Since September of last year, KC DIY Radio's Justin Betterton and Ben Smith had been the irreverent and unbelievably cool older brothers we never had, two Kansas City-transplanted punks who guided us into an Alexandrian library of hardcore. Until Smith moved to St. Louis in August, the show aired on KKFI 90.1 on Monday nights from midnight to 2 a.m. That's a ridiculous time to be awake at all, much less listening to pure, ass-kickingly unadulterated (well, minus the FCC-regulated censorship) hardcore punk. So it was fortunate that the kindly and charming hosts had been uploading all of their shows to KCDIY.org, where we can revisit them while we wait for Betterton to get his programmer's certification and hit the airwaves again. Spinning scratchy and bratty 45s and bantering with relaxed wit and unimpeachable hardcore authority, Smith and Betterton have repped riot grrrls, gay punks, Canadians, Lou Giordano and people who like to burn things, all while keeping us posted on developments in the area's underground. And that Cult Ritual in-studio performance? That nearly brought the airwaves down. Holy shit.
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