By: Andy Gensler
(Larry Hirshowitz for KCRW)
Novena Carmel, a longtime Angeleno, club booker and musicians, just began as co-host of KCRW’s flagship morning music program Morning Becomes Eclectic.
For many Angelenos, radio is not just a casual listening experience, but a way of daily life, one that helps make the endless car times and now the homebound tedium far more bearable. KCRW, one of L.A.’s two NPR stations, is a treasure trove of talk, news and especially quality music programming. When Jason Bentley, host of the station’s flagship morning program “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” stepped down in 2019 after a decade it was unclear who would fill the void. Anne Litt, the station’s beloved Program Director of Music stepped in and ably got us through the past year. Then, finally, on Feb. 2, for the first time in the show’s history, two co-hosts hit the air: lauded longtime KCRW DJ Anthony Valadez and Novena Carmel, a relatively new DJ on the late shift. Their excellent music selecting, smart, witty banter and deep knowledge of the L.A. music scene and far beyond made them the perfect choices. And when Pollstar found that Carmel booked several L.A. venues including Temple Bar, Zanzibar, The Virgil and Townhouse & The Del Monte Speakeasy, played in the bands Wallpaper and BabyStone, and is the daughter of music demigod Sly Stone of Sly and The Family Stone to boot, we made a beeline. Here, this vivacious and brilliant artist discusses how booking clubs and being a musician and now a radio DJ inform each other, and, if perhaps, it’s all in her DNA.