WMIL-FM (106.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) 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

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 71,158 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River adjacent to th ...

, and serving the Greater Milwaukee and Southeast

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 ...

radio market. It carries a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

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, ...

and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s and offices are on West Howard Avenue in the Milwaukee suburb of Greenfield. WMIL-FM 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 12,000

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

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 ...

site is in Milwaukee's North Side off Humboldt Boulevard near Estabrook Park and the

Milwaukee River The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 Once a locus of industry, the river is now the ...

. WMIL-FM broadcasts in the

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

hybrid format. The HD2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

formerly aired

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

from the

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

and

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as "Alt 2K".

History

WAUX-FM, WAUK-FM

On January 1, 1962, the station signed on as WAUX-FM, the FM

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to WAUX (1510 AM). The stations were owned by the Waukesha Broadcasting Company. At the time, WAUX-FM’s effective radiated power was 3,800 watts, a fraction of its current output. Because WAUX was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, the two stations

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

during the day and programming continued on WAUX-FM at night. A few years later in 1965, they became WAUK and WAUK-FM respectively. During the 1970s, WAUK-FM aired a beautiful music format.

WMIL-FM

In December 1975, the station adopted the WMIL-FM

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 ...

(originally used by 95.7 FM). Stebbins Communications acquired the two stations in 1975. For a time, WMIL-FM was

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

when Stebbins went bankrupt. The AM station had already been sold to another company in 1977. Charter Broadcasting, which already owned WOKY, purchased WMIL-FM in 1979. The company sold WOKY and WMIL-FM to Sundance Broadcasting in June

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

Country music

Shortly after the completion of the sale, the present country music format was launched on WMIL-FM, competing against rival WBCS (now

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

station WHQG). As a country station, WMIL-FM has long been successful in the local ratings.

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

, a forerunner to today's iHeartMedia, bought WMIL-FM and WOKY for $40 million in 1997.'' Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2005'
page D-576
/ref> In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, WMIL-FM was voted "Top Country Station in a Large Market". The station now competes with country stations in surrounding suburbs ( WMBZ in West Bend and WVTY in Racine), but generally has outdone any competitors in Milwaukee proper since the mid-1980s.

Programming

The station's local morning show is co-hosted by Scott Dolphin and Shannen Oestereich (''Scott & Shannen'') with Shanna "Quinn" Hoy heard in afternoon

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

. Other shifts are voicetracked by iHeart country DJs including Billy Greenwood in middays and Ric Rush evenings. Syndicated programming from co-owned Premiere Networks includes '' After Midnite With Granger Smith'' in overnights, a weekly "best-of" compilation of the weekday morning '' The Bobby Bones Show'' on Sunday evenings (to maintain rights over the program in the Milwaukee market) and ''The Country House Party'' on Saturday evenings.

References

External links

FM 106.1
* {{iHeartMedia MIL-FM Radio stations established in 1962 1962 establishments in Wisconsin IHeartMedia radio stations Waukesha, Wisconsin Country radio stations in the United States