KCRW tries to save music collection

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 20 (UPI) -- California radio station KCRW has launched "The Music Match: A Campaign to Save KCRW's Library."

The Santa Monica station said in a news release that it has a collection of more than 60,000 recordings that have great historical importance and cultural relevance. But the problem is that all of the recordings are currently kept in CD drawers and vinyl racks stacked floor to ceiling in a room about the size of a walk-in closet.

The station is hoping its new campaign will raise enough money to store the contents of the library as high-fidelity digital sound files to allow the DJs to fully explore the full range of music available to them without having to dig through the mess, the news release said.

"KCRW is defined by its music," General Manager Ruth Seymour said. "All of our music directors and hosts have expanded the library based on their unique tastes with only one thing in common -- marvelous artistry."