For most of the week, Richard Kirchen is the managing editor of the Milwaukee Business Journal. However, for three hours every Monday morning, the 44-year-old West Sider transforms into Rich Mars, the quick-witted, slow-talking WMSE DJ.
For five years, mellow Mars has made Monday mornings manageable in Milwaukee, dishing up alternative goodies from old school favorites to new material. Although vigilant about staying current with his music tastes, Mars has a soft spot for '80s stuff, something that those of us who grew up in an era when "alternative was really alternative" deeply appreciate.
Recently, we chatted with this dichotomous DJ/editor about a bunch of stuff, from the Odd Rock Cafe to '80s fashion trends to music, music and more music.
OMC: Why did you choose the radio last name "Mars?"
Rich Mars: My air name until 1994 was either "Rich" or "Uncle Rich" -- the latter being lame but memorable -- during an era when I was playing punk rock/new wave/ college rock on my show. Around 1994 I decided I was getting too old to keep up with the college sound and needed to change directions to a more "adult alternative" musical approach. I decided to change my air name as well. I had been kicking around a concept for programming an "adult alternative" station at the time with the working title "Milwaukee Alternative Radio Station (MARS)." The station never happened, but I decided Mars would make a cool DJ name, so I adopted it.
It is a slight homage to Johnny Mars the old WXRT jock in Chicago, but mainly it was just a quick way to get a good new on-air handle.
OMC: How long have you been doing the Alternative Monday Morning show on 'MSE?
RM: I believe I started doing the Monday show in 1998, but it could've been late '97. Prior to that, I experimented with a morning drive time show on WMSE by doing every other Friday morning in 1997 alternating with Melissa (Ryan).
I started my association with WMSE back in 1980 after reading about the station. It was just WSOE, a campus station for MSOE, but had plans to go 1,000 watts (WMSE is now 3,200). I was a UWM student and talked my way in to being one of the non-MSOE DJs. I was on the station from about May 1980 to August 1982, so I was one of the charter WMSE DJs. I did one of the punk/ new wave/ alternative shows. I left the station in DJ protest over the school taking control of the station from students.
After that, I moved to Dubuque, IA, for a job and lived there for more than six years and kept my muse in radio by doing a show once or twice a month on a community access cable FM station and a short-term part time DJ stint at a commercial station in Galena, IL. When I returned to Milwaukee in 1990, I became involved with WMSE again vas a substitute DJ, filling in frequently on Saturday afternoons for Neil Mickey's "Mickey Mouse Club/ Mouth Club." So I've been around a long time.
OMC: Your show is pretty eclectic, but is there any type of music you won't play?
RM: 1,000 Strings do Julie Andrews.
OMC: What were your picks for 2002 and who are some of your favorite musicians of all time?
RM: My top eight of 2002 were The Eels, Spoon, The Mekons, Guided By Voices, Paul Westerberg/ Grandpa Boy, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Neko Case and Chuck Prophet. I guess my favorite genre is alternative music for grown-ups, whatever that is.
M all-time favorites include Lou Reed/ Velvet Underground, Elvis Costello, Clash, Replacements, Johnny Cash, Alex Chilton, Bob Dylan, Nick Lowe, James Brown, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Jonathan Richman, Kristin Hersh/Throwing Muses, Smithereens, Waco Brothers, Wilco/Son Volt, X, Tom Waits ... I'm sure I'm missing a few.
OMC: Would you describe yourself as an "'80s guy?"
RM: No. "That '80s Guy" would be better. It is true that my DJ style and musical leanings were formed in the 1980s and I do wear black jeans. However, I prefer not to live in the past -- other than the jeans. I do play two to four actual '80s tracks every week, and I play many artists who've been around since the '80s, but I try to keep it contemporary. A lot of '80s acts are still cranking out good new music. Every hour on my show I play between six and 10 tracks from WMSE's "current" CD rack -- those released in the past four months. I'm constantly discovering good, new music by new or new-ish acts. A few from last year included Imperial Teen, Damnations, 20 Miles, Ladytron, Ugly Casanova, Run For Cover Lovers and Rachel Sage. The balance of the material is from the '90s plus those obligatory '80s tracks and the odd '50s, '60s and '70s cuts.
