WIIL (95.1 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

licensed to Union Grove, Wisconsin. The station serves Kenosha (its original

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

), Racine, the southern suburbs of

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

and the northern suburbs of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. WIIL is owned and operated by

Alpha Media Alpha Media LLC is a radio broadcasting company based in Portland, Oregon, and led by Bob Proffitt. The group does business under the Alpha Media name. It was formed from the merger of Alpha Broadcasting, L&L Broadcasting, and Main Line Broadc ...

and airs an active rock

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. The

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

stand for

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

for its dual-state coverage area. The station is branded as "95 WIIL Rock," with "WIIL" pronounced on air the same as 'will.' The station has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 50,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, the maximum output for the region in which it operates. The station's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off Green Bay Road ( Wisconsin Highway 31) at 85th Street in

Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin Pleasant Prairie is a village in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. Located along the southwestern shoreline of Lake Michigan, Pleasant Prairie was home to 21,250 people at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The village is positio ...

, while its studio is based in the north end of the Gurnee Mills mall in Gurnee. WIIL serves as a complement to Alpha's station licensed to Coal City, Illinois, and broadcasting from Crest Hill, WRXQ (100.7), which serves the southern and southwest suburbs of Chicago.

History

Beautiful music WLIP-FM

On December 22, 1962, the station signed on as WLIP-FM, licensed to Kenosha. It was owned by William Lipman, with the first letters of his last name used in the station's

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

. WLIP-FM’s effective radiated power was 4,000

s, a fraction of its current output. The station simulcast co-owned WLIP (1050 AM). After a few years, the simulcast ended and WLIP-FM began running its own music programming from 6 a.m. to midnight, offering a beautiful music format. In the mid-1970s, WLIP-FM began playing

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

in the evenings, and was known as ''"Rock 95 LIP-FM"''. By 1978, the station had converted to a fulltime album oriented rock (AOR) format and changed its call letters to WJZQ.

Top 40 WJZQ

In the early 1980s, ''Rock 95'' changed to a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

/ CHR format. In 1990, it became a rhythmic-leaning Top 40 station, first as ''FM 95 WJZQ'', and then later as ''Power 95 WJZQ''. The station returned to mainstream top 40 by late 1991/early 1992. The transition to ''Power 95'' was marked by a day-long

stunt A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Befo ...

with a continuous loop of " The Power" by

Snap! SNAP! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has undergone several lineup changes over the years, featuring American singers, songwriters, and rappers such as Thea Austin, Turbo ...

, for 24 hours without interruption or explanation.

WIIL Rock

In September 1992, the call letters changed to WIIL, using the moniker ''95 WIIL ROCK'' with a

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

format. For a short period in the summer of 2003, WIIL was renamed ''95.1 The Rock Station'', but returned to "95 WIIL Rock" not long after. In 2000, the NextMedia Group acquired WIIL and WLIP. In 2004, WIIL shifted in an active rock direction, while continuing to report to radio trade publications as a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

station. In November 2009, the station officially changed to active rock status.

Move to Union Grove

In April 2010, the station received

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) approval to change its

from Kenosha to Union Grove. That technically put the station in Racine County, and outside Kenosha County. This was to allow NextMedia Group to stay within ownership caps with its Chicago cluster. Kenosha County is classified as being within the Chicago radio market by Arbitron/Nielsen Audio, while Racine County is within the Milwaukee radio market; moving the city of license to Union Grove placed WIIL within the Milwaukee Nielsen ratings service market. The actual location of the transmitter and studios were not changed until 2020, when upon the repeal of the Main Studio Rule, Alpha was able to re-locate the studio operations of WIIL and WLIP into a combined facility with WXLC and WKRS within Gurnee Mills; the studios coincidentally opened on March 12, 2020, one day after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

was declared.

Ownership changes

In 2013,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

-based Digity Media acquired the NextMedia Group, including WIIL and sister station WLIP. In 2015, Alpha Media spent $264 million to acquire the 116 radio stations of Digity Media, including the NextMedia Group. That put WIIL and WLIP, its AM sister station, under Alpha Media ownership.

Music festivals

AugustFest was a

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

created and produced by Lakeside Productions, Inc, and sponsored by WIIL. It was held in August 2007 and 2008 at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, Illinois. The all-day festival featured two stages and multiple bands. The 2007 AugustFest was held on August 25 and featured performances from Chevelle,

Saliva Saliva (commonly referred as spit or drool) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which ...

, Shinedown, Crossfade, and PreZence. The 2008 AugustFest took place on August 9.Lakeside Productions presents August Fest 08'
/ref> This iteration featured performances from Shinedown, P.O.D., Filter,

Alter Bridge Alter Bridge is an American Rock music, rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips (musician), Scott Phill ...

and Black Stone Cherry as headliners, with 12 Stones performing on a second stage. The WIIL Rock Fest is an annual music festival produced and sponsored by FM Entertainment, 95 WIIL Rock and Route 20 Outhouse in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. The 2012 WIIL Rock Fest was held on August 11 and featured performances by All That Remains, Saving Abel, 10 Years, Fear Factory,

Static-X Static-X is an American industrial metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. The line-up has fluctuated over the years, but was long-held constant with band founder, frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his d ...

, Black Stone Cherry, and Shadows Fall and others. The 2013 WIIL Rock Fest was held on August 24 and featured a partial lineup of Volbeat, HIM, Airbourne, Nonpoint,

Trapt Trapt is an American rock band formed in Los Gatos, California. Nine studio albums have been recorded to date: ''Amalgamation'' (1999), '' Trapt'' (2002), '' Someone in Control'' (2005), '' Only Through the Pain'' (2008), '' No Apologies'' (2 ...

, Hurt,

SOiL Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

, Red Line Chemistry, and

Smile Empty Soul Smile Empty Soul is an American Rock music, rock band, originally from Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, California, United States. It was started in 1998 by Sean Danielsen (vocals and guitar), Ryan Martin (bass), and Derek Gledhill (dru ...

. There was no 2014 Rock Fest. The 2015 WIIL Rock Fest was held at Franksville Memorial Park in

Racine County, Wisconsin Racine County ( ) is a County (United States), county in southeastern Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 197,727, making it Wisconsin's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Racine, Wisconsi ...

. Performing bands included

Hollywood Undead Hollywood Undead is an American rap rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2005. All of the band members use pseudonyms and previously wore their own unique mask, most of which were based on the common goaltender mask, hockey goalten ...

, Pop Evil, Royal Bliss, We Are Harlot, Saint Asonia, Red Sun Rising, Starset, Devour the Day, Texas Hippie Coalition, Aranda, Butcher Babies, Failure Anthem and Psychostick.

References

External links

WIIL WebsiteLake County Journal
* {{coord, 42.552780, -87.893825, type:landmark_region:US-WI, display=title IIL Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Wisconsin Alpha Media radio stations Racine County, Wisconsin Kenosha, Wisconsin