Wish You Were Here: Recapping KEXP's Good Mail Day

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a bizarre year. At KEXP, we’ve mostly been trying to keep safe and keep the music going, because the music helps us keep going. But when the United States Postal Service was under fire (seriously, 2020?), we knew we wanted to do something. So we had people send in song requests by postcard and we’ll play them all on what we called “Good Mail Day” on September 22nd. (Ending with plenty of time before Election Day, as to not flood the USPS.) People buy stamps and show the Postal Service some love. We had Postal workers record station IDs to play throughout the day. We thought we might get just enough postcard and letter requests for a whole day of programming. Well, turns out people really love the USPS. Our mailboxes (and hearts) were overflowing. 

KEXP received more than 2,000 postcards at the end of the day. (Enough for weeks of programming.)

We received mail from all over the world…

And found out that many of our listeners are family members of USPS employees! (We’ve got a handful at KEXP, too!)

People sent us postcards they’ve been holding on to for years.

We knew this already, but holy cow do we have talented listeners who made actual art for Good Mail Day.

If you didn’t know this before, Good Mail Day confirmed that the children are our future and our future is bright.

You all shared your lives with us through mail and we are so grateful.

We turned “Good Mail Day” into “Good Mail Week,” with DJs playing mailed-in requests as much as they could. Initially, we thought we could get all these postcards scanned in to share, but that workload became impossible. (Especially when we’re all socially distancing and working remotely.) 

If you sent a postcard or letter, THANK YOU. Know that it was read, appreciated, and it helped us—and maybe helped the US Post Office, too!

This feels weird to say, but we at KEXP didn’t realize how much we needed this kind of connection in 2020. The handwritten and heartfelt messages of Good Mail Day gave us hope and love for our KEXP community. Times are hard right now. You are not alone.
 

Thank you. We wish you were here… but it’s so nice of you to write.