OMC: What do you think of Milwaukee's commercial radio stations? Do you listen to commercial radio?
RM: Commercial radio station's goals is to attract as many listeners and as much advertising revenue as possible, so their musical programming is designed to achieve those goals. I wish commercial radio would be more adventurous, and it took me many years after the demise of WZMF in 1979 to accept the fact that commercial radio wasn't the place for experimentation. The commercial radio industry does what it does, and it's not about taking chances musically. I have many commercial stations on my car radio's preset buttons but I usually start with WMSE and other noncommercial stations before venturing to commercial stations.
My 16-year-old daughter likes Mix 99 and Kiss FM.
OMC: Have you met a lot of "famous" musicians as a MSE DJ? Who is the most memorable?
RM: Actually, I've only met a few. Famous alternative rock people don't like getting up early. Sometimes I'll pop into the station during an afternoon or evening show that has a live guest. I had a chance to meet Southern Culture on the Skids a year or so ago. Nice folks. Back in the early 1980s, I had Girl School and the Romantics on a weekly talk show I did with Divina Infusino, a rock writer. There weren't a lot of hard rocking "girl" bands at the time, so that was a trip. I met Crystal Gayle at the county fair when I was working in Iowa. Very nice.
OMC: Except for Dubuque, have you lived in Milwaukee your whole life?
RM: (I've) lived in Milwaukee all my life except for the Golden Years in Iowa. (I was a) Graduate of UWM. My other profession was playing guard for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970s with Jonny Mac and Lew Alcindor. Oh wait, that was my dream as a kid. Oh yes, and newspaper journalism..
OMC: Did you hang out at the now-defunct Odd Rock Cafe or Century Hall in the '80s?
RM: I missed the Odd Rock because I was in Iowa, but I did visit one time and saw a really cool show there by Couch Flambeau. My Milwaukee '80s clubbing was more in the Zak's/ Starship era. Saw a lot of great shows at The Palms, including X, REM, Psychedelic Furs, English Beat. Saw the Violent Femmes at the old Gordon Park Pub. In the early days of WMSE, we would gather at the station after the clubs closed and hang out, talking about music and radio and our plans for WMSE taking over Milwaukee radio while the on-air DJ put up with / joined in all the commotion.
OMC: How are MSE DJs different from commercial radio DJs?
RM: They oscillate wildly.
OMC: Ah, a Smiths reference. Excellent. You ARE "That '80s Guy!" So ... Is there any city in the U.S. with better commercial radio than we do? What do you think of Chicago's XRT?
RM: I haven't heard much good commercial radio when I've visited other cities, of course I'm usually checking out the noncommercial stations . I don't think Milwaukee commercial radio is much worse than anywhere else is, music-wise. It's all cookie-cutter these days.
{INSERT_RELATED}XRT is a great commercial station -- wish we had it here -- but if I lived in Chicago, I'd probably get sick of hearing Van Morrison all the time.
OMC: Do you collect music? Records? CDs?
RM: I'm not really a collector. I just buy stuff I like and/or want. I didn't adopt CD technology at home until 1992, so I'm stuck with a bunch of cassettes from the late '80s/early '90s that I've been weeding out. I have about 700 record albums and 300 CDs. I used to hate CDs, but at this point, I don't much care other than you have to flip over an album every 20 minutes and a CD goes on forever.
OMC: What album, in your opinion, has the best cover art of all time?
RM: Replacements "Let it Be." They're on the roof, they're scruffy and they're wearing Converse Chuck Taylor's.
OMC: Anything else you would like to say that I didn't ask?
RM: WMSE is an incredibly great station and one of the treasures of Milwaukee. I've been very honored to do an air shift for all these years and get exposed to all kinds of great music.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
