Twin Cities Radio: Mark Wheat EXITS KCMP The Current

Mark Wheat

Mark Wheat has stepped down from his position as evening DJ at KCMP 89.3 The Current, The Pioneer-Press reports.

“After trying to balance other personal and professional goals with my MPR career for the last few years, I’ve decided, given the times we’re in, to take the plunge and follow my dreams,” Wheat wrote in a message posted Tuesday afternoon on the station’s website.

Wheat won’t have the chance to say farewell to listeners on the air. His final shift was last Friday and he was on vacation this week. “The company has been extremely supportive during this period of transition, and we agreed on all the logistics and timing,” Wheat wrote. “Sorry about the abrupt departure from the airwaves … I’m not good at goodbyes.”

When Minnesota Public Radio launched The Current in 2005, Wheat was among the first DJs on staff. He quickly stood out thanks to his British accent and sometimes halting speech patterns that earned him both fans and detractors.

Wheat grew up near Cambridge, England, and discovered his love for radio through listening to the legendary BBC DJ John Peel. He emigrated to the States in 1983 and moved to the Twin Cities nine years later. He volunteered at community radio station KFAI and worked a brief gig at the late Zone 105 before becoming director of student programming at the University of Minnesota’s Radio K in 1998. He became a U.S. citizen in 2012.