''MKE'' was a weekly publication in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

published by

Journal Communications Journal Media Group (formerly Journal Communications) was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based newspaper publishing company. The company's roots were first established in 1882 as the owner of its namesake, the ''Milwaukee Journal'', and expanded into br ...

. Launched on October 28, 2004 as a zero-news-content cross between an

alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...

and a weekly entertainment magazine aimed at readers under 35, it (along with the online version, MKEOnline.com) also served as a secondary advertising vehicle for the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'', its parent publication. At the time of its launch, it was seen as competing for the same readership as the ''

Shepherd Express The ''Shepherd Express'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. History The paper originated in May 1982 as the ''Crazy Shepherd'', its name derived from a line in Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3 ...

''. A representative for the

Association of Alternative Newsweeklies The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) is a trade association of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. It provides services to many generally liberal or progressive weekly newspapers across the United States and in Canada. AA ...

(of which the ''Shepherd Express'' was a member) was quoted as saying that three dozen daily newspapers had rolled out weekly free publications during the past year alone. He characterized them as "usually pretty fluffy" and presented with "faux hipness," and said of ''MKE'': "Milwaukee's a little different because they've actually come out and said there's no news at all," and predicted most of the new free newspapers would fail in the long run because they lacked the "idiosyncrasies and oddball charm" of true alternative weeklies. Described by local reporter and media critic Michael Horne as "pretty darn lame", it never found a profitable marketing niche; ad revenues peaked in 2006 and never recovered. MKE ceased publication after the July 11, 2008, issue.No Go For Air, Auto and News on Other Financially Challenged U.S. Companies for June 17" ''ARM News'' June 17, 2008
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References

Newspapers published in Wisconsin Mass media in Milwaukee Publications established in 2004 Publications disestablished in 2008