ON THE AIR: KCRW-FM is becoming quite...

ON THE AIR: KCRW-FM is becoming quite the spawning ground for recording activity, with two albums and a new record company on tap directly from station personnel.

Program director and “Morning Becomes Eclectic” host Chris Douridas has just finished compiling the second “Rare on Air” album collecting tracks recorded live on the show. Joni Mitchell, the Cranberries, Jackson Browne, Bettie Serveert, Belly’s Tanya Donelly, Philip Glass and World Party are among the artists represented on the album, which will be released by Mammoth Records on Aug. 22, with proceeds benefiting the publicly funded station.

Additionally, Liza Richardson, who hosts the weeknight show “Man in the Moon,” is working on an anthology of music and spoken word performances for Warner Bros. Records.

Three other KCRW on-air hosts--Tom Schnabel, Jason Bentley and Bruno Guez--are being even more ambitious. Besides being a record company, their new venture, Quango, is also a consulting service for radio and film music and has plans for various on-line and multimedia projects. The three are also partners in a new weekly club called Bossa Nova, which will feature eclectic, international dance music at the new 217 club in Santa Monica each Sunday, starting next week.