“One morning I showed up and Norm Macdonald was waiting at the door!”
No, this isn’t the beginning of a Lorne Michaels story or an outtake from Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. This is an end-of-days true statement attesting to the (former) uniqueness of Milwaukee’s (former) alternative radio station WLUM-FM 102.1, from (former) longtime employee Melissa Madsen. Despite various shakeups since the ’90s, WLUM had been Milwaukee’s FM home for bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, Tame Impala, Jane’s Addiction, Weezer, and more since the mid ’90s heyday of grunge and alternative rock.
Earlier this year, 102.1 was sold to Christian radio chain K-Love Inc., a subsidiary of Educational Media Foundaton (EMF), which owns and operates countless FM radio stations throughout the United States. On Wednesday, 102.1 finally switched to the Christian contemporary format Air1. It’s official: WLUM-FM 102.1 is no more.
A few weeks back, I joined the remaining WLUM staff as Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley honored the station with a proclamation. “They’ve contributed incredibly to culture by being able to bring artists from all over the globe right here to Milwaukee, and really being there to uplift residents all across southeastern Wisconsin,” Crowley said.
After the ceremony (held in an otherwise vacant conference room brightened up with a hastily delivered “102.1 Sounds Different” sign), I searched the cubicle cemetery in the eerily empty WLUM offices for survivors willing to share their thoughts, memories, and hopes for the future. I was fortunate to have end-times time with four station stalwarts, each of whom generously offered last words about 102.1 and its collective impact on Milwaukee and on themselves as individuals:
• Jon Adler, DJ/Morning Host: “Support your local media.”
“Norm Macdonald just showed up. He helped us do a bit on the air. Then he said, ‘I’ve got nothing to do’ and hung out until noon. Norm’s my favorite.”
• Melissa Madsen, Traffic Manager: “Our DJs make real relationships.”
“DJs would get callers who were struggling, and would just talk with them. DJ Ian would give callers little pep talks, like, hey, you’re not alone. Our DJs were accessible. Every day. Our phone lines were always open. And people were calling. Making real relationships.”
• Ryan Miller, host of Indie Sound Check: “We’re just weirdos playing radio.”
“Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend co-hosted Indie Sound Check. The band was outside, hanging out playing hacky sack in our parking lot. It was awesome. Being in tune with music enriched my life. It was a cool thing I got to do. I’m very, very lucky.”
• Michelle Rutkowski, VP of Programming and Operations: “This station has always been about us being ourselves.”
“We were paying homage to not just the grunge heroes but also bands like The Shins. We played anything from Fugazi to Geggy Tah.”
Rutkowski started in 2006 as a Nighttime Personality DJ, working her way up to VP of Programming and Operations for Milwaukee Radio Alliance. She arrived from Chicago, admittedly unprepared for the less urban environment of the WLUM studio location. “I bought bear spray,” Rutkowski says.
No bears arrived to overtake the airwaves, but the rustic setting on Milwaukee’s northwest side provided a very Wisconsin refuge from the ordinary stuff of FM radio for Rutkowski and 102.1 staff. “There were turkeys,” Rutkowski says, a gaggle of which would come to the door and hammer away on the glass door with their beaks.
Rutkowski’s commitment to alternative music never wavered over her nearly 20-year run at WLUM. Despite the Christian format takeover, Rutkowski says the alternative format of 102.1 was still holding its own. “From a metrics standpoint, we were hitting all of our demographics, hitting decent ratings, and that still wasn’t enough for a little guy like us to weather the headwinds.”
Don’t get Rutkowski wrong—she knows how quick things can go away in radio: “I’m grateful. I had 19 years. That’s a unicorn amount of time. I just hope something will take up the alternative mantle here in Milwaukee. We carved too much of a lane here for it to just go abandoned.”
WLUM carvings included such Milwaukee institutions as the Big Snow Show, a yearly showcase that blew local minds with emerging and already-arrived alternative acts like Death Cab For Cutie, My Chemical Romance, The Black Keys, and so many more.
What does the void mean for Milwaukeeans who grew up on bands like Green Day, The Cranberries, Arcade Fire, and Tame Impala?
Rutkowski pulls no punches: “A message to radio in general: With all of this consolidation, radio has lost its humanity. I challenge the local stations to resist what’s happening in the larger stations. They have someone out in New York who doesn’t give a shit about you. Embrace the stations that are out there doing it for Milwaukee, because otherwise you’ll lose them.”
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