Three New DJs Lighting Up the Late Hours

Dear KCRW Insiders,

Every so often, KCRW adds a new voice that feels like it's been hiding in the DNA of the station all along, just waiting for the right moment to surface. Right now, we have three of those voices lighting up the nights: Luxxury, John Tejada, and Peanut Butter Wolf.

Luxxury kicks off the weekend on Fridays from 10 PM to midnight with a show that feels like wandering into a late-night LA venue where guitars snarl, synths flicker, and every track lands with a wink. It's all sharp grooves, left-of-center rhythms, and that distinctly Los Angeles feeling of being up just a little too late for all the right reasons. If you like your rock with a pulse and your alternative cuts with unexpected edges, this is your spot.

On Saturdays from 10 PM to midnight, John Tejada takes over. John is one of those figures whose influence you have probably felt long before you knew his name, a quietly towering presence in West Coast electronic music. His show is clean, hypnotic, and deeply considered, the kind of set that can turn your living room into a late-night drive through a city that only really exists in your headphones.

Then, on the third Sunday of each month from 8 to 10 PM, Peanut Butter Wolf drops in and reminds us what it looks like when a true collector is at the controls. As founder of Stones Throw, his crates run deep: rap rarities, dusty soul 45s, cosmic jazz, oddball pop. His show plays like a lovingly chaotic mixtape from that one friend who always manages to find the thing you didn't know you needed.

All of this lives inside a larger weekend arc that we've been quietly shaping for you: rock-driven energy on Fridays with Henry Rollins, Luxxury, and re-airing of Deirdre O'Donoghue’s Snap; dance grooves on Saturdays from SiLVA, Jason Bentley, and John Tejada; and soulful sounds on Sundays from LeRoy Downs and Peanut Butter Wolf. It is a little intentional architecture for your nights, built out of records instead of bricks.

And if you miss any of it, the story continues during the week. You can catch encore broadcasts from our nighttime heavy hitters at 10 PM: Henry Rollins on Mondays, John Tejada on Tuesdays, Jason Bentley on Wednesdays, and Peanut Butter Wolf on Thursdays. It is like a nightly tour through different corners of KCRW’s musical universe, guided by people who live and breathe this stuff.

If you have not spent time with these shows yet, consider this your invitation. The dial looks a little different at night these days. In the best possible way.

Ale Cohen (Music Director)

Music exec lost it all in fires, made a record two days later

LA’s own Wild Records has spent the past 25 years carving out a fierce, beloved niche with its rockabilly-rooted catalog, more than 200 releases deep and spanning far beyond the genre. This year alone, the label put out a dozen records despite losing its studio, equipment, and master tapes in the Eaton Fire.

Founder Reb Kennedy recalls a post-fire recording session packed with nearly 60 people in a tiny back house, filled with emotion, tears, and resilience, a testament to a community determined to keep the music alive.

Reb Kennedy