tillicum Foundation, the non-profit that runs KMUN. After he hung his hat up in the beer industry, Jack served as Program Director at the station, helping train new on-air talent while guiding (herding) 50+ volunteer programmers. In 2025, government funding was cut for The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which subsidized much of NPR and other programming. This could have been catastrophic for a small radio station like KMUN but Jack’s last dance as Program Director was re-organizing hours of programming, using our locally produced programs and other public programs to continue to keep listeners on the North Coast informed and entertained, while ensuring this resource is available to the community for years to come.
What makes KMUN special?
Brad: KMUN is an incredible asset to our coastal communities. It’s genuinely local in every sense. Local people sharing local news stories and spotlighting local community events. It’s our own community coming together to share our values, our personalities, and programming that spans the full cultural gamut.
Skyler: In an era where subscription models and streaming services are basically a runaway train of diminishing returns, KMUN stands as a beacon of hope. What is Community Radio? It’s all in the name. Radio, made for the community, by the community. Free of corporate influence. Whether you are a homeless person whose only possessions are a cool dog and a dollar store radio, or the richest person in Clatsop County, out cruising in your pleasure craft… you can tune into KMUN without paying a dime. And you might just hear The Song That Changes Your Life, or the tsunami warning that saves your life (although if you’re out in the pleasure craft you might just have to settle for the song). KMUN is a precious resource that must be protected at all costs.
Brian: KMUN has actual local people reporting on the news and doing a variety of music programming. You get to know their voices and their programming style. I can typically tell within a song or two who is programming the show, which is fun! I learn all sorts of new music from the variety of people that go on the air.
What is your show called, what do you play, what are the vibes?
Brian: My show is called North Coast Range every other Thursday from 1-3PM. I call it that because I get to play “a range of music” which basically is whatever I’m feeling that week! I try to focus on new releases as much as possible, but will also go anywhere in between from Jonathan Richman to Big Thief. The 2PM hour is “Brian’s Country Corner,” focusing on independent/alt country, folk country, country blues and country-adjacent. The joke around the station has become, “Brian often doesn’t leave his Country Corner.”
Brad: Dead Friday! Every Friday night from 8-10PM. The first hour is devoted entirely to the Grateful Dead, followed by a second hour featuring an artist who has either inspired the Dead, been inspired by them, or shares their improvisational spirit of musical exploration.
Skyler: My show is called The Son of Dario Charnay. Musically, it’s kind of all over the place; it might go from West African groove into some Floridian technical death metal, over to Icelandic dream pop, then finish up with a novelty vintage toothpaste jingle. I also try to work in some spoken words every episode, whether it’s snippets from interviews, or full essays, or possibly incantations. The editing can be kind of… experimental. In that sense, TSODC is kind of like Radiolab if it played more music, had blearier eyes, did less research, wasn’t as charming, wasn’t as good, and was constantly sliding down the side of a hill.
How did you get involved in radio?
Brian: For one semester I was actually a communications radio major in college. I have a minor in music with a focus on audio engineering, but since that wasn’t a possible major, I thought that I would like radio. I had an internship lined up a WXRT Chicago and everything, but that year I discovered the Music Genome Project, aka Pandora and had a vision that radio was dead. Fast Forward 5 years and I moved to Astoria and discovered KMUN. Jack Harris was still doing a late night show at that point and he invited me up to play a set of music with him and I was hooked. I didn’t know that was a thing that you could just do! I was always the guy at parties with 5 custom made CD playlists to put on the 5 disc changer and control the vibe. Now I can do that for a whole listening area!
Skyler: My dad actually did a show on KMUN in the 80s called Dario Charnay (the name is an anagram. Put your wordle skills to good use). The gimmick was that every episode Dario couldn’t make it to the station for one reason or another, so my dad would have to ‘fill in.’ When I moved back to the coast I decided to carry the torch with The Son of Dario Charnay. With any luck twenty years from now people will be able to tune in to The Daughter of The Son of Dario Charnay.
What are your favorite sources for discovering new music?
Brad: I have a text thread with friends from college where we share new artists with each other. I also have various social media platforms that I follow, sharing recommendations for particularly good live shows in the jam band scene or artist recommendations that are new to me. My favorite follow is [@]phishonphilm, more commonly referred to as PHILM. There’s a good amount of Phish content, but it really shines with new artist spotlights, tour announcements, top notch memes and a healthy obsession with Bravo’s Summerhouse drama.
Brian: I spent quite a few years booking music, so that keeps me up on local and touring music. I like to look at festival bills as they come out and pick out any names at the bottom that I might not know and give them a spin. I also enjoy listening to a few other stations across the country to see what they are doing. WNCW Spindale, NC, KPIG Freedom, CA and of course KEXP Seattle are all regular listens. Just like with KMUN, I have found some of my favorite programmers and love to tune in when they are on.
KMUN is always in need of donations and volunteers. You can learn more about the volunteers that keep the airwaves populated and then become a listener who keeps the lights on at KMUN.org.
