Rich Eychaner
| Rich Eychaner | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 15, 1948 DeKalb, Illinois |
| Residence | Des Moines, Iowa |
| Occupation | commercial real-estate and LGBT activist |
| Home town | DeKalb, Illinois |
| Partner(s) | Michael Bowser |
Rich Eychaner (born November 15, 1948) is an Iowa businessperson, politician and LGBT rights activist. He was born in DeKalb, Illinois, and has founded and operated a variety of businesses in Iowa since 1975. In 1984, he was Iowa's first openly gay candidate for federal office when he sought the 4th District Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives.
Eychaner invested in the Iowa-based minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs in 1981. He was a Vice President for the Cubs' AAA affiliate and was largely responsible for renaming the Iowa Cubs from the Iowa Oaks, and also changing the team's uniforms to match the Chicago Cubs.
Following Eychaner's 1984 candidacy, he launched a chain of video stores called Movies To Go in the Des Moines area. When he sold the chain in 1995 he was operating 13 video stores and other related operations.
In 1995, Eychaner signed on KKDM as an alternative rock station and also owned a local movie rental chain. The station, known as "107 dot 5 KKDM" or just "The Dot", was successful and had a large following among young adults at the time. After Eychaner sold the station to Clear Channel in 1999, the company swapped the formats of KCCQ and KKDM, resulting in KKDM becoming "Kiss 107" and KCCQ becoming "Channel Q".
Rich is the brother of Illinois businessman Fred Eychaner.
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