Milwaukee's Newest Radio Station "The Haunt"

[CTListener]

You can blame us out here in Southern California. The first "frog" station, KFRG in Riverside, has been in the format with the branding "K-Frog" since Christmas Day 1989. (No, that's not a typo ... they are coming up on their 35th anniversary, which is even more impressive when you consider that they first signed on -- as KQLH -- a little over 50 years ago, in August 1974. And Country is only the third format they've ever had.)

For a very long time, they gave their air personalities "cute" names tied to the format as puns, e.g. "Heather Froglear". Nowadays, they all identify only by first name ... I guess the novelty wore off.

Lily Pad! Tad Pole! I remember those from the Froggy station up in the Albany NY area many years ago. We have a Froggy in Montpelier, but like your KFRG, the DJs have "normal" names, some with surnames, some without.

A second country station ought to work in Milwaukee. I see that WMIL gets respectable numbers but is not a market dominator as is the case in other single-country-station markets.

 

[Fighting Irish]

You can blame us out here in Southern California. The first "frog" station, KFRG in Riverside, has been in the format with the branding "K-Frog" since Christmas Day 1989. (No, that's not a typo ... they are coming up on their 35th anniversary, which is even more impressive when you consider that they first signed on -- as KQLH -- a little over 50 years ago, in August 1974. And Country is only the third format they've ever had.)

For a very long time, they gave their air personalities "cute" names tied to the format as puns, e.g. "Heather Froglear". Nowadays, they all identify only by first name ... I guess the novelty wore off.

I always associated Froggy with all those Pittsburgh-area stations, right down to that cheesy logo. I think it's similar to your Froggy in the I.E.

Speaking of logo, the Milwaukee Froggy does have a really cool logo. It's unique, silly and whimsical. More radio logos should be this creative. The music, however, is pretty meh. They missed an opportunity to add some 90s gold.

Froggy MKE 100.3 & 107.3 | Where Milwaukee Discovers Country

Froggy MKE 100.3 & 107.3 | Where Milwaukee Discovers Country | Milwaukee, WI

www.froggymke.com

 

[Fighting Irish]

A second country station ought to work in Milwaukee. I see that WMIL gets respectable numbers but is not a market dominator as is the case in other single-country-station markets.

Plus, there's a few rimshot country stations. Magnum owns country stations in West Bend (north part of the market) and Racine (south part of the market). WTKM in Hartford plays mostly gold (80s-90s), but they're strictly local, with little overlap with Froggy.

 

[davideduardo]

You can blame us out here in Southern California. The first "frog" station, KFRG in Riverside, has been in the format with the branding "K-Frog" since Christmas Day 1989. (No, that's not a typo ... they are coming up on their 35th anniversary, which is even more impressive when you consider that they first signed on -- as KQLH -- a little over 50 years ago, in August 1974. And Country is only the third format they've ever had.)

Didn't the Frogs in Pennsylvania precede the KFRG launch?

 

[K.M. Richards]

Didn't the Frogs in Pennsylvania precede the KFRG launch?

I am not certain. But I do know that pretty much every "Frog" country station for years afterwards had a reference to KFRG in the trade coverage.

 

[Huff]

Didn't the Frogs in Pennsylvania precede the KFRG launch?

Kerby Confer launched the first "Froggy" on WFRG/Utica, which went Country as "96 Frog" in 1988.
KFRG/Riverside ("K-Frog") followed in 1989, then WFGY/Altoona (the first "Froggy") in 1991.

WIVK/Knoxville was using a Frog as a mascot as early as the mid-70s, based on the pronunciation of the call letters as "Wivick" like a frog croaking, and used the croaking effects on the air, but has never branded as a Frog station or used frog-puns on the air.

 

[theman8410]

I don't know what type of a showing they expect to make against the existing country stations. WMIL & WMAD have the same program director, and where one drops off the other picks up, which means a continuous signal from the lake all the way into SW Wisconsin. Not to mention that Magnum also has a statewide network of stations, several of which also program country music. The station form West Bend alone easily covers SE Wisconsin and from the hill on HWY. 33 they reach close to Madison. MRA is a great company and their FM stations have always been a factor in the Milwaukee ratings, but I suspect the best Froggy will do is attract a few "new country" listeners from the suburbs. Froggy may force the other stations to take a look at their playlists and provide an opportunity for exposure of some creative new artists. In terms of music education that is a win, but they also have to make money.

 

[CTListener]

I don't know what type of a showing they expect to make against the existing country stations. WMIL & WMAD have the same program director, and where one drops off the other picks up, which means a continuous signal from the lake all the way into SW Wisconsin. Not to mention that Magnum also has a statewide network of stations, several of which also program country music. The station form West Bend alone easily covers SE Wisconsin and from the hill on HWY. 33 they reach close to Madison. MRA is a great company and their FM stations have always been a factor in the Milwaukee ratings, but I suspect the best Froggy will do is attract a few "new country" listeners from the suburbs. Froggy may force the other stations to take a look at their playlists and provide an opportunity for exposure of some creative new artists. In terms of music education that is a win, but they also have to make money.

I checked out Froggy's "recently played" list yesterday and saw the usual suspects when it came to currents and recurrents, but some surprising titles in the golds. Not unfamiliar artists but titles by the big names that I never hear on my local hit country stations. I suppose all the iHeart stations use the same golds, and that WMIL's are the same as WWYZ's are back in my old CT stomping grounds. But I can see why a smaller chain's station or an independent might choose to play something other than "Heads Carolina, Tails California" for a Jo Dee Messina song or "That's What I Love About Sunday" for Craig Morgan. I heard Mary Chapin Carpenter's "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" yesterday on one of our Vermont/New Hampshire stations. I don't think iHeart has anything but "Down at the Twist and Shout" by her on its master playlist.

 

[Fighting Irish]

Was listening to Froggy in the car earlier when that classic country chestnut, "Highway To Hell" by AC/DC came on. Well, they said they were going to be different.