MARS Bars Oldies in Invasion of L.A. Radio Market

Freddie Snakeskin, program director of what’s been dubbed MARS-FM, wants to make sure we realize L.A.’s newest rock station isn’t going to sound like its humdrum rivals.

“When you hear our station,” says Snakeskin of the station, whose new format was scheduled to debut Friday morning, “I want you to feel like someone is reaching out from your radio dial, grabbing you by the throat and shouting, ‘Are you listening to us?’ ”

Simulcasting on KSRF-FM in Santa Monica and KOCM-FM in Newport Beach, both 3,000-watt stations that cover significant portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties, MARS-FM (103.1) is the brainchild of Snakeskin, a former KROQ-FM deejay and program director, and Ken Roberts, the longtime KROQ owner who sold his groundbreaking “Rock of the ‘80s” station to Infinity Broadcasting in 1986 for $45 million.

For rock fans bored to death by the oldies-heavy formats of most local stations, MARS-FM’s new billboard campaign offers a promising slogan: “New Music Invasion.”

While Snakeskin was deliberately vague about the precise nature of the station’s format, insiders say it will offer a mixture of upbeat dance-rock, drawing from both KROQ-style modern rock (including Manchester Sound groups like EMF and the Stone Roses) and KIIS-FM-style hit singles, including current fare from Londonbeat, Roxette and the Divinyls.

Snakeskin wouldn’t put a label on this intriguing mix, but we will: Call it Club Rock. It promises the kind of hip Top 40 grooves you’d hear at a local nightspot. To really understand Snakeskin’s mind-set, listen to what he sees as MARS’ chief competition: cassette decks.

“I have trouble explaining this format because it doesn’t exist anywhere yet,” he says. “Radio listening levels have been going down each year and it’s not because there are fewer people out there. It’s because people are listening to tapes more often, because radio doesn’t play the music they want to hear.

“The big-business aspects of radio have made it difficult to program a station without answering to all sorts of corporate concerns. With corporate-run stations, no one wants to be held responsible for losing millions of dollars, so you don’t see much creativity. Everyone relies on research. But we’re not going to put galvanic skin response meters on people. We’re employing a totally new method--we’re going to play records we like.”

That’s easier said than done. The last two stations that played a wide variety of new music, the Edge and Pirate Radio, are both defunct. Neither was able to reach a broad enough audience to turn a profit. “Anytime you have a hybrid format in an intensely competitive market like L.A., it’s hard to put together a real coalition of loyal listeners,” says Jeff Pollack, a leading radio consultant who is working with rival station Pirate Radio on its new format. “I think it’s going to be tough for the station to carve out a distinct niche for itself unless it can establish a specific musical identity.”

Snakeskin remains optimistic. MARS-FM staffers say the station has a nearly $2-million advertising budget to get its message across. It’s also hired a staff of familiar on-air talent, including morning man Ron O’Brien (an ex-KIIS deejay), ex-KROQ jocks Raechel Donahue and the Swedish Eagle and Bay Area import Rob Francis (who’ll handle the key 6-10 p.m. slot).

Can the station live up to another one of its new slogans: “The Best Music on Earth Comes From MARS-FM”? “Radio audiences aren’t the cattle most radio programmers take them to be,” says Snakeskin. “It’s time for something new. I’ve always trusted my ears--and my ears tell me this can work.”