WAWA was a radio station licensed to

West Allis, Wisconsin West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Histo ...

, serving the

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 ...

area, located at 1590 AM. Its studio and transmitter were located in Elm Grove. For the station's entire existence, WAWA was the sister station to WAWA-FM (later

WLUM-FM WLUM-FM (102.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station airs an Alternative rock music format branded as "FM 102/1". Its studios are located in Menomonee Falls and the transmitter site is in Milwaukee's North Side at ...

). The station signed on the air in 1961, and signed off in 1988, when the owner returned the license to the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

. Since the FCC no longer re-licenses daytime-only stations, the 1590 AM frequency allocation in the Milwaukee market is considered to be permanently deleted.

History

Originally airing an adult standards format, WAWA quickly found success playing

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

music, starting in 1963. The format was popular with Milwaukee's

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community, and was a serious rival to

WNOV WNOV (860 AM) is a community-oriented urban contemporary radio station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. WNOV is the only station owned by Courier Communications, but on January 18, 2008 it was leased to a new company called Radio Multi-Med ...

during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. They also simulcast part-time with their FM sister station at 102.1 FM, later carrying the WLUM call letters, with their sister station. All-Pro Broadcasting purchased both stations in 1979. In 1988, they were able to buy a stronger station at 1290 AM. Since FCC rules at the time would not allow them to keep both AM stations, and because they were unable to sell WAWA, they signed 1590 AM off the air for good and returned the station's license to the FCC. WAWA's format and programming were subsequently moved to 1290 AM.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for WAWA
(covering 1958-1981)
WAWA playlist from May 24, 1965Airchecks from WAWA 1590
(from Airchexx.com)
Article from the Milwaukee Sentinel, January 4, 1974
{{Daytime-only radio stations in Wisconsin

AWA Awa (or variants) may refer to: People * Awa (given name), notable people named Awa or Hawa * Awá (Brazil), an indigenous people of Brazil * Awa-Kwaiker, an indigenous people of Colombia and Ecuador Languages * Awa language (China) or Wa (Va) ...

Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1961 African-American history of Milwaukee African-American history of Wisconsin Radio stations disestablished in 1988 1961 establishments in Wisconsin 1988 disestablishments in Wisconsin