Ruth Seymour
1935 - 2023
Ruth Seymour, aka Ruth Hirschman, who transformed 89.9 KCRW-FM, a tiny college radio station operating out of a middle school classroom in 1977, into a local, regional, national, international public radio and Internet powerhouse by the time she retired in 2010, died at her home in Santa Monica after a long illness at the age of 88 on December 22, 2023.
“She created KCRW by the sheer force of her intellect and interest. It was not her interest to gain the most listeners, nor to win any awards, which she didn’t care about, but to be an intellectual force for arts, culture, and smart ideas.”
—Jennifer Ferro, President, KCRW
“From KPFK to KCRW, Ruth blazed a path that no one else could replicate and succeeded brilliantly doing it.”
—Will Lewis
Profiles of Ruth
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Sydney Thornbury
Close Friend
In the early days of KCRW’s development, an interviewer asked Ruth what the station’s “mission” was. She immediately fired back “To matter.” There was in this response the kind of fearless independence and ability to cut to the chase that were Ruth’s hallmarks. Her “larger than life’” reputation. But it also revealed two other fundamental traits of this complex woman—a commitment to exploring the “big” questions around life and art (i.e., programming that “matters”), and also a deeply practical streak (i.e., If you don’t matter to your subscribers, they won’t donate).
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Sarah A. Spitz
Producer, Publicity Director KCRW
I walked into KCRW in 1983 and stayed for 28 years. The long and short of this remembrance is that I lived through the most historic local, national and global events of the 20th and 21st centuries alongside Ruth; I learned about arts, culture and current affairs and became a seasoned broadcaster thanks to her. I also experienced some of the most emotional moments of my life with, around and because of her.
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Jennifer Ferro
President, KCRW
My first paid role at KCRW was as Ruth’s assistant. Soon after, Ruth elevated me to Assistant General Manager and I worked closely with her for over 16 years. There wasn’t a decision, thought, or argument that she didn’t share with me. She didn’t realize it at the time, but she gave me a front-row seat into the work of a true original.
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Celia Hirschman
Many have talked about the professional Ruth—the woman who envisioned better radio and built it piece by piece.
I’ll speak for Ruth Hirschman, the mother. Ruth met my father Jack Hirschman at City College, New York. Her own father had died weeks before though she didn’t learn about the nature of his death for 6 more years. It’s impossible to understate the loss of her father. He passed on his love of books, compassion and ideas to his daughter. When she met Jack Hirschman, it must have felt so familiar to her. Both Jacks were devoted to ideas, books and the arts. By friends’ accounts, Ruth and Jack Hirschman’s attraction was immediate and electric.