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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Vinyl is king at Spokane Public Radio’s recording sale

Darrin Warren has more than 19,000 albums in his collection. After KPBX’s 25th annual Recording and Videos Sale, it grew by 200. “I always usually have tunes playing in my house,” he said. “Most of the stuff I listen to came out before I was born.” Warren was one of hundreds of music lovers who flocked to the opening day of the sale on Saturday at The Lincoln Center. There were CDs, DVDs and video, cassette and eight-track tapes available, but vinyl was king. Hundreds of albums filled rows of boxes lined on tables as people meticulously checked every record. Spokane Public Radio and its three FM stations, KPBX, KSFC and KPBZ, are only months away from moving from their cramped quarters at 2319 N. Monroe Street to the former Spokane Fire Station 3 just down the street at Monroe and Sharp. “The building we live in, we outgrew it years ago,” said president and general manager Cary Boyce. “We really have to move.” The stations have nearly $300,000 of fundraising to go to finish what’s needed for the remodeling and move, said president and general manager Cary Boyce. But this weekend’s sale isn’t about completing that effort, it’s about something more important: keeping the operations going and paying staff. Spokane Public Radio was one radio station with five full-time employees when it started decades ago. Now there are three radio stations with 15 full-time employees, 15 part-time employees and hundreds of volunteers. The new building with provide double the working space and allow the stations to triple their production capacity. “The organization itself has just grown exponentially,” Boyce said. “We don’t have a choice. We must do this.” The renovated fire house also will include a performance studio that can accommodate a small stage and an audience of 40. The space is “acoustically gorgeous” and will allow the stations to host national live broadcasts, Boyce said. The people shopping at the sale Saturday seemed more interested in what interesting album they might unearth. John Parks, who has been coming to the sale for more than a decade, was happy to find a record by the Blue Magoos. “It still has the original Little Nell’s price tag on it,” he said. The former Spokane record store closed in 2005. Parks calls himself a novice collector, but owns “hundreds and hundreds” of vinyl albums. He was at the sale Saturday to pick up albums for $3 each. He planned to come back today when records are sold for $20 per box. “I have a strategy,” he said. Warren, with his collection nearly 20,000, is partial to early rock and roll, rockabilly and country. His biggest find on Saturday was Sam Cooke’s first album on Keen Records. “I think I’ve only seen one other copy,” he said. “It wasn’t in mint condition, but it looked playable.”