Morning Becomes Enigmatic

Back when I was driving back and forth between court and work, I would check out KCRW's morning program and I found out that long time host Nic Harcourt was leaving the program.

The Santa Monica-based public radio station KCRW-FM (89.9 to you locals) has been home to the DJ for the last 10 years, presiding over the nationally known "Morning Becomes Eclectic" program.

Harcourt won't be completely splitting from the station -- he will continue to host a three-hour music program on Sunday evenings. After that, he will concentrate on building his own business, Samluna Media, and expand activities into movie, television, and voiceover work.

Outside of KCRW, Harcourt has been active in music supervision roles in film and television. He was behind the music on the short-lived CBS series "Love Monkey" and has worked on such films as Ice Age, "Igby Goes Down" and Anchorman. Currently, Harcourt is serving as a music supervisor on "90210".

With Harcourt at the helm, "Morning Becomes Eclectic," which first aired in 1977, became a nationally known brand, one that's attached to concerts, compilation CDs and music events around the country. KCRW, for instance, is one of the most prominent brands featured at the annual South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas.

"Morning Becomes Eclectic" had been instrumental in supporting the careers of a number of developing and independent artists. In a statement, Harcourt himself takes credit for "introducing artists" such as Coldplay, Damien Rice, Dido and Norah Jones to a wider audience. Even before Harcourt took over "Eclectic" hosting duties from Chris Douridas in 1998, the morning show was known for helping launch the career of Beck. Harcourt does not have a debut date for his Sunday program, which will be a three-hour show beginning at 6 p.m. It will replace the syndicated "Sounds Eclectic," which currently airs Sunday evenings as a two-hour mix of the best of the past week's "Morning Becomes Eclectic." Harcourt says there are no plans to syndicate his new Sunday show.

This is the first week without Harcourt. The new host is Jason Bentley, a heavy duty local DJ with some pretty serious cred.