{"id":53088,"date":"2026-05-13T23:59:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T03:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=53088"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:42:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:42:53","slug":"radioheart-2026-siff2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/13\/radioheart-2026-siff2026\/","title":{"rendered":"RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole [2026] [SIFF2026]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The life and stories of legendary Seattle DJ and personality Kevin Cole are explored in Peter Hilgendorf & Andrew Franks\u2019s charming documentary RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole, presented as part of the Seattle International Film Festival. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the \u201cread this article!” nub above (if you came from the front page), I refer to Kevin Cole as legendary, and it’s true: he\u2019s well known directly here in Seattle, but his influence extends around the world (as we\u2019ll get into) with musical artists and methods to share them. But yet, despite that moniker, RADIOHEART (capitalization is part of the title) is also a documentary of a regular guy, living his life as he enjoys, his ups and downs, his loves and losses. That\u2019s why it works, charming the viewer with a smile – directors Peter Hilgendorf & Andrew Franks, along with writer Rachel Flotard and so many interviewees, laud the 25-year veteran of Seattle\u2019s KEXP radio station, but he keeps a self-deprecating, friendly, good sense of self.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cole has had one hell of a career in bringing the art of great music, favorite hits, deep cuts, and new to the rise of stardom, to our ears. He can be seen as a microcosm of the shifts of radio and bringing music to the masses (Like so many great documentaries, RADIOHEART also has a through-line connecting and speaking with the main story of the man himself. Radio and music distribution have changed over Cole\u2019s tenure in the various locations and styles.) Starting as a club DJ in Minneapaolois in the early 80s, instruminate in first recordings of Prince<\/a> tracks provided by the Purple One himself (Does everyone have a Prince story? Calling Kevin Smith<\/a>!) to traveling to Seattle to help start Amazon Music (some words within about his work for the evil empire), and eventually hitting the Nirvana of KEXP (joke intended), Cole has had a great career. I could hit the details, but that\u2019s the documentary’s job. Mine is to tell you how wonderful an experience this documentary is! And it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Frank and Higendorf work it to make Cole a relatable subject, because he is: a guy you\u2019d love to hang out with and swap stories with as he plays some of his favorite music you\u2019ve never heard of. And he has stories for decades, provided from his iron-clad memory and piles of detailed journals (teh sharing of off-the-cuff observations of his life shows his wonderful ways with words), and a massive record collection to pull from. The sheer volume is astounding, filling his home and storage units. We share in his triumphs and tragedies. Of course, he\u2019s had his downs; the life of a DJ is unsure at times,e especially now in the Spotify age, battles with drugs and alcohol, and these discussions heighten the truths of the documentary, making Cole even more for discussion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RADIOHEART feels good. It\u2019s not a Feel Good documentary, but it has amazing vibes of story, construction, and the life within. Tracking Cole is a great joy. Hilgendorf and Frank mix archival and new interviews, memories, and media of Cole and his companions, all of whom are quite characters as well. The timelines meld, informing and building. There is a smile in seeing and hearing Cole\u2019s contributions to the world; from the mentioned Prince stories, ushering Macklemore to stardom via a KEXP renowned streaming platform, a wowing bit on the Space Needle, and traveling to Iceland to take Of Monsters and Men and make them world famous, not to mention all the early plays in the DJ booth of great music found and shared.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole is a passionate film of a passionate man. Peter Hilgendorf & Andrew Franks put together an enthusiastic skill for their subject and the music surrounding him (they also put together a fantastic set of needle drops, naturally).\u00a0 RADIOHEART is presented as part of the Seattle International Film Festival, running May 7th through 17th, 2026. See more at siff.net\/festival<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

PS In a fun aside, I made it a point to write some of this review at KEXP itself. A fixture of Seattle Center, just two blocks from SIFF Uptown, and across the plaza from SIFF Film Center, it\u2019s a great place to have a drink from their expansive music-themed coffee bar.<\/span><\/p>\n

PPS – Look, another Music doc! Can\u2019t get away!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The life and stories of legendary Seattle DJ and personality Kevin Cole are explored in Peter Hilgendorf & Andrew Franks\u2019s charming documentary RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole, presented as part of the Seattle International Film Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284,12],"tags":[292,698],"class_list":["post-53088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","category-movie-reviews","tag-documentary","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53088"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53096,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53088\/revisions\/53096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}