The New KEXP ‘Drive Time’ DJ Has Local Roots

Drive Time show this summer.” data-image-selection=”{“x1″:0,”y1″:560,”x2″:2333,”y2″:3203,”width”:2333,”height”:2643}” readability=”-19.851851851852″> Evie Stokes took over KEXP’s Drive Time show this summer. Early in the 1990s, a young Evie Stokes clutched a little purple boom box under her pillow, turning it up just enough to hear the music her parents forbade. Stokes snuck listens to 107.7 The End, hearing DJ Marco Collins introduce acts like Beck and wondering to herself, “What is this?” A few decades later, DJ Evie Stokes assumes the reins of KEXP’s Drive Time show, a slot she inherits from the station’s legendary Kevin Cole. Her plan? Mix classics—she got a David Bowie–inspired tattoo when he died—and new discoveries curated from the hours she spends listening to submitted songs before each show. A self-described shy person, Stokes will nevertheless serve as the voice of Seattle’s fiercely independent music station from 4 to 7pm four days a week. “It’s cheesy,” she says, “but you have to do things that scare you.”  I found myself, from a really young age, wanting to be the person in the family who got to choose what the music was gonna be on road trips. I got into my teenage years and loved things like Ja Rule and...