WGKB (1510
AM) is a radio station licensed to
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha.
History
The area that ...
and 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.
The station is owned by
Good Karma Brands
Good Karma Brands, LLC (GKB, formerly Good Karma Broadcasting) is an American conglomerate. Based in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, it has interests in radio broadcasting, sports marketing, retail, and real estate. GKB was founded in 1997 by Craig Karma ...
, through licensee Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC. WGKB has an
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
W269DL (101.7 MHz), which transmits from the
WITI TV Tower
The WITI TV Tower is a lattice communications tower located in Shorewood, Wisconsin, which transmits the signal of several television and radio stations in the Milwaukee area, including its namesake, Fox owned-and-operated station WITI (chann ...
in
Shorewood, and currently broadcasts a talk radio format aimed towards Milwaukee's
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
community.
History
The 1510 AM frequency originally signed on as WAUX and later was the original home of the WAUK
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
until February 12, 2008. They had been a sports talk station since October 1994 and the previous home of
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
. Prior to sports the station had a smorgasbord of formats, including variations of
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
,
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, and talk. WAUK was also the original sister station of Waukesha-licensed
WMIL-FM
WMIL-FM (106.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, and serving the Greater Milwaukee/Southeast Wisconsin radio market. It carries a country music radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia. The studios and offices ...
(106.1), which launched as WAUX-FM and later became WAUK-FM before a sale to another party in the late 1970s.
WGKB is limited to operating between
sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
Al ...
and
sunset
Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...
, as
WLAC
WLAC (1510 AM) – branded ''Talkradio 98.3 & 1510'' – is a commercial talk radio radio station licensed to serve Nashville, Tennessee. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station covers the Nashville metropolitan area. The WLAC studios are located ...
in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
is classed as a
clear-channel station
A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...
. As a result, the station leased time from
WMCS to carry the full
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
schedule between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for several years.
That arrangement ended after Good Karma Broadcasting moved the
WAUK
WAUK (540 AM) is a commercial progressive talk radio station licensed to the Washington County community of Jackson, Wisconsin, and serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It is known on-air as The Sha 101 FM in reference to the station's ...
sports format to its new, full-time frequency of 540 kHz, the former home of
Salem Broadcasting religious outlet WRRD. The WRRD calls then migrated to the 1510 kHz frequency.
On May 2, 2008, WRRD switched from English-language sports radio to be an affiliate of
ESPN Deportes
ESPN Deportes (, ''ESPN Sports'') is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (whi ...
, a new Spanish-language sports talk and play-by-play network.
On January 31, 2017, The Devil's Advocates Radio announced plans to purchase WRRD and to change the format to progressive talk, branded as "News Talk 1510" and as "WRRD Resistance Radio". The format change was implemented February 1 of that year.
Good Karma Broadcasting sold WRRD to New WRRD, LLC effective June 1, 2017 for $760,000. On November 13, 2019, WRRD rebranded as "Talk 101.7" with the sign-on of W269DL 101.7 FM, which also allows the station to carry a full-day schedule, even after sunset. WRRD applied for a downgrade to 250 watts non-directional on August 19, 2020, shortly after putting the dormant Waukesha studio facility and transmitter site up for sale. The station dropped most local programming in August 2020, resulting in a near-simulcast of sister station WTTN.
On August 31, 2020, WRRD reverted to sports as a simulcast of former sister station
WAUK
WAUK (540 AM) is a commercial progressive talk radio station licensed to the Washington County community of Jackson, Wisconsin, and serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It is known on-air as The Sha 101 FM in reference to the station's ...
, and the station's social media presence referred listeners to WTTN and its streaming presences with the shuttering of Crute's main studio facility on Brady Street in Milwaukee. On September 4, Good Karma Brands announced the acquisition of the W269DL translator, along with the re-acquisition of WRRD as former owner Michael Crute negotiated with Good Karma to trade the stations, while strengthening its Madison presence.
On September 29, 2020, Good Karma announced that WRRD would become a
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
station focused on the city's
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
community, branded as "101.7 The Truth", with W269DL continuing to utilize 1510 as a signal source. It is the first full-time Black talk station in the market in seven years, after WNOV converted to a music-heavy format under new ownership, while former network-share partner WMCS (now
WZTI
WZTI (1290 AM) is a radio station in Greenfield, Wisconsin serving Milwaukee that currently airs an oldies format. The station is owned by the Milwaukee Radio Alliance, a partnership between Times-Shamrock Communications and All-Pro Broadcast ...
) converted to suburban-focused oldies formats after acquiring an FM translator. The station is also meant as a local response to
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
's
Black Information Network
Black Information Network (BIN) is a radio network and content brand owned by iHeartMedia. Launched on June 30, 2020, it is an all-news radio network of stations targeting the African American community, carrying mostly important national news hea ...
, which has not yet launched in Milwaukee. Its call sign was changed to WGKB on December 2, 2020. The new format launched on January 4, 2021, utilizing a live 7 a.m.–6 p.m. schedule of four programs that repeats overnight, albeit exclusively over W269DL after WGKB's dusk sign-off.
The acquisition of WGKB and translator W269DL was consummated on April 30, 2021.
Previous logo
References
External links
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Milwaukee radio: a retrospective
*
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{{Good Karma Broadcasting
GKB
Radio stations established in 1947
1947 establishments in Wisconsin
GKB