Remembering Kevin Diers, KUOW announcer and Seattle radio aficionado

With a heavy collective heart, KUOW remembers Kevin Diers, announcer and board operator at the station and longtime Seattle radio host, who died unexpectedly on Wednesday. He was 39.

Diers was a beloved colleague and friend. His passion for music and radio, creative spirit, and kind heart left a lasting mark on those who worked with him. His contributions and friendship touched many lives.

Arvid Hokanson, KUOW’s director of audience and one of Diers’ supervisors, described him as “a team player who cared deeply about broadcasting and the art of radio.”

"He had as much passion for public radio as he did for hosting Metal Shop on KISW,” Hokanson said. “He brought smiles to work and a desire to learn, grow, and lend a helping hand. Kevin was a wonderful colleague and will be missed."

Cathy Faulkner was one of the early hosts of a metal show at KISW that Diers’ hosted during his 10 years at the Seattle rock station. Later, after Diers joined KUOW as an announcer, he recommended Faulkner for an on-air announcer position that had opened up.

“What I enjoyed most about working with him either at KISW or KUOW is he was an amazing, gentle, kind soul with an amazing work ethic and an obsession and passion for the local community,” Faulkner said.

For example, Faulkner said Diers wrote for The Stranger and worked to help with various podcasts at KUOW and elsewhere. He was deeply into the Seattle music scene and was an enthusiastic supporter of DEFY Wrestling.

“He was always networking people together,” Faulkner said. “He was a pivotal person in the Seattle music industry, supporting local music of all types, but especially in the hard rock and heavy metal community.

KUOW Online Editor/Producer Stephen Howie had previously been Diers’ professor when Diers was pursuing a journalism degree at Western Washington University, where he graduated in 2008.

“He was a bright light,” Howie said. “Just the passion in his eyes, especially when it came to music and radio. He was all in.”

Diers had a passion for professional wrestling, and he worked as a ring announcer, a social media creator, and a podcast host for DEFY Wrestling in Seattle.

DEFY Founder Jim Perry Gilmer said Diers worked with DEFY from its start in 2017 and, over the years, interviewed more than 100 wrestlers for its podcast, The Defyant Ones.

“He was proud of that show, and it helped create a platform for wrestlers to share, with great vulnerability, the real person behind the persona. He had a talent for allowing others space to really be open,” Gilmer said via email. “He was a fervent advocate for building local community through art and collaboration. His humor, warmth, and enthusiasm will be dearly missed by all of us.”