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Dave Coler looks at the camera from behind a radio microphone and turntable.
Dave Coler in KNOM Studios, August 2018. Photo: David Dodman, KNOM.

To his air time at KNOM, Dave Coler brings a deep reserve of musical knowledge with an equally deep musical passion to match.

Of his own biography, Dave says – with characteristic wit – that he was “born at an early age,” and indeed, it was still as a young child that he fell in love with rock-n-roll.

Dave was only ten when he watched the famous performance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. He recalls that “nothing was the same after that. Music became a driving force in my life.” Dave happily absorbed influences and inspiration from all different kinds of music – from hard rock to country – as well as from many issues of Rolling Stone magazine (including the very first).

From punk rock to grunge to contemporary pop, Dave has kept on the pulse of modern music, although he cites the “times in between big movements” – between, say, punk and grunge, or between grunge and pop domination – as his favorites.

“When everything is going good on my show,” Dave says, “I am drawing lines between different genres of music, hopefully showing a common bond.” At the very least, his mantra is to “(play) music that I think needs to be heard.”

You can hear Dave Coler – and the widely diverse array of music he features – on his Saturday-afternoon Rock Extravaganza (1-3pm). Dave also hosts KNOM Live.