Kurt St. Thomas is an American filmmaker, author, and radio DJ who has worked in the radio and music industry since 1985. During his time at the radio station WFNX in Boston, he became acquainted with the band Nirvana and was the first person to play the album Nevermind on the radio. St. Thomas later interviewed the band for Nevermind It's an Interview and co-authored the book Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects.[1]
From 1987–1995, St. Thomas worked at WFNX in Boston, serving as the station's program, music, and production director.[1][3]
In 2005, St. Thomas started working at KROQ as a disc jockey, but left at the end of 2008 to join Indie 103.1KDLD in Los Angeles.[4] Following Indie 103.1's format change to Spanish in January 2009, he launched Houndstooth Radio, an internet radio station broadcasting from the garage of his house; the station featured mostly new independent artists.[5][4] He later returned to KROQ and produced a show called Jonesy's Jukebox with Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols; he then spent seven years doing weekends and fill-in at KROQ.[2][5]
On August 17, 2012, WFNX, now an internet-only station, re-hired St. Thomas as its executive music producer. He worked there until the station was shut down five months later.[1]
Relationship with Nirvana
St. Thomas became interested in the band Nirvana after their 1989 debut album Bleach and meeting the band backstage after a concert in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the same year. At 7 pm on August 29, 1991, St. Thomas over the WFNX airwaves gave Nirvana's album Nevermind its world premiere by playing the album from start to finish.[6] He invited the band to play at the WFNX's anniversary party the night before the album was released.[1]
In 1996, St. Thomas began collaborating with Mike Gioscia in making what would become the feature film Captive Audience. The black and white film focused on a strange bond between an overnight disc-jockey and a gun-toting intruder.[10] The film won seven international Film Festival awards including Board Of Directors Award Nashville Film Festival 1999,[11] three at the 1999 Planet Indie Film Festival in Toronto, Best Feature Editing Rhode Island International Film Festival 2000[12] and Best Feature Magnolia Independent Film Festival 2000.[13]
In 2001, he began working as an executive for the indie record label Tommy Boy Music.[5] While at Tommy Boy, he directed music videos for the label's artists, Rustic Overtones.[20]
