In The Early '90s, MARS FM Channeled The Sounds Of LA's Underground House And Techno Rave Scene
If I only knew that in the early '90s, a new underground voice bubbled up in Los Angeles: techno, house, and rave culture. And to find out where to go and what's going on, there's one place where it all belongs - the short-lived radio station 103.1 MARS FM.
Freddy Snakeskin Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes' famous plane, is parked on Long Beach where Mars FM explodes from parked cars.
“It was an amazing experience,” the LA DJ recalls, “hearing it from all these different cars and from everyone on the same music site.”
Between May 1991 and August 1992, MARS launched the sound of the new decade. With Sneyskin as program director and LA radio veteran Swede Egil as music director, he is best known for playing dance beats in the LA underground party scene, especially techno and house.
“We were the first radio station to play techno and house regularly,” says Swede Egil, “which means we take songs like Moby's 'Go' and play them. He could call every three hours.
“When you do this, you are really creating a station because the identity, sound and atmosphere of a radio station are very important,” he added.
But Mars was never exclusively a rave station. They released new singles from famous alternative music stars such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Marc Almond, The Human League and Morrissey.
They played new rock from Teenage Fanclub and Nirvana, as well as '80s parties like "Don Quixote" by French band Magazine 60.
We were the first radio to play techno and house regularly.
— Swede Egil, music director for Mars
Watch during commercial breaks and you'll find everything from shows promoted by Helter Skelter's goth party to trendy Redondo Beach Pier. It was a radio station that reflected and achieved wide acceptance of alternative music with various scenes in the city and something new coming out of it.
History of Mars FM
“We wanted to go into the '90s with the same attitude as the original KROQ in the '80s,” said Snakeskin of MARS Mission.
In the early 1980s, KROQ 106.7 developed what is now called alternative music. Snakeskin and Egil are the DJs there, and most of the Mars crew have KROQ on their resume.
"Mars probably wouldn't exist without the KROQ roots that many of us have," said Rick Rippey, who went from being a part-time KROQ employee to chief operating officer and deputy director of the MARS program.
There is another link. It was Ken Roberts who owned KROQ in the early 1980s and sold it to national company Infinity Broadcasting in 1986 for a record $45 million. This is something Mars FM allows and requires.
“The launch of KROQ is a great combination of all the alternatives, including the dominance of strong electronic influences,” said Michael Ivanke, former KROQ trainee turned DJ MARS, Mike Frith.
New owners brought personnel changes and finally 106.7 FM sound. According to several sources, the main focus is rock music.
Snakeskin left the station in 1990 and joined Roberts on what would become an untitled radio project. The following year, Roberts purchased two small stations along the Southern California coast. KSRF in Santa Monica and KOCM in Newport Beach took 103.1 FM on the watch face, and Roberts, who paid $17.8 million for the pair, plans to broadcast it simultaneously. New technology allows them to do this without interfering with the signal as they travel around San Pedro and Long Beach.
"It's not done yet," said Frank Martin, the station's chief engineer, of the synchronization process. "It was a trial case." And it worked.
Introducing Mars FM
MARS FM was officially launched on May 24, 1991. As program director, Snakeskin formed the Martian On Air team consisting of radio stars and newcomers. Among them is Rachel Donahue, whose illustrious radio career has included appearances on influential stations such as KSAN in San Francisco and KMET and KROQ in Los Angeles.
Donahue, who describes Snakeskin as "a generous and creative boss," says MARS opened up tremendous opportunities for DJs in the early 1990s: "There was some freedom and I knew Freddie was coming," you say.
"As long as you are careful what you do, you can almost start your own program, which is very unusual."
As long as you are careful what you do, you can start your own program, which is very unusual.
– Rachel Donahue, DJ Mars
Don Bolles, former drummer for The Germs and later member of Celebrity Skin, showed up at the Late Night Truck Driver Show and quickly added an early time slot to his schedule.
"It was a little scary," said Bowles, who had little radio experience before MARS. He asked Snakeskin why the program director had invited him to a regular event. The answer, he recalls, was "it's easier to teach someone how to make a radio." wouldn't teach someone to be human."
Rave culture in the spotlight
Similarly, MARS has become a radio station with a personality that is reflected not only in its DJing, but also in the music it plays. They played a mix of club songs that could have been on radio elsewhere, imported versions hard to find in the US, superstar pieces like Depeche Mode.
