AAR on the air in Milwaukee??!

[ClassWarrior]

It's about to go live in Denver, according to this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2272132

So what do WE do to get it broadcast in our own progressive Brew Town, Wisconsin? A major phone calling and petitioning campaign to the usual suspects? WTMJ, WISN, WOKY, etc.? Do we put together a grass-roots investor's group to buy a station, sort of like AAR itself did back in the AnShell days?

What do you think? Will you help?

[gumby]

1. Milwaukee radio couldn't even support Jay Marvin

back in the day.

The worst thing about this state is the neo-con (read neo-nazi) radio out of Milwaukee. Have you even heard WVCY (107.7)? Yeow!

I don't think WISN or WTMJ or any Milwaukee station has any inkling of doing anything other than Pigboy programming.

Unless of course there is a "smaller" station that would carry them.

I firmly believe that the reason that the Kerry/Bush race is even close in this state is because of hate radio. And don't even get me started on WPR; they promote fascism as just the "other side" on every topic while they refuse to host any real opposition.

Wisconsin radio tracks the decline of progressive politics in this state. When all one hears is hate radio, the electorate responds accordingly.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but that's the way I see it. I'd be glad to help to get AAR on the air here.

[ClassWarrior]

2. "A smaller station" may be the key...

Do we influence one? Buy one? How do we approach something like this? What are our best targets? I'll do some googling tomorrow. Thanks Gumby! Who else is on board??

[gumby]

4. Like your enthusiasm

AAR began with the Drobny's as AnShell Media, out of Chicago. From what I can tell, the Drobnys sold it and then bought it back. Who knows?(google anshell media)

Anyhow, if they get a strong enough Chicago station, which I would guess they are working on, the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin area could hear it. If not, they should be quite familiar with the Milwaukee market.

You might contact the current AAR owners and see what they say.

[Gloria]

3. Do they still have those two "hoser" guys on in the morning??

I lived in Juneau Village and couldn't pick up any Chicago radio because of the building construction, only those two losers.

No offense, but, crap, I hated living in Milwaukee. It was 20 years ago, I hope it's improved...

[gumby]

5. Nope

Milwaukee radio is all nazi all the time.

And I mentioned WVCY. That's a nationally syndicated Christian Re-constructionist station headquartered in Milwaukee (maybe even in the same building as the public radio station?) and it's a real doozie.

All of the most extreme scenarios about President and Hillary Clinton were aired there. Remember? Hillary wants to kidnap your children for the Socialist State. And it just went on and on. Haven't listened to them recently, but NO, it's only gotten very much worse here.

The "Cheese Curtain" is becoming a reality (outside of Madison).

[ClassWarrior]

6. Remember the mid-80s bumper stickers...

..."Milwaukee Radio Insults My Intelligence?"

But I still hold out hope for this radio market. We are oversaturated by RW monkeys. There is DEFINITELY an audience out here starved for progressive radio. If we can make that case, perhaps we CAN flip a WTMJ which got DRUBBED by WISN in the last ratings period.

Jay Marvin doesn't count. He was promoted badly and handled badly by the station - I didn't even realize he was a liberal till he was on his way out of town. Actually, from what I understand, he was more of a jerk-face than anything.

As for the two hosers on in the morning here - there are always some combination of two hosers on in the morning here. And they're all the same. Who needs 'em? Let's make our own radio!

[RetroLounge]

7. Oh God PLEASE give us AAR here in Milwaukee

If I ever see Belling on the street, well, you know...

Whatta pice of shit he is.

RL

[shoelace414]

8. I had to get Sirius radio

now I can get AAR all the time. :)

[ClassWarrior]

9. So you're with us, Retro and Shoelace?...

[shoelace414]

10. your talking about buying a radio station!?

r

[ClassWarrior]

11. Why not?

If that's our only option, why not?

I welcome any other thoughts on how to get AAR on the air too. Let's brainstorm.

[RetroLounge]

13. Well, for one I can barely afford Gas and Milk

but maybe we might go for some Hi Profile Dems with $$$ in Milwaukee.

RL

[ClassWarrior]

14. Exactly.

Perhaps everyone, large and small, should be able to own a share of it, but we'll definitely need some rollers of a higher magnitude.

[LTR]

12. Well, it looks like it's coming to Madison

92.1 FM:

http://www.madisonmix.com/

And WTDY might be doing their own 'progressive talk' format. They're dumping Hannity:

http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Post=246546&Board=milwaukee

As for Milwaukee, don't waste your time with WTMJ or WISN. They do well with the crap they have now. Though I wish Charlie Sykes would go away. WOKY is a Clear Channel station, and they've been flipping their underperforming stations to AAR at lightning speed. Only thing is WOKY still gets decent ratings (though in an aging demographic).

