(photo: and early picture of the crew at KRABFM Circled is the late Greg Palmer, later to become Seattle teevee stalwart. He was GM. Please help us ID these folks... is Tom Robbins in there somewhere? Paul Dorpat? Credit: Steve Lawson, not pictured)
KRAB at KRAB 107.7 was the brainchild of the irrepressible Lorenzo Wilson Milam.
KRAB's programming was wide-ranging, bizarre, esoteric, obscure programming cultivated a listenership with broad and ever-broadening and otherwise unheard (of) or neglected tastes and points of view.
KRAB became a cultural institution in the Pacific Northwest served as a national role model, stimulating Milam's formation of the "KRAB Nebulae," twelve loosely affiliated stations across the country. 
It was the beginning of community radio in the United States.
Media specialist Steve Lawson, a former KRAB DJ recalls broadcasting from a former donut shop in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood. On Saturday nights, from 6-11p, his playlist included Indian ragas and pygmies chants. (we'll post more tales from KRABFM in this space. Please send memories to us-- and pictures please!)
Wikipedia:
Lorenzo Wilson Milam, born on August 2, 1933, in Jacksonville, Florida, is an American writer and activist who was instrumental in starting many of the first listener-supported community
radio stations in the United States, beginning with KRAB-FM in Seattle in 1962. Milam, who is credited with helping in the startup of at least 14 stations from the early 1960s through late 1970s, is often referred to as the "Johnny Appleseed" of community radio. He got his start in radio volunteering in 1958-1959 at Lew Hill's KPFA in Berkeley, California. He used a $15,000 inheritance to buy a small FM transmitter in 1959 and spent the next 3 years seeking a broadcasting license "anywhere in the US" from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which assigned him a frequency in Seattle. With the help of volunteer engineer Jeremy Lansman he was able to get his antique Collins Radio transmitter on the air in 1962. Lansman later assisted him in launching other stations around the country, starting with KBOO in Portland, in a mini-network that was sometimes referred to as the "KRAB nebula". Milam authored the book Sex and Broadcasting, A Handbook on Starting a Radio Station for the Community.
(photo: Lorenzo Milam- credit: Jack Straw Productions)
KRAB inspired a lot of other efforts, no doubt, but it was not "the beginning of community radio in the United States." That was KPFA and the Pacifica chain, which started with the above-mentioned Lew Hill in 1946. Three of Pacifica's stations - KPFA, KPFK in Los Angeles, and WBAI in New York - were on-air using the community radio model before KRAB signed on. KRAB was early, but it wasn't the first.
Posted by: Pete | December 10, 2011 at 07:50 AM
KRAB FM was a metaphor for the 60's counterculture.Every hour or two the programming would change. From an eclectic variety of music shows to roundtable discussions of the war in Vietnam,racism in America or maybe local political issues of the day...whenever a speaker would make an appearance in town,KRAB would record the event for playback on the air.
KRAB did air programming, as well, from the Pacifica stations and even Jean Shepherd from WOR.
My favorite program ran for many years on Sun. nites..."Notes from the Undergound" with Tom Robbins.He would play groups that were unheard on commercial radio like Steppenwolf, Hendrix,Joplin and Dylan's early album stuff. In between the music he would read his own poetry.
Listener supported, all volunteer KRAB...the Jack Straw Memorial Network.
Posted by: dale from albuquerque | December 10, 2011 at 11:14 AM
Add a fifteen year old Tommy008 to the photo, appearing on a poetry show i believe two times, in 1968, reading my own poetry. I met Milam. 15000 dollars? i always though he had inherited a small fortune Even in today's money that cant be more than $150,000. Please no haters, taunting me about my book contract . Been busy the last few years the gorundwork for,and now building,a not-so-small fortune. The revised, smaller, better novel is soon to hit the New York agents for a second round of critiques.
Posted by: Tommy008 | December 10, 2011 at 12:58 PM
Which one is Dr. Robotner? (Ray Serebrin) Anyone remember The Ham Radio Hours? That was weird but fun radio. Thee reaction from people around the radio was just as funny. I had a friend who worked graveyard at McCord air force base who would listen and some red neck would complain and turn his radio to country. So my friend would move to the other side on the shop and most of his co workers moved with him. One of the jocks talks about the guys two women screwed and the red neck yells "what did he say?" My friend just shrugged his soulders and repeated it. The red neck would turn his radio up then lean towards my friends radio complaining all the way.
Posted by: Ed Bennett | December 10, 2011 at 09:09 PM
Vividly remember Pacifica .. was in Houston where the station transmitter was bombed twice (by KKK). Yup....that's how they do it in Texas. "We don't like what yer' sayin', BOY...." . Today, they are still going strong ... at least two transmitters later.
Posted by: Eric | December 11, 2011 at 11:04 AM
At one point in the early '80s I was on the staff at KPFT (the Houston Pacifica station). We kept the first bombed-out transmitter on the landing between the first and second floors of the old house in the Montrose neighborhood where, I believe, the station is still located today. Being bombed, twice, by the Klan was a badge of honor.
Posted by: Pete | December 11, 2011 at 11:25 AM
Yup...station still there. I was on the other side of Lovett Blvd at that little ol rock & roll station on the opposite corner!
Posted by: e. | December 11, 2011 at 06:25 PM
Love & miss KRAB.
Posted by: 12th Man | December 12, 2011 at 09:17 PM
I had my one and only on air radio moment once on KRAB. 1974 I was part of Stage One Theater in the Pike market, where The Empty Space Theater started. We were doing a Saturday afternoon variety show when KRAB invited us to do something on air. The show was called "spontaneo Radio".
We would do a short comedy bit, and someone in another booth would play a weird sound cut. Neither side knew what the other was going to do. Sometimes funny, sometimes just weird. I became a listener after that and was sad when they split town to move to Everett I believe.
Posted by: Michael pradip | December 13, 2011 at 11:34 AM
Anyway, I was know as Michael Bluesky back then.
Posted by: Michael pradip | December 13, 2011 at 11:36 AM
Tomorrow is Lorenzo Wilson Milam's B-day and I hope KBOO will celebrate in style.
Posted by: John Clark | August 01, 2012 at 09:24 AM