Today is WXRT Morning Man Richard Milne's birthday. I interviewed him two years ago for the Illinois Entertainer.
Here is a small excerpt of that piece...
He had been a heavy XRT listener for years, and he credits some of the greats for influencing his own style on the air.
“All of them had an impact on me,” he says, “but I don’t think I’ve ever given proper credit or attribution to Bobby Skafish. He created the most marvelous radio in the late ’70s/early ’80s, which was an impressionable time for me. I was a hardcore WXRT listener beginning in ’78 or ’79, and Bobby Skafish was on fire in those days. His personality leaped through the speakers. Those Skafish years at WXRT are as responsible for me getting into radio as anything.”
Since arriving at the 93.1 dial position himself, Milne has had some of his own shining moments.
“I remember talking to Curtis Mayfield in 1996. He had just released his first LP since an on-stage lighting accident in 1991. You have to admire all that Curtis brought to music, but for the majority of his life—by this time, he was living in Atlanta—he was a Chicago guy. I have always taken great pride in that. When I left the studio that day, having just interviewed Curtis Mayfield, albeit it that he was literally lying on his back talking into a telephone, I felt like I was walking on air. Surviving an interview with Lou Reed live, with his personality, while witnessing his on-stage performance, was another highlight. He played songs four feet away from me that I was engineering. It’s hard to top that.”
Milne isn’t the same disc jockey he was when he first cracked the microphone in the 80s. His on-air style has evolved over time, and he credits his attention to detail.
“I have a path I follow every break,” he says. “That’s the way I do my best work. I have to know what my ‘in’ is and what my ‘out’ is, and what my content is. I don’t just whip these things out. I have given thought to everything I say and everything I play. It is important to me. I don’t have a problem with other people who can crack a mike and let the stream of consciousness flow, but I’m not that guy.”
He is, he admits, a very lucky guy.
“I wish everyone in radio had the kind of outlet and the kind of freedom we have on WXRT. That’s why listeners respond to it. As far as I’m concerned, the future remains bright for Chicago’s Finest Rock, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Richard Milne can be heard every weekday morning from 5:30am—10am.
If you'd like to read the entire piece, it's here.
