A power outage in Seattle disrupted KEXP‘s online streaming services on Friday, affecting its global audience. The outage began around midnight, with the station experiencing intermittent issues before a major power failure between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., according to Dashel Schueler, KEXP’s director of marketing and communications. Schueler noted that the cause of the outage remained unknown, leaving the station in a state of uncertainty as it worked to restore services.
The station’s backup power system, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), also failed, leaving the server room infrastructure without power. Schueler stated, There’s no power to the server room infrastructure because the UPS that is supposed to protect all of that gear has failed.
Staff are working to restore services while awaiting UPS repairs or a workaround, with critical devices being powered manually in the interim.
The outage impacts KEXP.org and the station’s mobile app, with no estimated time for streaming to resume. Listeners in Seattle can still tune in via 90.3 FM. KEXP reaches approximately 175,000 weekly live streamers and 85,000 on-demand listeners, many of whom took to social media platforms like X and Bluesky to express their frustration and support during the outage.
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The disruption also affected 92.7 KREV, a San Francisco Bay Area station owned by KEXP, which relies on KEXP’s Seattle-based digital infrastructure. KREV resumed broadcasting by 8:45 a.m. using a basic remote setup, though listeners may experience some issues. Schueler explained that KEXP’s DJs manually manage live song selections and underwriting breaks for both Seattle and the Bay Area, adding complexity to the restoration process.
By late Friday afternoon, KEXP had launched a temporary livestream on its site while continuing to restore full services. Around 7:30 a.m., KEXP DJ John Richards read messages on air from listeners across Seattle who were happy to have the station back, even if only terrestrially. The station’s efforts to maintain some level of service showed its commitment to its audience despite the technical challenges.