Wow, they're not wasting any time. As of 11:30 AM CDT 8/28/2025, 93.3 is on the air with dead air and carrier only.
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K-Love Acquires B93.3 & FM102.1
- Thread starter lanceventa
- Start date
Interesting. The stream is still running although that doesn't mean much. Just this morning the morning guy posted on Facebook that tomorrow is their last show. Possibly management had other ideas. If you have HD capability, are the HD 2 and 3 with Fonz and Froggy silent as well?
I never bought into the HD thing, and don't have an HD capable tuner, so I can't tell ya.
Both 93.3 and 102.1 have extensive histories in Milwaukee (various: format changes, studio/office moves, transmitter/antenna relocation improvements, you name it). To see this reduced to a few satellite dishes, or closets stuffed with only STL equipment, is to say the least very depressing, especially since I was personally part of some of that history.
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I'm assuming four FMs might be the limit in Milwaukee (both Saga and IHeart have four). Audacy only has two, so I'm surprised they didn't jump. Those two stations would've been a good fit for that cluster (Hot AC and CHR).
As for the translators, I'm not sure how much more money 98.7 brings in to Saga via brokered religious programming than the AM station did. Alt rock would be a nice fit with their classic and hard rock stations. WJMR isn't going anywhere - they're doing pretty well. Moving to a translator won't go over well, even with the more urban focus. The oldies format on 106.9, on the other hand, would be more expendable, despite it's recent success. But they probably get most of their listeners from the suburbs.
Audacy does own a really good translator, 105.7. They ran a hip-hop formats for a few years, but went back to simulcasting their AM sports station. But is The Fan really doing anything up against two powerful FM sports stations? They could start up an alt rock station there by the end of the day if they wanted.
And, of course, the two MRA translators, which are likely available to whoever wants to buy them. 100.3 is centrally located in Milwaukee, while 107.3 is in the deep south metro (around Oak Creek/Franklin, it mostly targets Racine).
Another wild card is 105.3, the current K-Love. Are there any markets where they own three full-power FM stations?
Strange. As of this morning, they still intended to go through tomorrow. Saying it's all-request, Christmas music and whatever they want.
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I would love to know when 93.3 and 102.1 were put up on the selling block. Obviously you've got to be a key figure deep in the loop to gain that info, of which I am not. If anyone knows...
At 12:05 PM 8/28/2025, 102.1 is still playing music but seems to be jockless.
Probably Audacy is more concerned as a company with staying above water than buying a couple more Milwaukee signals that sold for cheap and were likely not making money. With what Audacy owns now, WMYX is obviously the best biller. WXSS isn't exactly setting the world on fire in the ratings so who knows how much revenue that signal actually has. As you mentioned, 1250/105.7 IS interesting as it appears the two together currently only have a cume share of 19,900. Maybe we'll see a format change there again coming up at some point.
B93.3 and the two HD subchannels are dead air right now. RDS shows "Don't Wanna Know" by Maroon 5. No RDS on the subchannels (there usually is).
That's nothing new lately. Jockless shifts have become more frequent since Adler and Schroeder left in the spring. Gordon probably left the building too (he was also doing afternoons on Froggy). Michelle in the afternoon may be the only one left on 102.1, but she handles a lot of managerial responsibilities.
They could probably flip 1250 to sports betting and keep the one or two local shows. Audacy seems to do this to their lower-tier AM stations. The translator, at times, was connected to WXSS-HD2 (which currently carries a WSSP simulcast).
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Thanks for researching that. I had asked that back at #113 simply because I lacked the time to check myself.
I wouldn't be surprised if 1290 goes silent and they turn in the license. The station seemed to be in disrepair, and I think it was damaged in the recent flooding.
And something for WZTI. Are they seriously going to continue to operate and have a sales staff for Froggy Country on two subpar translators, and an oldies AM/HD2 (if they get it back on)? Further, is K-Love going to lease them the HD2 and HD3 for 93.3 to be able to do this? Seems unlikely but who knows. Facility ID No. 63597 Suspension of Operations Exhibit Milwaukee Radio Alliance, LLC (the “Licensee”), the licensee of Station WZTI(AM), Greenfield, Wisconsin (FCC Facility ID No. 63597) (the “Station”), hereby notifies the Commission that the Station suspended operations on August 10, 2025, due to damage suffered in the Milwaukee floods on August 9th and 10th, 2025. The Licensee is in the process of assessing the damage and filing insurance claims. If operations are not restored by September 9, 2025, the licensee will file for special temporary authority to remain silent.
And, as someone who briefly owned an actual Tropicla Band SW station, I find the reasons for “irrelevance” to be totally different.
Shortwave filled in for the lack of local stations in much of the world in the later 30’s until well into the 50’s. And it became the voice of different factions in the Cold War. But by the later 80’s and fully in the 90’s, the international scene had changed
while FM was “local” even in t he smaller towns of the Third World.
AM in the U.S. principally declined due to the poor signals of most stations and the wider variety of formats on FM. There was not a single overwhelming reasoning, but, instead, a sea change made up of a myriad of elements. And that is why I found your analysis over simplistic.
At 6:45 PM (8/28/2025) I checked back in again with 93.3, and found they were back playing B93.3 music again, but the OTA signal was now at less than half full 100% modulation level. The stereo pilot is also off. It's very possible they're now on their backup transmitter, but I can't say for sure. Who knows, maybe K-Love's engineers are already in town doing things.
Their HD is off. 100.3 is silent with open carrier, but 107.3 is still on with Froggy.
Further evidence that they might be on the backup, which is at a physically different location in town (the original 93.3 transmitter site).