The Market Beet is a short segment playing on Wednesday afternoons between 12 and 12:30pm, presented by Amanda Milholland, Executive Director of the Jefferson County Farmers Markets – Port Townsend and Chimacum farmers markets. Tune in to hear about what’s fresh at the market, upcoming music, and events, as well as news about farming in Jefferson County. Learn more at jcfmarkets.org.

Midlife Crisis Dance Party airs on Thursdays from 3-5pm. Ray presents no content on midlife, crises, or parties. Instead, he offers an exploration of time, magnetism and what happens when tiny robots are set loose in your bloodstream, plus poetry. Stories, The Worst Song of the Week, and diverse music to agitate and convulse dancers, will be also be on offer. No masks, no shirts and no shoes are required. Warning: This show is an acquired taste. 

Stories from the Midlife Crisis Dance Party are rolled out every Monday as podcasts on the KPTZ.org home page, and you can listen to all the episodes on the Stories from the Midlife Crisis Dance Party podcast page.

Ray Serebrin began working at KRAB-FM in Seattle in 1969 and was involved in community radio on and off until joining KPTZ in 2012. Ray’s program, the Midlife Crisis Dance Party, is a mixture of music, vaguely annoying comments, and hallucinatory features. Ray worked in libraries for 40 years, starting as a janitor and finishing as the director of the Jefferson County Library District in Port Hadlock. (Both the janitor and the director jobs allowed him to indulge his fetish for wearing yellow rubber gloves.) He also booked and managed rock & roll and rhythm & blues bands and monitored and regulated a band of unruly semi-rogue chickens (two of whom he had to kill). He has won numerous awards based on his extensive knowledge of how to apply for awards. In 1992 he was awarded “The Lorenzo” in honor of his radio contributions to the Jack Straw Foundation as a Producer/Announcer. His name was misspelled on the award.  Email Ray.

Airing Fridays 3-5pm, Mixtape is an eclectic weekly musical journey with focus, hosted by DJ Christine. From Beethoven to the Beatles to Beyonce, plus obscurities, rarities and the occasional one-hit-wonder, each week’s mixtape is a musical love letter. DJ Christine’s life really was saved by rock and roll, and she’s here to help you end the week on a high note. Email Christine.

Airing Wednesdays from 8-10pm, host Iris Berkeley is your pilot for Modern Jetset, a weekly round-the-world trip through music from soul to synthpop, reggae to R&B, Latin to lounge, and more. With a strong focus on new and recent releases, Modern Jetset also connects the dots between fresh new favorites and the vintage sounds and retro selections that inspire today’s independent music landscape. In other words … it’s the soundtrack to your utterly fabulous, secret-agent, oh-so-funky life.

Wednesdays from 4 to 5pm it’s Music To My Ears with a repeat Saturdays at 1pm – which means I play music from multiple genres and generations. Music that moves me to dance, cry, laugh, think, get goosebumps, reminisce, or to join in with harmony. You can expect to hear everything from the Mills Brothers to Led Zeppelin. Born to a burlesque performer, I grew up around musicians, dancers, comediennes, and have, since I can remember, been performing or writing for the stage, singing in clubs in the mid-and northwest. This is my first time actually at the controls in a studio, but I’ve written and been the voice talent for hundreds of radio commercials. This is quite the challenge and I’m having the time of my life! The best day of my life? When I met The Beatles. I wasn’t born in Port Townsend, but I got here as fast as I could.  Email Dalana.

“Round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows. But when the music stops, be sure to grab your chair so you can stay in the game.” Often times during Musical Chairs you are bound to hear an eclectic mix of Soul, Rap, R&B, Punk, Metal, Noise, Retro and hints of classic rock.  Always looking toward the future and featuring new releases, Musical Chairs is fearless in curating a wide range of sounds to keep you informed, interested and entertained.  Tune in every Saturday evening from 6 to 8pm.

KPTZ’s Nature Now presents eclectic and authentically local news, insights and observations about the natural world around us. Anything that grabs the attention of the Nature Now team can be heard on these weekly shows: birds and bees, flowers and trees, the weather and the stars – everything from microscopic Salish Sea plankton to ecosystem dynamics in a changing world. Listen at 12:30pm on Wednesdays and repeating Saturdays, as well as most Thursdays at 5:30pm.

