Ryan Castle has been serving rock listeners of Seattle in the midday time slot for over 20 years, a dream job that grew from his roots as a kid KISW caller. A self-described “music omnivore” and “bit of a connoisseur” when it comes to beer and whiskey, Castle also does Pacific Northwest double-duty by helping out Portland’s Classic Rock at KGON.
For Castle, a career in radio really began with a phone and a cassette player. “I was the geeky kid who used to call radio stations and record the radio on a cassette player and try to play DJ,” he says.
Those early days of chatting up radio personalities all started at the same station he now calls the office. “Coincidentally, it was KISW in Seattle when I was growing up, and it was really the inspiration for me getting into doing what I do now. I always wanted to work here… But it seemed incredibly unrealistic as I was growing up,” he explains.
Ryan Castle got his first radio job when he was 16 years old in Yakima, Washington, helping out with overnights and board op during Mariners and Seahawks games. A few brief stints at other stations in the Midwest and beyond, he landed at Seattle’s KISW just about 21 years ago and never looked back.
“I got the opportunity to come home in 2003, and I’ve been here ever since,” he says. Castle knows that if a childhood version of himself could see him now, working at the station he called into in his free time as a kid, young Ryan would be mind-blown. The move to KISW was a “no-brainer” for him.
He also helps remotely program and manage Audacy’s KGON in Portland while making time every two weeks to visit in person. “Portland’s cool as hell. I’m a Portland apologist,” Castle says of the city that’s been the center of some questionable headlines over the years. “Portland has the edge that Seattle somehow lost over the course of the last 15 years. We’re very polished up here [in Seattle] now.”
Being so radio-passionate since his childhood in the PNW, Castle has a lot of admiration for the legendary broadcasters of the area who he’s always looked up to.
“Cathy Faulkner was definitely one of those people, and Cathy and I have become good friends over the years,” he says. “We did our 50th anniversary here at KISW back in 2021, and I got to talk to a lot of the people I grew up listening to on the radio. It was pretty wild. There was a guy named Jon Ballard, who I remember listening to when I was young, and of course, Bob Rivers, a legend and now a hall of famer and maybe one of the kindest, smartest guys. There were a handful of those… Gary Crow was here on KISW. There’s just so many legends that came out of this place.”
Castle also reflects on the pros that helped usher him into a career in broadcasting, taking note that the industry is full of people who have a knack for lifting up the next class of radio talent. “It takes somebody to go, ‘Ya know, that kid’s a pain in the ass, but maybe there’s something there,’” he jokes.
Sporting a tee that looks at first glance to be a standard from the Hard Rock Shop, closer inspection reveals the “Yacht Rock” spoof plastered across the iconic logo. Castle’s music tastes are vast, and he’s lucky enough to have some passion for the music he plays on air.
“I’m a total music omnivore,” he says. “We launched a Soft AC station here years ago called The Sound…and I used to joke that KISW and The Sound have one thing in common, and that’s that I like about 80% of the music.”
He admits he gets his rock fill at work, though. “I can’t imagine anyone who does this for a living, who spends their days listening to AC/DC, Metallica, and Nirvana, goes home and puts on Appetite for Destruction. I don’t think you could do it as much as I love it.”
Still, some of Castle’s most iconic career moments have been born of the rock world, most notably, perhaps, an occasion at a studio in LA while recording an album premiere with “the best-smelling person in music,” Ozzy Osbourne.
“If you know Ozzy, you know he smells fantastic. Later on, Nikki Sixx walks down the hall and asks if Ozzy was around. I said he was in the other room, and he said, ‘Yeah, I can smell him.’”
It’s quirky moments like this that have Castle sure that his younger self would be so stoked to see what his daily life is like now. “I’ve been able to do some pretty cool stuff. I always like to go back to ‘What would 14-year-old Ryan think of this?’ and it keeps me from getting completely jaded or taking some of the opportunities and cool things we get to do for granted.”
As it became more clear early on that a career in radio was within reach, no other job options really crossed Castle’s radar. “The only other thing I have done besides this is I worked at a McDonald’s, and I worked at a Sizzler [Steak House]…and Sizzler isn’t around anymore, so I guess it would be back to McDonald’s,” he quips.
If he had to choose a different path, Castle knows he would probably still be in the music industry. “I think I would still do something around music because I love it. I think any marketable skills I might have pulled out of a radio station over the last 30 years would probably lend themselves to something like that,” he says.
Having a career that capitalizes on a boisterous personality, Castle admits the learning curve within any other role would be too great. “I would be an HR nightmare,” he jokes.
When asked about the secret ingredient to the great radio shows he grew up listening to and now produces, Castle has a quick and confident answer.
“People,” he reiterates numerous times. “People, people, people. Great people. I always say I have the entire history of music in my phone, why would we ever turn on a radio? And it’s all the other stuff. It’s the people and the personalities that 100% make the difference. That’s it. The music is important, but it’s the other stuff and it’s the people that really are difference makers.”
Jacquie Cadorette is a music features reporter for Barrett Media with over 10 years of experience crafting and managing digital editorial content in the broadcast media space. Her radio career began at Philadelphia’s 102.9 WMGK where she assisted with crafting copy for promotional materials before moving on to blogging for Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, writing prep copy for iHeart, and ultimately becoming a senior editorial content producer on Audacy’s central team, where her work was syndicated to over 250 station sites nationwide. After bringing the company’s podcast editorial brand to life as the Head of Content, Jacquie dove into freelance editorial work alongside her other endeavors.
A PA native, Jacquie spent 9 years in New York City and then a few years in Portland, OR to continue her writing career and indulge in great coffee on the west coast. She now lives in South Philly and can be found enjoying live music, looking at the world through her Canon camera, or diving into a project she’s never tried before with unfounded confidence. Jacquie can be reached at jacquiecad.media@gmail.com.
