''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is a three-hour

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

. The show's name is a play on the

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earli ...

trilogy of plays, ''

Mourning Becomes Electra ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932, starring Lee Baker ...

''. The program was created by Isabel Holt. MBE was previously hosted by

Tom Schnabel Thomas Daniel Schnabel (born February 5, 1947 in Los Angeles) is a music consultant, producer and DJ. Based in Los Angeles, he was formerly the music director at KCRW. Early career Tom Schnabel attended USC, The Sorbonne, and UCLA. He later ta ...

(July 1979 - November 1990), Chris Douridas (1990 - 1998), and Nic Harcourt (1998 - November 2008). Jason Bentley followed Harcourt as host in 2008. He announced that he was relinquishing his duties as Music Director and host of ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' after 10 years on August 30, 2019. Anne Litt, the station's current Program Director of Music, served as host from January of 2020 until February of 2021. In December of 2020, Novena Carmel and Anthony Valadez were named as the new hosts, beginning their tenure on February 2, 2021. The show is repeated twice on KCRW's music

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

, and live performances are also sometimes available as audio and video podcasts. Typically, the show features two or three live performances each week during the last hour of the day's broadcast.

''KCRW Sounds Eclectico''

''KCRW Sounds Eclectico'' is a compilation album featuring live performances by leading Latin alternative artists on ''Morning Becomes Eclectic.'' The album was released by

Nacional Records Nacional Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It is home to numerous artists including Manu Chao, Grammy-nominated Mexican electronica group Nortec Collective, Colombian rock band Aterciopelados, Argentine rock ...

and co-produced by the show's host Nic Harcourt and veteran Latin rock artist manager Tomas Cookman. The ''KCRW Sounds Eclectico'' track listing features acts such as

Julieta Venegas Julieta Venegas Percevault (; born November 24, 1970) is an American-born Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and producer who sings pop-rock-indie in Spanish. She went on to join several bands including Mexican ska band Tijuana No!. Ve ...

Brazilian Girls Brazilian Girls is a band from New York, United States, known for their eclectic blend of electronic dance music with musical styles as diverse as tango, chanson, house, reggae and lounge (but no Brazilian rhythms at all). None of the member ...

Manu Chao Manu Chao (; born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao on 21 June 1961) is a French-Spanish singer. He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek, and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his mu ...

Ozomatli Ozomatli is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and incorporating a wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, and others. The group ...

Café Tacvba A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

, Kinky,

Thievery Corporation Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop and Brazilian music, including ...

Aterciopelados Aterciopelados ( en, The Velvet Ones), also known as Los Aterciopelados, is a rock band from Colombia, led by Andrea Echeverri and Héctor Buitrago. Their music fuses rock with a variety of Colombian and Latin American musical traditions. Ater ...

, Sidestepper and

Plastilina Mosh Plastilina Mosh are a Mexican electronic and alternative rock band formed in 1997. They are part of the musical movement known as Avanzada Regia. Jonás González is the lead singer and guitar player. Alejandro Rosso is more involved with the cre ...

. Participating artists donated their proceeds from their live performances to KCRW, with the funds directed towards the support of music programming on the station. Some of the recordings were re-broadcast on the weekly syndicated program "Sounds Eclectic" distributed by

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

. All performances were recorded live to two track digital audio tape and/or Pro Tools sessions and can be found archived in their entirety at KCRW. The album artwork was designed by

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...

Track listing

– La Muerte Chiquita *

– Lo Que Pidas * Sidestepper – Deja *

Juana Molina Juana Rosario Molina (; born 1 October 1961) is an Argentine singer, songwriter and actress, based in Buenos Aires. She is known for her distinctive sound, considered an exponent of folktronica, although it has also been described as ambient, exp ...

– Insensible *

Jorge Drexler Jorge Abner Drexler Prada (born September 21, 1964) is a Uruguayan musician, actor and doctor specializing in otolaryngology. In 2004, Drexler won wide acclaim after becoming the first Uruguayan to win an Academy Awards, Academy Award, which he ...

– El Pianista del Gueto de Varsovia *

– Shadows of Ourselves *

– Baretta 89 *

– Baracunatana * Los Amigos Invisibles – Gorditas de Mario *

– Clandestino * Omara Portuondo - No Me Vayas a Enganar *

– Homme *

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cu ...

– Carabina 30-30 *

– Saturday Night * Kinky – Sol (Batucada) * El Gran Silencio – Sound System Municipal

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.kcrw.com, KCRW official website
''Morning Becomes Eclectic''

Santa Monica College, Profiles, 2002

weekly web show that covers online pop culture (June 24, 2008) American music radio programs Audio podcasts KCRW Public Radio International programs 1977 radio programme debuts