Marilynn Mee is, and has been, one of Milwaukee's most popular voices on FM radio for almost 15 years. As music director at Lazer 103, she's built a name for herself in the industry as a hard-working, dedicated and local music-loving professional. Marilynn describes herself as a pretty emotional person with a passion for saving dogs at the Wisconsin Humane Society. We just describe her as pretty cool. We took a moment to catch up with Marilynn, to learn her story and to get insight into what makes the Queen of Milwaukee radio tick.

OMC: How did you get involved in radio?

MM: Well, I still think of the start of my career really began at Lazer, and that was in '87. When the station signed on I was one of the original group of jocks hired. I was originally hired to do 7 p.m.-midnight. But I was doing radio a long time before that. Everybody in Milwaukee radio paid their dues at QFM, at least for a short time. Everybody had to use their powers for evil at one point in time. So I was for a short time doing mornings. But I did a lot of background stuff in radio for several years. I was a promotion assistant. I did traffic and continuity and production and commercials, which is good because I had no idea what I wanted to do. But the day I walked into the radio station for the first day of my part-time job, I knew that's where I wanted to be. Up until that point I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up at all.

OMC: So you sort of fell into it?

MM: Just totally fell into it. Walked into the radio station and knew that's what I wanted to do. It's like explosions went off and the skies opened up! This is it! These are the people that I want to be working with. I never really wanted to be an on-air person just because I never saw that as a job with very much stability, which is so funny now because I've been at Lazer for 14 and a half years. But, generally speaking, in radio you stay at a radio station for a few years and then you're either on to another radio station or the radio station flips formats and everybody's out or whatever. I was around all these really good people. Nobody ever taught me, 'This is how you be a disc jockey.' Nobody ever said, 'Now always say this and always do that.' I just listened to all these really great people.

OMC: What was Lazer like then versus what it's like now?

MM: Oh, God! I was playing some of the music off of vinyl and some off of CD. It was so cool being Lazer 103 and playing all the music that we could off of compact laser disc. It was kind of a big deal. I've been a radio listener for a long enough time that I sort of knew in my heart what we were doing there wasn't going to work. I knew that you couldn't do supersets of .38 Special and supersets of the Psychedelic Furs. It was fun playing this huge variety of rock, but I also knew deep down that it wasn't going to work.

OMC: So how long did you do the morning stint with Bob and Brian?

MM: Up until I became music director, which was like four years ago.

OMC: Do you still hang out with Bob and Brian?

MM: Honestly, if we had more time we probably would. Actually I just took Bob's daughter to see Snoop Dogg a couple of weeks ago.

OMC: So tell me about the music director position. What's that all about?

MM: Well, a music director works with the program director primarily with all the new music, all the current product that's coming in. I'm sort of like the clearing house. I also am the liaison between the radio station and all the record promoters, which there are a lot of.

OMC: This is the kind of music that you like? Is this what you listen to when you're not being a DJ?

MM: Yeah. I would say when I'm not being a DJ my taste is probably a little bit wider. I mean I tell people, 'It wouldn't be unusual if you opened up my CD changer and found Limp Bizkit, Stone Temple Pilots, an old Pretenders CD, the soundtrack from CATS, or whatever is the new CD from Madonna.'

OMC: You also work with local music, right?

MM: Yeah. I have my local music Sunday night show. That's like my baby. I know that sounds kind of cheesy, but I've been doing it for so long and I've been going out to see bands since I was 18. I've watched the scene grow and change and clubs come and go and local music promoters come and go. It's fun to do that. That's that one hour on the air when I've got complete control. It's almost like an hour of public service time. I can help bands promote their gigs and so and so just lost their bass player and they're looking for a new one. I've seen some of these guys and this is like their eighth amalgamation of whatever band they've been in. I think that it's great that our station has had a commitment this many years to do a local music show. We've been doing this since '89.

OMC: You have to be one of the more well-known DJs in Milwaukee. So when people see you out, they have to know who you are, to a certain extent. What's that like?

MM: You always have to tell yourself -- this sounds like a cop out answer -- but you are so lucky to have people know who you are. When they stop knowing or when they just stop and laugh and point, that's when you've got to worry. I once called a funeral home to get directions because my aunt had passed away and the guy at the funeral home was like, 'Wow, you're Marilynn Mee! You rule! I listen to you all the time.' I was like, 'OK, this isn't good. My aunt has just passed away and ....' Or on a Saturday morning at Home Depot with no makeup on and overalls with paint all over them and last night's mascara still smeared under your eyes and a baseball cap and like the nightmare is, 'Oh, are you Marilynn Mee?'

OMC: It's kind of cool though, don't you think?

MM: Sure. I was standing in line Christmas shopping once, and somebody said, 'You mean you have to wait in a line like this like everybody?' Yeah!