KEXP-FM (90.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in indie music programmed by its disc jockeys.

Alongside its analog transmitters serving Seattle and San Francisco, the station offers an online live stream, a real-time playlist with DJ notes, and an actively maintained YouTube channel.

After partnering with the Experience Music Project, now the Museum of Pop Culture, in 2001, the station began to acquire an international listener base thanks to an early investment in internet streaming and its website.

In 2014, the university transferred the FCC license of KEXP-FM to Friends of KEXP in exchange for on-air underwriting spots, granting the station independence in management and programming decisions.

[12] On July 13, 1971, UW filed an application for a new 10-watt non-commercial educational station on 90.5 MHz, which would be located in the Communications Building (abbreviated "CMU" on campus maps).

[13][14] On October 5, the FCC granted the permit,[13] and the UW Board of Regents approved the concept for the station (originally dubbed KPMG, for "Professional Media Group") the next month.

[17] The station also produced alternative student-led coverage of UW athletic events, including women's basketball, which was not being aired at the time by the commercial rightsholder for university sports, KIRO.

[26] Jonathan Poneman—who hosted a music show known as Audioasis[30]—and Bruce Pavitt met at KCMU, leading to the foundation of record label Sub Pop.

[28]: 17  The role of KCMU—and format competitor KJET—in popularizing bands was further enhanced because of Seattle's liquor regulation regime, which stunted the live events business.

[32] KEXP increased its power in 1987 when it moved frequencies from 90.5 to 90.3 MHz and relocated its transmitter to a tower site in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, using 400 watts.

[38] By the late 1990s, the program had changed names to Street Sounds, with hosts including DJ Nasty-Nes and Marcus "Kutfather" Tufono;[39][40] it remains on KEXP's schedule as of 2022[update].

[34] In November 1992, seeking to professionalize the station's sound, KCMU management made the decision to dismiss nine volunteer disc jockeys to add two syndicated radio programs to the lineup: World Cafe from WXPN in Philadelphia and Monitoradio, produced by The Christian Science Monitor.

[43] In a 2020 journal article, Christopher Cwynar noted that the early 1990s CURSE episode and change in focus mirrored the rise of the adult album alternative format in public radio as well as the demands toward professionalization that similar stations—including WXPN and KCRW in Santa Monica, California—experienced.

[20] In 1999, the university announced it would separate KCMU management from KUOW-FM and place it in the Office for Computing and Communications (C&C), which operated the campus's internet infrastructure, as a test bed for streaming and emerging technologies.

The license would still belong to the university, but the station would relocate to fully upgraded studios in the former home of KZOK at 113 Dexter Avenue North and change its call sign to KEXP-FM, increasing its power to 720 watts.

[56] Cwynar noted that the change in call sign represented the station's shift "from campus-based community broadcaster to community-funded music experience provider".

[57] Our main motivation in transitioning old-media-based KCMU into broadband-Internet-based KEXP was to try to use Internet technologies to springboard DJs and listeners into a wider global audience.

[64] This agreement proved a strain on KEXP's finances to the point where there was a possibility in late 2004 that the station would not make payroll; a 2005 article in Seattle Weekly revealed that several staffers had counseled Mara against entering into the pact.

[73] The relationship ended on June 1, 2011: WNYE replaced KEXP programming with a morning simulcast of Fordham University-owned 90.7 WFUV in New York, airing adult album alternative (AAA) music.

[6] In 2018, KEXP announced that it had received a bequest of nearly $10 million from an anonymous out-of-state listener identified only as "Suzanne", which would be used to establish a permanent endowment, fund an education and outreach team, and deepen the station's work with musicians.

This resulted in staff layoffs, budget cuts, and a heightened reliance on direct support from listeners to compensate for the loss of underwriting revenue from businesses.

[85][86] Under the backdrop of the George Floyd protests in Seattle in July 2020, KEXP revamped its lineup and its programming as part an initiative to increasing the diversity of the music and its staff.

[9] Tom Mara, who was executive director of KCMU and KEXP for 31 years and who had volunteered for the station in the late 1980s as a UW student, announced his retirement as of June 30, 2022.

[92] In 2023, KEXP announced several changes to its schedule effective in September, including the removal of several existing shows and the addition of new programs focusing on Asian and indigenous music.

[93] In October 2023, Friends of KEXP bought KREV (92.7 FM), a radio station licensed to Alameda, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area, at a bankruptcy auction for $3.75 million.

Since 2020, the station has also made major changes to its programming and DJ lineup, and it airs specialty shows throughout the week to diversify from its traditional focus on alternative and indie music.

[9][100] In addition to live performances recorded at the station, KEXP has started covering music festivals outside the U.S., hosting annual sessions at Iceland Airwaves and Rencontres Trans Musicales.

Kevin Cole, KEXP's DJ and chief content officer, attributes Of Monsters and Men's early success to the station's Iceland Airwaves coverage.

[103] The Seattle Center building is four times larger than the old studio and features amenities such as a public performance stage, a courtyard, an indoor viewing gallery, and dedicated shower and laundry facilities for musicians.

[107] The current site of the Gathering Space is threatened by the construction of a new Seattle Center light rail station, which is being built as part of the Ballard Link Extension.