For those of a certain generation, there may be no more trusted a voice when it comes to music than Kevin Cole. From navigating his way from the clubs of Minneapolis to DJing Prince’s birthday parties, to starting his own radio station, to revolutionizing how radio can function in the 21st century via KEXP, Cole has proven to be a Zelig for the progression of music through several eras.

RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole is a new documentary, directed by Peter Hilgendorf and Andrew Franks, that explores Cole’s extraordinary life, through the loving lens of those who worked with him, and those he championed. Talking to Cole, a person who has spent his entire life in the pursuit of celebrating the art of others, he says that having a movie dedicated to doing the same for him is an understandably bizarre experience.

Kevin Cole

Courtesy of Lake & Pine and 1251 Productions Film

“It’s humbling, for sure, and exciting, fulfilling, and I feel a lot of gratitude,” says Cole. “It’s totally weird and surreal to be in a film about yourself. I’m kind of an introvert by nature and used to being on your side of the mic, the other side of the mic. But I love talking about music, and the opportunity to talk about music, and the power of music. But it’s very humbling to have all of these amazing people in the movie, from various different points in my life, say positive things about me or the impact I’ve had on their life, and that’s really remarkable.”

Apparently, the film started out as a sort of This Is Your Life reel to play at Cole’s sorta retirement party in 2024 (when the prolific DJ shortened his on-air schedule to just one show a week), but soon ballooned past containment and into a full-fledged profile. Seeing RADIOHEART, it makes sense to not only make Cole’s story into a film, but to also fight the urge to make it into a series. The early revelation that Cole served as Prince’s chosen DJ for birthday parties in Minneapolis is just one of the baffling occurrences that mark Cole’s life.

Cole’s status as a Professional Good Taste Haver, as I like to think of it, placed him in the position to increasingly spread the gospel of music throughout the world, starting out with his days in the clubs, and then on to the founding of his own alternative radio station, REV 105.

Cole on air in the 1970s, already in the very serious business of sharing good music.

“We played the very first song on air, which was Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy,’” says Cole. “This super eclectic, new music station that’s coming out with Patsy Cline? I get goosebumps just thinking about it now. We went from Patsy Cline into the Ramones, into The Suburbs, which was this Twin Cities band, into Prince.”

As the documentary covers, he eventually found himself as one of the driving forces of KEXP—formerly KCMU—transforming it from a local, independent station into a global presence. It’s here where Cole’s influence can truly be felt, with high-profile breakthroughs like Macklemore and Of Monsters and Men able to trace their success back to Cole and KEXP’s support.

“Raising visibility and championing artists, sometimes it hits, and sometimes it doesn’t, but it doesn’t really matter to me,” says Cole. “I love it when an artist gets big, but if it’s an artist that I love and can play every time I have the opportunity—like freekind., for example. They’re a duo from Croatia and Slovenia, and their music is in the movie; they’re amazing, so I want as many people as possible, in the world, to hear them and love them. I’ll keep playing them until hopefully that happens, but I guess that isn’t necessarily the endgame for me.”

Cheryl Waters helps tell Cole’s story in RADIOHEART, bringing the perspective of a longtime KEXP DJ who has been with the station since its KCMU days.

Courtesy of Lake & Pine and 1251 Productions Film

Seattle native Eva Walker, KEXP DJ and frontwoman of The Black Tones, is also in the new documentary.

Courtesy of Lake & Pine and 1251 Productions Film

For every anecdote the documentary has about DJing for Prince or broadcasting from the top of the Space Needle, Cole is never at a loss for moments that would have been the crowning achievement of any other person’s life.

“Paul McCartney called me, once, during the show,” Cole says, in a story that couldn’t even find room in the film. “We didn’t even have the ability to take phone calls live on the air. So, his manager just said, ‘Hey, Paul McCartney wants to talk to you. Can you be available?’ I was like, ‘OK, but you gotta give me 30 seconds heads-up,’ so that I could run down into one of the production studios and patch that into the main studio. The phone rings, and it’s Paul McCartney, and he says, ‘Hey, Kevin!’ I said, ‘What’s up?’ He says, ‘I’m driving to Safeco!’ He rolls down his window, holds his phone out, and he’s driving in a police escort to Safeco Field, and the streets were lined with people who were cheering.”

Cole with the records that shaped a lifetime of listening.

Courtesy of Lake & Pine and 1251 Productions Film

Cole says he’s retired, but only just—he still has a show on the air every Sunday from 3-6 p.m., but he’s not given up his job of serving as a quintessential music lover. There’s no way to retire from his actual job, which is to spread the gospel of music wherever he can. After our interview, he sent me a link to listen to a song from freekind., the band he mentioned earlier in our talk. The guy is the real deal, and one gets the impression that, if all he got out of our interview was that he turned me on to a new band, this would all be worth it for him.

Anyway, freekind. is pretty dope, and Cole ain’t too bad himself.

RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole is playing at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, at SIFF Cinema Uptown as part of Seattle International Film Festival. Find tickets here: https://www.siff.net/festival/radioheart-the-drive-and-times-of-dj-kevin-cole