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RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole

RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole explores the life and career of DJ Kevin Cole, tracing his path from the club dance floors of Minneapolis’ First Avenue to the digital halls of Amazon.com, to the global stage of Seattle’s KEXP. Through intimate interviews, archival footage, and the music that defined his career, the film tells the story of a man who revolutionized radio, faced personal demons, and ultimately, used his passion for music to create a lasting legacy of community, healing, and innovation.

  • Peter Hilgendorf
    Director
  • Andrew Franks
    Director
    ODESZA: The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience
  • Rebecca Staffel
    Producer
  • Peter Hilgendorf
    Producer
  • Susan Benson
    Producer
  • Jennifer Cast
    Producer
  • Mike McCready
    Producer
  • Ashley McCready
    Producer
  • Andrew Franks
    Editor
    Return to Mount Kennedy
  • Kevin Cole
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Jimmy Jam
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Jessica Dobson
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Peter Jesperson
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Bob Mould
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Michael Turner
    Music Supervisor
    Winter Spring Summer or Fall, Under the Silver Lake
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 23 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 9, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    479,049 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Peter Hilgendorf, Andrew Franks

Director Peter Hilgendorf
A designer, musician, and filmmaker, Peter led UX, brand, and design teams at Amazon and Microsoft before founding Lake & Pine creative agency. Lake & Pine has produced videos for aerospace startup STOKE Space and music videos for Rhino Records and The Replacements. In addition to his commercial film work, Director Peter Hilgendorf filmed, edited, and produced a video for the memorial of legendary Seattle music publicist Susie Tennant.

Director and Editor Andrew Franks
Andrew is an award-winning commercial and documentary filmmaker based in Seattle. Most recently, he served as co-director and editor on ODESZA: The Last Goodbye Cinematic Experience, a feature that premiered in theaters worldwide.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This is a film about a guy obsessed with music. I feel it. I picture his force as radio waves. First, radiating from a turntable to a dance floor. Then, electrified on airwaves, across a city. Now, bristling through networks, around the planet.

That's Kevin Cole's blast radius. Not a destructive one — it's wild and inspiring; connecting and healing.This is not just a film about an incredible DJ. This is a film about Kevin’s relentless energy for joining audience to art form and how that changed the culture of a legendary nightclub, multiple radio stations, created an internet phenomena, and delivered the music millions would love.

I grew up in the land of Bob Dylan, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, and Prince. I lived in Minneapolis during the heyday of First Avenue and REV105. Kevin Cole's name was on posters and in the papers. I was at Club Degenerate and Depth Probe. I listened to his Rock & Roll Wingding on the way to band practice. He was everywhere. I knew I needed to know this guy.

Back then, I was the webmaster at an alt-weekly — blending my love of the music scene with a bit of tech skill. And then it happened. Our paths crossed professionally. We were going to build something. Me and Kevin. Internet radio something. REV105 + HTML + independent media = ???
We were just starting to imagine…

Then the Telecommunications Act rolled in like a wrecking ball. Media consolidation killed both REV105 and our dream. We scattered. I headed to Seattle.

Nearly a year later, out of the blue, Kevin rang. Amazon was going to sell CDs on the internet and Kevin was tapped to help envision what that would look like. He called me. Was grunge still the scene ? Were there good record shops? Rock clubs? And a decent radio station? That call reconnected us.

In Seattle, I got to actually know him — not the mythical figure from Minneapolis, but the person. We shared a house for a few months. Kevin referred me to Amazon. It worked. We were finally building something together. There, I watched him do exactly what he'd always done: create authentic ways to connect people to music, resist mediocrity, defy corporate logic, and model positivity with his actions. Music drove it all.

Kevin walked away from what most people would call a dream job in tech when he was asked to help tiny KCMU realize their dream of a worldwide broadcast. Today that's KEXP — a massive and passionate global community of music lovers.

Then, in 2024, after half a century in music Kevin was stepping back from the mic. I started making a "retirement" video — a few clips, some photos, interviews with the people who hired him along the way. I thought I knew his story. But as I reviewed footage, as artists and colleagues spoke about what Kevin meant to them — and Kevin opened his box of journals — I realized this wasn't going to be a simple seven-minute tribute.

And so our crew got to work. This picture we've created is a portrait of an intentional life organized around a singular principle: sharing a love of music with the world. Our project grew to match the scope of that principle.

RADIOHEART is what I discovered in the making of it.