You can hear DJs throwing seemingly random comebacks from bands like The Kinks that fit perfectly on set. Then there's the new, explosive and sampled dance sounds you only hear in LA nightlife.
At KROQ, Swede Egil is a DJ with an ear for new dance music. However, as music director for MARS, he was able to improve the sound of the station to reflect what was happening in the local nightlife. "You could feel it coming from the street," he said.
"That's when LA's rave culture really flourished," said Jeff Adachi, DJ and producer known as Simply Jeff. In 1991, Adachi, then known as DJ Spin, came to Mars to work with radio program Swede Egil in the Top 30.
MARS became a rave for the public and some activists. "I've seen flyers and heard about them," said DJ and producer Christian B., who moved to Los Angeles from St. Louis just before performing at MARS. "When I came to Mars, I naturally found all the big club promoters, some of whom are still around today."
Many of these records are custom made and only for the club. They didn't really think anyone would play it on air, so they didn't have a stripped down version.
– Daniel "The Brat" Barassi, DJ Mars
New approach recognition
Part of what makes MARS' mix of techno and house so memorable is that the music is so different from what people are used to hearing on the radio. It was made to dance all night long. Some follow the traditional structure of singer-led pop songs. However, many others do not. Instead, artists experimented with clips from movies, TV shows, and even recorded interviews to create direction that resonated with the public.
Since these songs are also aimed at clubs and raves, they are usually longer than what you hear on the radio. "Many of these records were made for clubs only," said Daniel "The Brat" Barassi, who edited several of the feature-length tracks for the Mars release. "They didn't really think anyone was going to play it on air, so they didn't have a stripped down version."
But MARS plays this music in the middle of the day. "Then all these people came and couldn't believe we were playing their music at 12. It was unthinkable," Adachi said. At the time, they were the only broadcaster in the United States."
All of this affects the public. “People keep calling to find out the title of the song, just to express their joy at hearing it,” says DJ Holly Adams. "It was a very conducive environment for music and music research."
Long term success problem
But the mission had some problems. “I think the biggest problem is that not all sellers understand the format. They can't imagine why any sane person would listen to this nonsense," Snakeskin said to effectively convince advertisers to join us.
However, it was a challenge they were ready to accept. “I think over time we won the most people,” Snakeskin said. "They were our most enthusiastic drivers at the end of our freshman year."
Another problem is station coverage. Live stations in Santa Monica and Newport Beach increase coverage in coastal areas, but reaching inland is a different story. For the San Fernando Valley, or any other part of Greater Los Angeles where the hills come into play, signing up for MARS is a tough task, likely the result of listening to London's newest Orbital or Future Sound in static.
"It's impossible to get ratings from other stations on the market because we don't have the coverage," Adams said.
The station was under pressure with no assassin rating. At some point they were ordered to ban techno. “One goes to owner Ken Roberts, who himself has never been a fan of techno music. They managed to convince him to stop getting ads,” Snakeskin said.
Station fans responded with protests, along with letters and petitions collected in filing cabinets.
"Ken took this big folder to the bank that lent him money and said, 'Look, we play what people want,'" Snakeskin recalled. "So techno is welcome."
"It's a rare case where the government actually listens to the opinion of the people," he added.
There are fans at the station. They are respected by other American radio stations who call and ask for a copy of their playlist. But the MARS mission was finally canceled on 20 August 1992 as staff were laid off and KSRF/KOCM prepared to switch to a free jazz format.
Even in its day, Mars was a commercial curiosity for radio. “No company wants to take that kind of risk then or now,” Snakeskin said. But Roberts, who died in 2014, is not averse to taking risks. "It takes a unique and special person to see the benefits of allowing something like this to happen."
After MARS, Snakeskin, currently hosting "Party Out of Bounds" for Portland station KINK, briefly returned to KROQ and tried to take MARS jams with him. "They didn't really get that far," he said, adding that few were successful. Sweden's Agile launched Groove Radio, first as a syndicated show and then as a full-time station, live on the old MARS frequencies between 1996 and 1998. Groove is live streaming today. Since then, a number of Martins, including Holly Adams, Jeff Adachi, Daniel Bersi and Christian B, have made their mark in the dance music scene as DJs, producers and/or remixers.
By the end of the decade, several MARS-backed artists had achieved critical and commercial success, including Moby, The Prodigy, Orbital, Future Sound of London, The Orb and Massive Attack. But the collapse of MARS also marked the end of an era when an independent commercial radio station could have a lot of influence.
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