WIXX (101.1
FM) is a
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
/
CHR radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to and serving
Green Bay, Wisconsin, along with
Appleton,
Oshkosh, and much of Northeast
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 ...
. The station is owned and operated by
Wausau, Wisconsin
Wausau ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west. The city's suburbs include Schofield, Weston, Mosinee, Maine, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, an ...
-based
Midwest Communications
Midwest Communications is a Wausau, Wisconsin-based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and ...
, and is part of a Midwest-owned cluster of 8 stations in the market. WIXX broadcasts from studios located on Bellevue Street in the Green Bay suburb of
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to:
Placenames
Australia
* Bellevue, Western Australia
* Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
* Bellevue, Queensland
* Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales
Canada ...
, and
transmits from a tower on
Scray Hill
Scray Hill (also known possessively as Scray's Hill) is an summit in Brown County, Wisconsin, at . Located just south of De Pere, much of the hill is in the Town of Glenmore; some of its northwestern edges are in the Town of Ledgeview. Scray Hi ...
in the
Brown County town of
Ledgeview, sharing a site with
WBAY-TV
WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (across from the historic ...
,
WPNE-TV, and
WPNE-FM. WIXX's main competition comes from
WKSZ
WKSZ (95.9 FM, "Kiss FM") is a Top 40/CHR radio station licensed to De Pere, Wisconsin, serving Green Bay and Appleton- Oshkosh and owned by Woodward Communications. WKSZ's studios are located on College Avenue in Appleton, while its trans ...
/
WKZY
WKZY (92.9 FM) is an American radio station, licensed to Chilton, Wisconsin, and transmitting from the Lake Winnebago community of Stockbridge to provide a city-grade signal to both Oshkosh and the Fox Cities. The station is owned and operated ...
, a
Top 40 (CHR) simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...
broadcasting to the same area.
History
The station, with the original call letters WJPG-FM, was owned by the ''
Green Bay Press-Gazette
The ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' is a newspaper whose primary coverage is of northeastern Wisconsin, including Green Bay. It was founded as the ''Green Bay Gazette'' in 1866 as a weekly paper, becoming a daily newspaper in 1871. The ''Green Ba ...
''
to complement their then-owned station WJPG (now
WNFL
WNFL (1440 AM) is an American all-sports radio station located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The station is locally owned and operated by Midwest Communications, which owns six other stations in Northeast Wisconsin. WNFL simulcasts the programming of ...
). WJPG-FM began broadcasting August 13, 1947,
[ though there is no record of the ''Press-Gazette'' regularly broadcasting on the FM signal. Eventually, the ''Press-Gazette'' would sell WJPG-FM to the ]Norbertine
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
Order of Priests, a De Pere
De Pere ( ) is a city located in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 25,410 according to the 2020 Census. De Pere is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
At the arrival of the first European, J ...
-based religious order that founded St. Norbert College
St. Norbert College (SNC) is a private Norbertine liberal arts college in De Pere, Wisconsin. Founded in October 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Norbertine priest and educator, the school was named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. In 1952, the c ...
. The well-financed Norbertines were interested in complementing their existing stations in the Green Bay market, WBAY
WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green B ...
radio (AM 1360) and WBAY-TV
WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (across from the historic ...
(channel 2). WJPG-FM would eventually become WBAY-FM, and for many years would air easy-listening and middle-of-the-road music formats.
By the mid-1970s, the Norbertine Order would sell its broadcast holdings, with WBAY-AM-FM being sold to what would become Midwest Communications
Midwest Communications is a Wausau, Wisconsin-based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and ...
. On September 1, 1975, the radio stations would be given new 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 ...
s; the AM would become WGEE, while WBAY-FM would take on the WIXX calls. The story of the WIXX call sign has been unclear; though it was believed to be part of a "gee whiz" pun with WGEE, Midwest Communications head Duke Wright has been somewhat coy, stating in 2007 that he was into "X"s and "Z"s back then and WIXX sounds "better than 'WIZZ Wizz may refer to:
*Wizz Air, a Hungarian low-cost airline
**Wizz Air Bulgaria, a subsidiary
**Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary
**Wizz Air UK, a subsidiary
**Wizz Air Ukraine, a subsidiary
*WIZZ, an American radio station in Massachusetts
See also ...
'". Even after their split in 1975, the radio and TV stations would continue to be housed at 115 South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay until 2008, when WIXX, WTAQ
WTAQ (1360 AM) and WTAQ-FM (97.5 FM) are conservative news/talk-formatted radio stations, licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin (AM) and Glenmore, Wisconsin (FM), that serve the Green Bay and Appleton- Oshkosh areas. The stations are owned by M ...
