What is or will be the trickle down effect of the format and call letter change by the E. W. Scripps Company radio station in Milwaukee formerly known as WLWK-FM (94.5)?
The change at 10 a.m. last Friday came out of the blue for listeners and observers and the station, now playing country music, itself seems a work in progress.
—-When asked how and by whom the music was being programmed, Tom Langmyer, vice president and general manager of Milwaukee radio operations for E. W. Scripps Company, replied in an email that he was programing the station himself.
“All home built in my kitchen. Seriously. Now I have to staff it. Was on the air last night, for the first time in 27 years!”
It sounds a little baling wire and duct tape for an organization like Scripps, which has seven other country stations in its station group.
But Steve Wexler, vice president of radio for E.W. Scripps, said in an email that Langmyer would program the station until a new program director could be hired. “A search is underway,” Wexler said.
—One staffing note: Danny Clayton, who had worked at WLWK since 2013 and hosted the morning show is now part time at sister station WTMJ-AM (620). His Linkedin page lists his duties as, Host: 620 WTMJ, Fix-It Show, Fox World Travel Show, MoneyTalk w/Annex Wealth Management. He previously worked at WMIL-FM, WRIT-FM and WLTQ.
—Hours after WKTI went on the air as KTI Country, WMKQ-FM (92.1) in Racine switched from country music to a pop hits format and adopted the brand name of The Lake, abandoned by WLWK.
This prompted speculation that the changes were co-ordinated. But the truth is more likely that seeing an opening, WMKQ jumped into the format on its own.
WMKQ adopted the country music format last December. Although the timing of the change suggests some kind of quid pro quo between the stations, a WMKQ spokesman said there was “no coordinated effort.” And Wexler said “no lawsuit” was being filed by Scripps against WMKQ over The Lake brand.
According to a press release announcing the WMKQ format change Dave Magnum, President of Magnum.Media, stated:
“Milwaukee is such a heritage pop/rock market so our team was shocked today that another station dropped the format.
We are gladly adopting their former listeners now, with the same variety that people love, at 92.1 FM and online at 921TheLake.com. We have a wonderful advantage being a family owned Wisconsin Media Company because we can make local decisions promptly to serve our local listeners and advertiser customers.”
Magnum also owns WRJN in Racine and WBKV and WMBZ in West Bend.
–The ball is now in WMIL-FM’s court. It will be interesting to see if and how the long time country music station owned by Clear Channel adjusts to the competition.
Top rated WMIL has long bedeviled second ranked WTMJ and any country audience WKTI gets could be enough to help WTMJ become the top rated station in the market. And with Milwaukee Brewers horrible, terrible, no good, very bad season the station very likely could use the help.
Currently the two stations separated by .2 of a share point.
Tags: Magnum, Racine, Scripps, WKTI, wmil, WMKQ Posted by