Courtesy of 88Nine Radio Milwaukee
88Nine Radio Milwaukee recently announced the appointment of a new executive director whose name will be familiar to anyone who has followed the city’s music scene closely. Kevin Sucher is a Milwaukee native—a musician, recording engineer, producer and artist manager whose resume includes Eric Benét, David Foster, Train, The Tenors and Michelle Branch. Off the Cuff reached out by email to Sucher
Tell me about your background: Did you grow up in Milwaukee? What impressed you most about the city’s music scene as you were coming up?
I grew up in Mequon and used to sneak into live music venues around the city in the early ‘80s—Century Hall, The Toad and The Boardwalk. There were so many local trailblazers for me, Freudian Slip and Big Bang Theory made a massive impact on me as a young musician. There were many live music venues for musicians to work in Milwaukee at that time.
Describe some highlights of your career as a performing musician and a music producer.
As a musician, performing with my Yacht Rock tribute band, The Docksiders, at the historic Pabst Theater last year. As a producer, it was getting the call the night before Grammy nominations were announced in 2008, from one of my friends at Warner Bros Records, to inform me that the Eric Benét record (Love & Life) I helped make was nominated in two categories.
How did you transition into the business side of music and how will those skills translate in your new role at Radio Milwaukee?
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I made the transition from producer to artist manager in 2008. Helping an artist’s career grow from the business side is something that has always fulfilled my desire to make an impact. My new role at Radio Milwaukee will tap into all of the skills I’ve developed; from creative through administrative and most importantly, finding ways to be inclusive.
What do you think are Radio Milwaukee’s greatest successes to date?
Radio Milwaukee has a mission—to be a catalyst in creating a more inclusive and engaged Milwaukee through music and stories—and that mission is ongoing. We work toward it every day and I think Radio Milwaukee’s biggest success is that we have not gotten complacent in that mission, we’re always evolving to better serve our city, support the local music scene and bring people together.
How would you describe Radio Milwaukee’s demographic — who are your listeners?
Our listeners are proud of the city they live in, but they recognize its challenges. Our listeners are constantly looking to discover more and be a part of something bigger than themselves. Our listeners are motivated by the mission of Radio Milwaukee just as much as we are.
Nuts and bolts: We have strong listenership throughout southeastern Wisconsin and we're seeing continued streaming growth in northern Illinois. Our listenership represents a wide age range from 18 to 65+, with a lot of families that listen mutli-generationally. We are continuously working to make our listenership reflect the city we live in.
Do you have any plans for changing programming or adding new features to the station’s lineup?
First off, I am a huge fan of Radio Milwaukee. I’m also a firm believer that if it's not broken, it doesn’t need fixing. With that being said, I do have some ideas and experiences from my past that I believe will help strengthen our reach into our community. I would love to share some of our new ideas with you when we get a little closer to rolling them out!