(which flipped back to its original callsign from WGEE in 2003), and their Midwest sister stations would move to new facilities in Bellevue, next to the transmitter facility of Midwest-owned WNFL
WNFL (1440 AM) is an American all-sports radio station located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The station is locally owned and operated by Midwest Communications, which owns six other stations in Northeast Wisconsin. WNFL simulcasts the programming of ...
. (WBAY-TV remains at South Jefferson to this day.)
By the time the Norbertines sold WIXX, the station had adopted an Album-Oriented Rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-orien ...
(AOR) format. That format was dropped on February 12, 1977, when, in a move that was met with protest by fans of the AOR format, WIXX adopted the Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
/ CHR format that continues to this day. Though initially going automated
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
as a Top 40 station, WIXX would gradually add live dayparts, including in mornings, and would become a fully live station by the mid-1980s.
Today, WIXX is regarded as a heritage
Heritage may refer to:
History and society
* A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today
** Cultural heritage is created by humans
** Natural heritage is not
* Heritage language
Biology
* Heredity, biological inheritance of physica ...
Top 40 station, thanks in part to its longevity in the format, its connections with its audience through round-the-clock staffing and local music surveys, and its flexibility to introduce new music to listeners as well as incorporating modern rock
Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music.
Radio format
Mod ...
and Hot AC
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, quiet sto ...
music into the playlist. It has resulted in honors for the station, including the 2007 Station of the Year Award in the CHR/Top 40 category for market size 101–250 at the national Radio & Records convention.Other stations applaud WIXX in national radio judging
Warren Gerds; November 19, 2007 ''Green Bay Press-Gazette
The ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' is a newspaper whose primary coverage is of northeastern Wisconsin, including Green Bay. It was founded as the ''Green Bay Gazette'' in 1866 as a weekly paper, becoming a daily newspaper in 1871. The ''Green Ba ...
''; Retrieved November 19, 2007 WIXX also benefits from the long reach of its 101.1 FM signal, which can be regularly received as far north as
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
's
Upper Peninsula
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...
and as far south as
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 ...
. They take advantage of that coverage whenever tornado warnings are issued by broadcasting continuous coverage on all of its sister stations.
Current on-air staff
The below list reflects the WIXX air staff as of September 6, 2018. In addition to their roles on the station, Midwest Communications also
voicetracks several WIXX personalities on
WTBX-FM
WTBX (93.9 FM) is a U.S. radio station in Hibbing, Minnesota, serving the Iron Range region. The station is owned by Midwest Communications and airs a hybrid format of hot adult contemporary and modern adult contemporary. In 2008, the station be ...
in
Hibbing, Minnesota
Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. The city was built on mining the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range and still relies on that industrial activity today. At th ...
,
KDKE
KDKE (102.5 FM, "Duke FM") is a classic country radio station located in Duluth, Minnesota (licensed to Superior, Wisconsin). KDKE is owned by Midwest Communications, which also owns WDSM, WDUL, KDAL, KDAL-FM and KTCO in Duluth. All the Duluth s ...
in
Duluth, Minnesota
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
, and
WXER
WXER is a Hot AC FM radio station broadcasting on 104.5 MHz in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, which is owned by Midwest Communications. The station is licensed to the city of Plymouth and broadcasts from a tower southwest of the city.
The sta ...
Sheboygan. WTBX and WXER air
Hot AC
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, quiet sto ...
formats, while KDKE is country.
Weekdays
* Biff(Overnights & The All Night Party)
* Murphy in the Morning Show w/ Katie & Nick
* Corey Carter(9 AM-10 AM)
* Fife(10 AM-2 PM)
* Huggie(2 PM-6 PM)
* Jayson Slade(6 PM-11 PM)
Weekends & Fill-ins
* Tom Pederson(Overnights)
* Casey Jones
* Jerry Michaels
* Shane Reno
* Aaron
* Alex Mason
* Andy Gardner
* Andrew Haze
* Abby Sylvia
* Rick Styles
Additionally, WIXX is also part of the
Packers Radio Network
The Packers Radio Network is a broadcast radio network and the official radio broadcaster of the Green Bay Packers, fully under the team's control in regards to technical productions and on-air personnel. The network's flagship is iHeartMedia's WR ...
, broadcasting
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
games alongside sister stations
WTAQ AM/FM.
References
External links
*
Midwest CommunicationsClick here to view a virtual tour of Midwest Communications' new building*
{{coord, 44.410, N, 88.001, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
IXX
Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1950
1950 establishments in Wisconsin
Midwest Communications radio stations