WVTY (92.1 FM, "92-1 VTY Country") is a
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, ...
-formatted radio station in
Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
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 ...
. It serves Racine,
Kenosha
Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenosh ...
and
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 ...
's southern suburbs. WVTY is owned by David Magnum, through licensee Magnum Communications, Inc., along with sister stations
WRJN
WRJN (1400 AM) is a MOR radio station located in Racine, Wisconsin, and serving the areas of Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station is owned by David Magnum, through licensee Magnum Communications, Inc., along with local sister sta ...
and
West Bend-based
WIBD
WIBD (1470 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to West Bend, Wisconsin, United States, the station's coverage area consists of Milwaukee's northern suburbs. The station is currently owned by David Magnum, through ...
and
WMBZ. Its studios are in Racine and the transmitter site is in
Raymond
Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...
(at the former transmitter site of
WPXE-TV
WPXE-TV (channel 55) is a television station licensed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Milwaukee area. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company alongs ...
).
History
Beautiful music (1961-1986)
The station signed on in 1961 as WFNY, (taken from owner Jerome Feeny's name) broadcasting a
beautiful music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
format. Eventually an automated music playback system was installed, but live announcers remained on staff. Some of the air personalities over the years have included
Paul Weyrich
Paul Michael Weyrich (; October 7, 1942 – December 18, 2008) was an American religious conservative political activist and commentator associated with the New Right. He co-founded the conservative think tanks The Heritage Foundation, the Free ...
, Lou Rugani, Dave Garland, Don Jensen, Jerry Grimmer, Kevin Kellogg, Mike Kristof, Tim Yorgan, Chris Morreau, Gene Miller, Mike Petersen, and Frank Ricchio.
Adult contemporary (1986-1988)
WFNY was sold in 1986 and the format was flipped to
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 ...
as WHKQ.
Country (1988-1991)
Two years later, WHKQ became "Country 92".
Easy listening (1991-1997)
The station was sold once again in 1991, with the format returning to its easy listening origins. Later, the station adopted the WEZY call letters using the branding "EZ92 WEZY" The easy listening format would simulcast on sister WRJN overnights from midnight-7AM.
Adult contemporary (1997-2014)
In 1997, Bliss Communications, owners of eight radio stations in Wisconsin and numerous newspapers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, purchased the station and its sister, WRJN. On December 26, 1997, the station adopted an adult contemporary format. On January 2, 2007, WEZY changed its moniker to "Lite Rock 92.1". On June 25, 2014, Bliss Communications announced that it would sell WEZY and WRJN, along with WBKV and WBWI-FM in West Bend, to David Magnum's Magnum Communications, Inc.
The sale, at a price of $2.25 million, was consummated on October 31, 2014.
Country (2014-2015)
On December 2, 2014, at 12:55 a.m., the station flipped to
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, ...
as ''Q92''; afterward, the station changed its call letters to WMKQ.
Adult hits (2015-2018)
On May 29, 2015, WMKQ flipped to adult hits as ''92.1 The Lake''; this move came the same day that competing station WLWK, which also branded as ''The Lake'' with an identical logo, flipped to country itself as
WKTI-FM
WKTI (94.5 FM) – branded 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKTI is an affiliate for ESPN Radio. WKTI is know ...
. The de facto "swap" was intentional, with Magnum citing the "heritage" of the format in Milwaukee, and the decision by the station's new owner,
The E.W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
, to drop it, as justification for the abrupt change. The change in branding and Magnum's appropriation of WKTI's former branding caught Scripps off-guard; representatives of both companies indicated that they were in discussions over the matter. On June 7, 2015, WMKQ changed their call letters to WVTY; ''Radio Insight'' also reported that Magnum had registered new domain names and social media accounts with different possible brands, ''92.1 The Shore'' and ''Variety 92.1''.
On June 29, 2015, WVTY rebranded as ''92.1 The Shore''.
Country (2018-present)
On October 30, 2018, in anticipation of WKTI's November 1 flip from country to
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". ...
as part of its sale by Scripps to
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 Karmaz ...
, WVTY returned to country itself as ''92.1 VTY Country''. As with its use of the former ''Lake'' branding earlier, the station's new branding and logo is based heavily on the branding previously used by WKTI. Magnum Communications also purchased advertising time on the station to promote WVTY and West Bend sister station
WMBZ to its former listeners.
Past logos
Image:WEZY.png, "EZ92 WEZY" logo from early 2000s-2007
Image:WHKQ.jpg, "WHKQ" logo from the late 1980s
References
External links
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{{Country Radio Stations in Wisconsin
VTY
Radio stations established in 1961
Country radio stations in the United States