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WMSE Radiate 2026 line-up
The lineup for WMSE's inaugural EDM festival, Radiate
On a March morning in 1997 DJ Jayx took over the 3-6 a.m. slot with his WMSE radio show “The Loop.” Prior to that he was seven hours shy of completing the station’s old requirement of 100 hours of training to be an on-air DJ.
This Saturday Jayx will curate a 12-hour, noon to midnight event at Third Space Brewing, WMSE’s inaugural EDM festival, “Radiate.” The lineup from opener to headliner includes DJs Lukewarm, Brian Small, Asher Gray, JaiRoc, Blaze Orange, Amy Octane, D1, Jayx, Subspace, Surge, Jonn Hawley and The Demix.
All the DJs have performed or have some connection to the station and have been spinning up to three decades. This year Jayx says all DJs are local but future events would include DJs from other cities.
Local History
Jayx says he noted EDM events in Detroit, Chicago and other cities celebrating the music and culture and figured it was time for Milwaukee to get onboard.
“I thought about the history of clubbing and DJs here in Milwaukee and we go back quite a ways,” Jayx says. “In the early ‘90s we had The Drop Bass Network, Massive and the infamous rave of ’92,” he says of the underground event that was busted by police.
Roller Skating Scene and Chicago
Jayx entrée into the dance music scene began at Skate University in West Allis. Some of the DJ’s would come up from Chicago and Jayx got his first earful of house music and electro; the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and other artists he had no idea existed. He pestered the DJs for information on the artists. Some of that music would eventually make its way to Milwaukee airwaves.
In the early ‘90s Jayx took to clubbing at local spots Mad Planet, Metropolis and Esoteria. He wondered why none of the music he heard in clubs was on the radio. Unbeknownst to him, Tom Crawford was hosting a show on WMSE called the “Monday Night Meltdown.”
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He recalls the first three selections he heard Crawford play: “Everybody on the Place” by The Prodigy, “How Does It Feel” by Electoset and “James Brown is Dead” by L.A. Style.
Jayx would occasionally find a compilation album at Atomic Records but would eventually trek to Chicago once a month to Gramaphone Records and the Virgin Mega Store to seek out singles and remixes.
The present and the future
Since 2017, Jayx has hosted “Transcentral Radio.” The Saturday 9 p.m.–midnight slot spotlights electronic music through live DJ mixes and curated features. He brings in guest DJ’s including younger talent. He says the scene is thriving.
The “Radiate” lineup is a representation of the Milwaukee DJ scene which is mainly broken up into small collectives or solo acts. The event brings them all together from Amy Octane’s Drum & Bass to Surge’s Trance to Brian Small’s Italo Disco.
“The one thing all dance music festivals strive to do--and dance music in general is based on, is togetherness and unity, one big group vibing to the sounds,” Jayx says.
The event will include visual art with video projections, day passes for Bublr Bikes, food trucks and local vendors.
DJ biographies and more info here https://wmse.org/radiate/