Every member of the Nature Now team is fascinated by the wonders of the natural world around us, is endlessly curious, hungry for new knowledge, and loves to share these passions with KPTZ listeners.

Jackie Canterbury, a third generation Washington state native, acquired a passion for birds and conservation in college, earning bachelor’s degrees at the University of Washington and Evergreen State College plus MS and PhD degrees from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with an emphasis in physiology and neuroscience. Her master’s degree program involved developing a conservation strategy for nongame birds for the state of Nebraska and her PhD work focused on the Yellow-breasted Chat.

After training as a marine scientist, Nan Evans spent her professional career in natural resource management policy and government affairs for the federal government, the State of Oregon, and The Nature Conservancy.

Debaran Kelso holds a Master’s degree in Ecology. She has worked as a field biologist in various parts of the world, but has made the Olympic Peninsula home for the past 30 years, focusing her study on Northern Spotted Owls.

Mary Robson taught college English on the east coast and then made a life switch to horticulture. She taught at Edmonds Community College, and then for 18 years at Washington State University where she applied her master gardener talents through the cooperative extension service.

When not at KPTZ, you can find team members out in nature with hiking boots or waders, binoculars, cameras, and notebooks. Email the Nature Now team.

Ever wonder what bird is singing in the morning when you open the door to greet the day? Or, why the tides are different around the world? Or, what the latest science tells us about salmon recovery efforts? If so, listen to Nature Now on Port Townsend’s community radio station, KPTZ at 91.9 FM. An original production by KPTZ volunteers, Nature Now is a program of information and insights about the natural history of our region.

Join KPTZ’s Nature Now team as they explore the wonders and puzzles of the natural world around us. Fascinating topics range broadly from ecology, specific plant or animal species, human interaction with nature, discussion with authors, conservation strategies, and, sometimes, even philosophical questions.

The new exciting news is that, in addition to listening to Nature Now programs live or from the KPTZ archives, you can also listen to Nature Now as a podcast on your smart phone. Subscribe to Nature Now in your podcast app and access more than 100 past and current episodes.

DJ Kani-ma spins Near and Far – featuring multi-cultural, folk, and ethnic music from around the world, local musicians, and musicians that have passed through our very own Port Townsend – many of whom she has seen perform live. She is passionate about music and community radio. She believes in supporting musicians through attending live performances, buying their music directly, and sharing their tunes on our “authentic, eclectic,” KPTZ. Kani-ma has had her ears tuned into radio all of her life and was inspired in her early years by Tom Donahue at KSAN in San Francisco (coincidentally the father of fellow DJ Buzzy Donahue), KPFA in Berkeley, and KUT in Austin. She curates her playlists mostly from her own extensive collection. In her spare time Kani-ma likes to dance, watch films at The Rose Theater, support the arts, ride her bike, and share the love! Email Kani-ma.

Nightcrawler is an ode to nighttime counterculture from around the world – hosted by eames. It aims to spotlight the macabre, camp, and passion of post-punk, nu-metal, raw techno, musique concrète, hypnotic EBM, horror-core, industrial dance, experimental R&B, and other musical genres that dwell in the dark. Every Friday from 10pm to midnight. Music requests and inquiries: eames@kptz.org.

Our Town airs alternate Tuesdays and the following Sunday from 12:30-1pm. Host Maryanne McNellis has worked for the Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Business Week Magazine and several other American publications. She lived in Canada for many years and edited The Financial Post, the Canadian equivalent of the Wall Street Journal. In addition, she has taught journalism at universities in both Canada and the USA, including a stint as a Distinguished Professor at the University of Montana.

About OUR TOWN. Have you ever wondered about the people you see every day around Port Townsend? The clerks at Safeway or QFC? The fire fighters or police officers? The barista who serves your favorite coffee just right? KPTZ’s new show “Our Town” profiles some of the fascinating people who live, work and play in Port Townsend. It’s not about the ‘big shots’ – it’s about the real people who make up the texture of the community. Host Maryanne McNellis talks to some of Port Townsend’s finest – from fire fighters to foodies, from artists to animal handlers, and even the occasional bus driver or teenage beauty queen. Listen in and meet someone new. “Our Town” gets you out and about, meeting someone new each time you tune in.

Email Maryanne. Listen to past Our Town shows at KPTZ's podcast page.