Progressive talk, smooth jazz return to local radio (not on the same stations)
The new year has brought two new radio formats to Milwaukee listeners.
Well, not new, exactly. But both formats — progressive talk radio and smooth jazz — have been off the air locally for a while.
Progressive talk on 540 AM
On Monday, WAUK-AM (540) was rebranded as “The ‘Sha.” For now, the station is picking up progressive-talk programming from Madison's “Devil Radio,” which airs on WTTN-AM (1580) and 92.7 FM. The Madison stations' programming centerpiece is “The Devil's Advocate Radio Show,” airing from 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Mike Crute, the progressive talk-radio veteran who owns the two Madison stations, is buying WAUK from Good Karma Brands. (The station is being operated under a local management agreement pending the sale, confirmed Steve Wexler, vice president and market manager for Good Karma.)
Good Karma had been airing national ESPN programming on the AM station; in Milwaukee, it also operates sports-talk station WKTI-FM (94.5), news-sports-talk WTMJ-AM (620) and Black talk radio outlet The Truth, WGKB-FM (101.7).
“Devil Radio” focuses on national and Wisconsin topics from a liberal perspective. But Crute told Bruce Murphy at Urban Milwaukee, which first reported the sale, that WAUK would have connections to the Waukesha community, including a talk show by hosted by Alderman Don Paul Browne and a studio in downtown Waukesha.
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Crute said that once the Waukesha studio is up and running, WAUK's morning shows, hosted by Democratic Party stalwart Matt Flynn and Milwaukee radio veteran Earl Ingram Jr., will broadcast live from there.
In addition to being heard over the air at 540 AM and on its translator signal at 101.1 FM, WAUK is streaming at waukradio.com.
WAUK is Crute's second shot at bringing progressive talk to Milwaukee radio listeners. In 2017, he launched a similar station at WRRDAM (1510), also licensed from Good Karma. In 2020, he shut down that station, selling it back to Good Karma.
Smooth jazz at 1460 AM
WJTI-AM (1460) has switched from a Spanish-language format, called “Caliente,” to smooth jazz. The format is also being carried on its FM translator signal at 102.5 FM in Milwaukee.
The “Caliente” format is still airing on WJTI's FM sister station, at 97.9 FM.
According to Northpine.com, the Midwest radio industry website that first reported the changes at WJTI, it's the first time the smooth jazz format has had an outlet in Milwaukee radio since 2010.