From: dan@cafws2.eng.uci.edu (Dan Harkless)
Subject: Re: James MARS ... is dead.
Newsgroups: alt.rave
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Keywords: MARS  103.1 FM
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:28:58 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.005904.12918@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> earle@poseur.JPL.NASA.GOV (Greg Earle - Sun JPL on-site Software Support) writes:
>Spoke to Don Bolles, erstwhile MARS 103.1 FM DJ, last night at the local
>noisefest featuring Zeni Geva and Crash Worship.
>
>He said that the woman who had been hired from some easy-listening MOR
>station - and who had been the person to originally completely banish Techno
>from the station, until massive protests brought it back - has, once again,
>decided to not only banish Techno, but to completely change the format of
>the station to "soft Jazz", as Don put it.

	Luz Erdman is the creature's name.  She is at the top of my hit list.
I would very much like to cause her extreme pain.  She is the person responsi-
ble for pushing KOST FM up in the ratings.  They assumed she could do it for
MARS too.  They assumed wrong.  [For readers outside the So. Cal. area, KOST is
just what it sounds like.  An easy listening station.]

>The transition is already taking place, albeit subtly, he said.  For one,
>the DJ's no longer say "103.1, MARS FM" - now it's just "103.1 FM".  No "MARS".

	DJ's?  There are no DJ's.  They have this station going on automatic.
There's just this one recording of someone saying "The music marathon continues
on 103.1 FM."  He's not one of the former DJ's, just a silken-voiced cliche
pop DJ.

>For another, the Techno content is being reduced without fanfare ("without
>further ado" shouts the Messiah fan in the back) and without announcement.
>Guess if the natives get restless when you pull the plug and tell them, then
>might as well not say anything and just bleed them slowly away instead.
>
>Again, Don didn't say when the format change was going into E-ffect, but one
>can presume "soon" - and he'll be let go (of course) when this happens, as I
>suspect a lot of the present DJ's will.

	Eh?  I read that all of the DJ's have already been fired.  I wondered
who was programming the automatic play system though...  Perhaps Don is the
only one left and they're having him work the machines...?  I also wonder how
automatic the music playing is and how they accomplish this...

>Although MARS wasn't ground-breaking in any real sense of the word - the
>"Top 40 of Techno" might be appropos - nonetheless, in the absence of any
>other coverage of Techno on the L.A. radio stations (save Justin Bentley's
>measly 2 hour "Move" show on KXLU Friday nights), MARS' Techno coverage was
>always welcome and sometimes enlightening.  I will surely miss it when it's
>gone.
>
>MARS FM, 1991-1992
>R.I.P.

	Hear hear, brother...

>	- Greg
>
>P.S. And FUCK radio program directors, radio "Consultants" et al., up the ass!

	No shit.

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| Dan Harkless                | "The sore in my soul                         |
| dan@cafws1.eng.uci.edu      |  The mark in my heart  ->  Front 242,        |
| dharkles@bonnie.ics.uci.edu |  Her acid reign..."        Tragedy >For You< |
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