Best bet would be a couple brokered religious stations: Entercom's WEMP (1250) and Saga's WJYI (1340). 1340 has been rumored to be flipping to sports for a while, but Saga seems content with the money coming in. Other than that, there's not a whole lot of other stations out there. 1560 is an independently-owned gospel station, but they got an infusion of cash by selling their sister FM to Starboard. 1290 and 860 are black stations, and pretty ingrained in the community. 1640 is owned by ABC and pipes in Radio Disney on autopilot. The rest are rimshots or religious stations. I think 1400 in Racine is set in their ways with second and third tier talk shows.

[ClassWarrior]

15. Thanks for that excellent analysis.

That's helpful.

[LTR]

16. Here's a list of area stations

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/locate?select=city&city=milwaukee&state=wi&sid=&x=7&y=6

The AM stations:

WRRD 540 AM Religious (Salem ain't doing it)
WTMJ 620 AM News/Talk (Hell no)
WNOV 860 AM Urban (daytime station, pretty big in black community)
WOKY 920 AM Nostalgia (CC-owned. Decent ratings. Highly unlikely, but CC gets kind of jumpy in this market)
WISN 1130 AM News/Talk (HELL NO!)
WEMP 1250 AM Religious (brokered. Entercom is Dem-friendly)
WMCS 1290 AM Urban Talk (Owner's pet project. Big in community)
WJYI 1340 AM Religious (brokered. It makes good money, but often rumored to flip to sports.)
WRJN 1400 AM News/Talk (Racine station. Poor signal in Milwaukee)
WBJX 1460 AM Spanish (ditto)
WAUK 1510 AM Sports (Daytime sports, and it gets some ratings. Only sports station in town)
WGLB 1560 AM Gospel Music (Kinlow's pet project. Small time. Not sure if it makes any money)
WKSH 1640 AM Children's (Disney bought it just to pump in Radio Disney)

[LTR]

17. You can scratch WEMP off the list

Looks like they're flipping to a sports format:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/gen/sep04/255651.asp

[ClassWarrior]

18. Hmmmmm...

RT, do you think this may make WAUK succeptible to takeover?

[LTR]

19. That's pretty cloudy

WAUK is a daytime station (off the air at sunset), and was just purchased by Craig Karmazin, son of former Infinity honcho Mel Karmazin. Craig owns a few stations around the state and in Florida, most of them are carrying ESPN's satellite format, like WAUK does.

ESPN is a hot commodity, as they do have some pretty good shows (okay, they lost lustre after Kornheiser left, but they still have the great Dan Patrick Show). WAUK will still have clout as an ESPN affiliate (though AM 1000 in Chicago runs the same thing and comes in strong up here).

Karmazin strikes me as kind of an idiot. His stations sit at the bottom of the ratings in Madison, and not just because their signals suck. Their talk station in Madison couldn't even show up in the ratings with Howard Stern in morning drive. And Karmazin insists on hosting his own show. In afternoon drive! And he runs some weird side business (Flato.com) that he shills constantly on his stations. If WAUK switched to AAR, he'd pollute it with his own ego-stroking shows, and it will still go off the air at sunset.

I just don't see WAUK as a possibility, unless WEMP wrestles away ESPN (they're likely affiliating with FOX Sports) and their other shows. WAUK makes some money (more than you'd expect an AM daytimer to make), but they are small time. I think the best bet at this point for anything resembling liberal radio in Milwaukee is WJYI (1340), though, as I pointed out, I'm sure they're pulling in a lot of money brokering religious shows. Not a lot of other signals in the market, save for a few black stations with small, dedicated audiences, rimshot stations with poor Milwaukee coverage, religious stations owned by hard-core fundies like Salem, Starboard, and the old nut that owns 107.7, the talk powerhouses WTMJ and WISN (forget it!), and WOKY, an AM 'standards' station for the AARP crowd. WOKY is owned by Clear Channel, which is flipping underperformers to AAR like mad. But WOKY's ratings are very good, beating some of CC's FM stations. Not a chance of AAR until their target audience dies. Another one is WKSH (1640), which runs Radio Disney. Disney bought the station last year to pump in RD. They paid roughly $1-2M for it, and I don't think they really give a shit if anyone listens to it. The station is a shack in Sussex with no employees except for probably an engineer. It's a wasted signal - Radio Disney never shows up in the ratings in any market. It's a 24/7 infomercial run by Michael Eisner's ego. Too bad - the signal is pretty strong.

Again, WJYI is the best bet, but only if Saga determines it could bring in more money that brokered religious. Remember, radio is a bottom line business. Money reigns supreme.

[RetroLounge]

20. Thanks for the nice analysis everyone

I think it'll be a while before Milwaukee gets AAR.

I hope I'm wrong...

RL

[shoelace414]

21. Sirus has a dedicated AAR station.